Innovating Outdoor Connections with Nature’s Playbook

In this interview, we connect with Gen and PJ, the entrepreneurial spirits behind Nature’s Playbook. Their innovative app merges a love for the outdoors with technology, creating a unique platform for sharing and discovering outdoor experiences. They share their journey from conception to implementation, discussing the challenges and triumphs they faced along the way. Their insights offer a valuable perspective for anyone interested in the intersection of technology, nature, and community building.

Inspiration Behind Nature’s Playbook

SBS – What inspired the creation of Nature’s Playbook?

Nature’s Playbook – One of our co-founders, Gen, was inspired to create Nature’s Playbook throughout her travels as an avid trail runner. She found it difficult to find one source that provided nature-inspired information on what to expect in different locations and its various activities. That’s when she came up with the idea of having one platform for all things outdoors, where inclusive videos and helpful information make it easier to pick a spot to visit. 

When our other co-founder, PJ, started a family and was looking for more kid-friendly outdoor activities, she jumped on board with Gen to make the dream come to life with the vision of diverse activities and communities coming together to share experiences over the love of nature. 

We think Gen & PJ make quite the dynamic duo 🙂 

Content Diversity & Inclusivity

SBS – How do you ensure the content on your app remains diverse and inclusive of various outdoor experiences?

Nature’s Playbook – It’s not as difficult as it seems. Many people that we meet are involved in one outdoor activity or another, and it is spectacular to hear all of their unique stories. When they join the Nature’s Playbook community, those experiences are shared with everyone. That being said, we find it helpful to approach a variety of outdoor businesses and groups that do all sorts of activities, whether that is a hiking group, a ski group, a surfing club or a cycling store because they are the ones with ample knowledge of the local areas and insider tips.

Challenges in App Development

SBS – What challenges did you face in developing and launching a community-driven app?

Nature’s Playbook – The biggest challenge is getting content on the app. All of our content is user-generated, so it is like a social media app. Differentiating the content on our app from that on other platforms is key so that people understand why to use our platform versus others. It has become extremely important to build our brand and culture around our values and translate that to those using the platform and even those who don’t so they are more drawn to join the community. 

User Engagement & Community Growth

SBS – How do you maintain user engagement and community growth on the platform?

Nature’s Playbook – We do our best to drive user engagement by highlighting user experiences that are shared from our platform with others. We have a fun weekly newsletter called The Navigator that talks about the fun features of the app and also showcases members of our “Vibe Tribe.” Recently, we launched a $1,500 sweepstakes called “Nature’s Playbook SeedStakes” that has rocketed community growth and engagement on the app. Users (or Vibe Tribers) can enter to win $1,500 toward a trip with one of our partners, Pack Up + Go, which specializes in surprise trips around the United States. Anyone can earn entries by engaging with the Nature’s Playbook app or by purchasing some of our eco-friendly products. 

Environmental Consciousness

SBS – What strategies do you use to promote environmental consciousness through your app?

Nature’s Playbook – As founders of the app, we want to build an outdoor community that pays it forward. We have an orange butterfly icon under each video post to give our users basic information on how to be environmentally conscious when outdoors. We use the tagline, “the app that pays it forward,” to encourage sharing great videos and information about outdoor experiences in nature so that others may get a chance to have the same experience. Additionally, paying it forward refers to how we participate in nature by being good stewards to leave a place as good or better for others and future generations to enjoy.

Balancing Content & Quality Control

SBS – How do you balance user-generated content with quality control on the platform?

Nature’s Playbook – We have an open content model, which means anyone can create a post on the app with as much information as they want to provide. For us, every post matters. We give positive feedback on individual posts, and through our marketing and refining areas in the app, we help users know what type of information is most beneficial to others. We are always looking to perfect the process of creating a post with the pay-it-forward philosophy. We want the app to be like a friend who gives great advice about places they have visited. The more information they can provide, the happier we are, and that is also of great benefit to others on the app.

We like to lead by example. Since we all enjoy being active in the e playground Mother Nature provides, environmental stewardship is a core value and strong undercurrent incorporated throughout the app. Every post has that orange butterfly icon that can be tapped on to display our Eco Tips section. We are continually guiding our users by cultivating an environment of respect, kindness and quality of content through relationships with our local communities, the people we work with and through positive messaging in our marketing efforts. It’s something we will always do in all of our communications.

A large percentage of people on the platform genuinely love to share information about their outdoor adventures and track their experiences using our Video Atlas feature. Their posts provide great examples for other users on the platform. By partnering with those who love the outdoors and have a knack for sharing information, we can build genuine content for the Video Atlas that serves as examples while also inspiring others to create informational posts. As we collect more and more experiences, we are able to connect the user with additional posts based on location so they can have a broader view of places. Variables such as seasonality, conditions, and popularity give users the best information available anywhere.

Future Plans & Feature Expansions

SBS – What are your future plans for Nature’s Playbook in terms of features or expansions?

