6 marketing strategies to learn from a cycling company

TL;DR:

• Samsara Cycle builds awareness by putting its community at the centre of its marketing.
• The brand gives people multiple ways to engage beyond simply buying a product.
• Its values show up consistently across content, events, partnerships, and products.
• Customer advocacy helps create a flywheel that brings new people into the brand.
• Paid ads build on the trust and familiarity created through organic marketing.
• A seamless customer experience helps turn brand interest into action – and potentially, long-term loyalty.

Samsara Cycle has built a marketing strategy that goes far beyond posting product photos and hoping people click "add to cart."

Instead, the Vancouver-based brand has created an experience around cycling, and people (including our Director of Marketing Jesse Luimes) are loving it.

From group rides and training camps to creator partnerships and customer advocacy, Samsara Cycle gives people plenty of ways to engage with the brand before, during, and after making a purchase.

And that's what makes their marketing strategy so interesting.

Because when you look closely, Samsara Cycle is doing something many brands are still trying to figure out: building awareness by creating genuine connections with the people around their brand.

This type of marketing is known as community-led marketing (CLM). 

So let's break down six marketing strategies you can learn from Samsara Cycle and how you can apply them to your own marketing.

Who is Samsara Cycle?

Samsara Cycle is a Vancouver-based women's cycling apparel brand with a mission to create apparel for all shapes, abilities, and types of rides.

But while the products may be what initially brings people to the brand, cycling is only one part of the experience Samsara has created.

Scroll through their social media, attend one of their events, or interact with their community, and you'll quickly see that Samsara isn't just marketing to cyclists; they're building with them.

1. Use your community to build brand awareness

A lot of brands think awareness starts with a big campaign, influencer partnership, or paid ad budget.

Samsara shows that sometimes, awareness can start much closer to home.

“For instance, they recently ran a weekend triathlon training camp with experienced coaches and trainers (with the CUTEST branding, may I add). They regularly host group rides for different experience levels. And, they’re even planning a beginner bikepacking trip. (If I lived in Vancouver, I’d SO be there.)”  – Jesse Luimes, Director of Marketing at HeyOrca

The brand works with local creators, invites customers to become ambassadors, and regularly features the people actually wearing and using its products.

In practice, this looks like collab posts, reshared Stories, creator content, customer features, and content inspired by questions and conversations happening within the community.

What you can learn from this: 

The people already engaging with your brand can help introduce you to entirely new communities.

When customers, creators, partners, and advocates share their experiences, they're not just creating more content for your brand. They're introducing your brand to people who may have never found you otherwise.

Instead of always asking, "How can we reach more people?" try asking: "How can we make it easier for the people who already love us to bring others in?"

2. Give people a reason to engage beyond buying

Samsara gives its community plenty of reasons to engage with the brand that have nothing to do with clicking "buy now."

For example, they've hosted group rides for different experience levels, run a weekend triathlon training camp with experienced coaches and trainers, and are even planning a beginner-friendly bikepacking trip.

What you can learn from this: 

What does your community care about?

What are they trying to learn, achieve, or experience?

The answers to those questions can help you create marketing opportunities that go beyond promotions and product launches.

Here are some things to think about:

• A software company might host educational workshops
• A skincare brand might create opportunities for customers to learn from experts 
• An agency might bring marketers together to share ideas and solve common challenges

You want to give people a reason to engage with your brand when they're not actively looking to buy. 

Because the more meaningful ways people have to connect with your brand, the more opportunities you create to build a relationship.

3. Make your values visible through action

Samsara's mission and values show up in the way the brand talks about cycling, who it creates products for, the events it hosts, the creators it partners with, and the stories it chooses to tell.

What you can learn from this: 

Your values should help shape your marketing decisions.

They can influence:

• The stories you tell
• The creators and partners you work with
• The events and experiences you create
• The products and features you highlight
• The conversations you participate in
• Even the way you respond to your community

Over time, those actions help people understand not just what your brand sells, but what your brand is about.

And that's often what gives people a reason to choose you over another company selling something similar.

4. Turn community advocacy into a marketing flywheel

Samsara doesn't let customer enthusiasm disappear after someone makes a purchase.

The brand actively reshares and engages with people who tag them on social media, helping turn individual customer moments into content that more people can discover.

They also have an Insider Club that gives customers another way to advocate for and engage with the brand.

This is where things start to get really interesting from a marketing perspective.

One person's experience with the brand can inspire another person to check it out.

That person might become a customer, attend an event, share their own experience, and introduce Samsara to even more people.

These efforts build a flywheel effect since the community advocacy helps build even more brand awareness.

What you can learn from this: 

When someone shares your product, talks about your brand, or recommends you to others, don't treat it as a one-off interaction.

Look for ways to amplify it.

That could mean:

• Resharing user-generated content
• Featuring customer stories
• Creating ambassador or advocate programs
• Celebrating community wins
• Collaborating with your most engaged customers
• Creating easy ways for advocates to share their experiences

This is one of the ideas behind community-led marketing: community participation can create more than engagement.

The people closest to your brand can help build awareness, trust, and interest with the next group of people who discover you.

5. Use paid ads to amplify what already works

Once you've interacted with them, you may start seeing UGC-style ads that feel consistent with the rest of the brand experience.

They're visually engaging, community-driven, and aligned with the personality Samsara has already established through its organic content.

That's important because the ads don't have to do all the work of introducing the brand.

The organic presence, creator content, events, and customer stories have already helped create familiarity.

The paid ads simply help amplify that feeling.

What you can learn from this: 

Your paid strategy shouldn't feel disconnected from the brand people experience everywhere else.

If someone discovers you through an Instagram post, visits your website, joins your email list, and later sees one of your ads, the experience should feel connected.

Think of paid advertising as an opportunity to amplify the stories, creative ideas, and proof that are already resonating.

Instead of asking, "What should we create for ads?", try asking: "What's already working and how can we help more people see it?"

Your best-performing organic content, customer stories, creator content, and community moments can all become valuable ingredients for paid campaigns.

6. Think beyond the conversion

Samsara pairs its brand-building efforts with a straightforward purchase experience, clear shipping and return information, and follow-up emails that continue to provide value.

“Who doesn't love a feel-good brand with a simple checkout process, good shipping and return policies, and a strong email follow-up (with actually useful emails).” – Jesse Luimes, Director of Marketing at HeyOrca

What you can learn from this: 

Every interaction after someone discovers your brand contributes to how they feel about it.

Where are you making things easy for people?

And where might you be creating friction?

Maybe your social content is incredible, but your website is confusing. Maybe your ads are getting clicks, but your checkout process is painful. Or maybe customers love your product, but you never give them a reason to engage with you again.

Psst! Need some inspo for building a community-led strategy? We have a 6-step guide for you.

Summary

You don't need to copy Samsara's group rides or start planning a bikepacking trip for your customers tomorrow. (Unless that makes sense for your brand, in which case, please invite us).

But you can look at your own marketing as a connected ecosystem rather than a collection of individual tactics.

Because sometimes, the best marketing strategy isn't about finding the next channel, campaign, or growth hack.

It's about creating an experience people genuinely want to be part of and making it easy for them to bring others along.