Nature’s Playbook – We are currently on the verge of releasing our Groups feature. This feature allows groups to have their own profile page, which can be set to public or private. Groups will have the ability to invite others, plan their group’s outdoor activities, include important information such as relevant links to a particular meeting spot, and share a list of items to bring.

Groups will be able to build their own Video Atlas to document their activities through video, description, and other important information. The Video Atlas is a virtual world map that pins each location and activity, which creates a fun way for social groups, organizations, and businesses to track their reach across the globe. 

These new features provide a great opportunity for local businesses to connect with others in their community and build on the foundation of their outdoor values for a solid outdoor market. We believe it is incredibly important to support local businesses and their growth, as they have the means to provide both locals and tourists with the best services, gear, and more, giving our users the best experiences for what they seek. 

User Feedback & App Evolution

SBS – How has user feedback shaped the evolution of the app?

Nature’s Playbook – Early on, we got a lot of user feedback about how they could use this app and how they wanted to use it. It was very clear that nobody wanted to use it to bust secret spots or create a problem of overpopulation in nature. The truth is, that’s never what it was intended to be, either. What we learned from user feedback is how to pitch our app and our mission. It was clear from early on that we misrepresented our brand by the way that we described it. We feel we have come a long way, but as we are always learning and growing!

Now, user feedback continues to play a critical role in how we improve the app with bug fixes, UI improvements, and the development of new features that help users have a better experience searching for experiences in nature. 

Effective Marketing Strategies

SBS – What marketing strategies have been most effective in promoting Nature’s Playbook?

Nature’s Playbook – We have been trying to use every marketing strategy that we can, which we learned from Guerrilla Marketing, a book by Jay Conrad Levinson. We do email campaigns, social media marketing, spreading the word through blogs and other online media, as well as simply posting flyers in coffee shops and libraries. Collaborations and partnering with other brands have also been very helpful. 

The absolute most effective way of sharing our story and our product is face-to-face. We set up a booth at college campuses, vendor events, and sporting events like races to meet others who like to recreate outdoors. We have found that people are much more likely to check out the app when they hear our story from us in person. We continue to reach out to local businesses and introduce our mission to others that we meet on trails, beaches, and more. Even though it’s a lot of leg work, we see this being a big part of our growth. We find that it can be as simple as building our community one relationship at a time.

Monetization and Accessibility

SBS – How do you monetize the app while keeping it accessible to a broad audience?

Nature’s Playbook – Our revenue currently comes from eco-friendly products in our store rather than monetizing the app. In the long term, we feel that it is important for people to discover and find value in our product and service instead of focusing on immediate income. When the timing is right, we will start to charge for certain features on the app. However, we plan to keep the majority of information free and accessible to everyone. We plan to work with local businesses to partner and provide the best services to the users of the platform in a way that benefits everyone — the customer, the local business, and Nature’s Playbook. 

Significant Partnerships & Collaborations

SBS – What partnerships or collaborations have been pivotal for the growth of Nature’s Playbook?

Nature’s Playbook – When we were in the ideation phase of Nature’s Playbook, we had a wonderful opportunity to participate in a pitch competition held by the University of Colorado, Boulder. At the time, co-founder PJ was finishing a degree there, and we were able to receive a lot of feedback from other students and faculty, as well as some mentorship in opening a business. This is where we learned the value of networking and being confident to pitch our ideas to anyone. 

Since then, we have been able to work with a similar college program where students from Cal State University San Marcos helped us brainstorm marketing ideas and event setups. This was another spectacular opportunity to network and gain insight from a variety of potential users in the college demographic. 

Most recently, we announced our first sweepstakes, partnering with a travel company called Pack Up + Go. This company is spectacular. It is another woman-owned business that loves the outdoors and loves to travel. Its specialty is creating custom itineraries, and travelers don’t know their destination until they leave! In what we call Nature’s Playbook SeedStakes, participants can earn entries by engaging with others on the platform or purchasing eco-friendly merchandise from our website. We have seen a significant increase in engagement, and even within a short time, we see users shape their posts and experiences to be more insightful on the Nature’s Playbook app. It is so exciting to see the community grow as we get to partner with other outdoor businesses and nature enthusiasts!

Measuring Success

SBS – How do you measure the success of Nature’s Playbook, and what metrics are most important?

Nature’s Playbook – As a new company, every small achievement adds to our success story. We have carefully planned and laid the groundwork for a solid foundation on which to build our company. The metrics that are important for us to measure our success are based on the user experience, increased practice of eco stewardship, continual growth, engagement, and content proliferation.

Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

SBS – What advice would you give to entrepreneurs looking to create a community-focused app?

Nature’s Playbook – Several books have been very helpful in understanding how to launch a community app, including Platform Revolution by Geoffrey G. Parker, Hooked by Nir Eyal, and The Cold Start Problem by Andrew Chen. A big takeaway from these is that to create a successful platform, you need to build up small hubs of the community as a sort of proof of concept. This may be limited to a certain region, demographic, or another market measurement. By proving the success of the community platform with one or two smaller markets, you can gradually increase use and engagement.