After reading Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, I finally feel I’d connected with someone who can really breakdown the meaning of strategy without giving into MBA-speak. Given the authors are legendary P&G CEO A.G. Lafley and Harvard School of Management Dean Roger Martin, it’s no wonder. While Lafley and Martin...
Company Seeking Long Term Relationship with Talented Agency Finding “the one” is hard, especially if you’ve never worked with an agency before. And hey, maybe working with an agency isn’t for you and your business. That’s okay. We just hope this blog post can help answer some of the more common questions...
So you’re trying to run AdWords ads for your cannabis brand and want to know how to do that? I won’t lie. It isn’t easy. And as consultants who have been running ads on Google AdWords starting back when those were in cuneiform on clay tablets (it feels that long ago)...
Whether you’re interested in becoming a digital marketer, or an agency hiring a digital marketing specialist to join your marketing team, or even if you’re a business owner hiring a digital marketing agency to take over marketing completely, there are a few commonalities I’ve noticed, and you should look for, amongst those...
Successful series of studies on the Cannabis Consumer results in pioneering strategic partnership to deliver Fortune-500-caliber market insights. SEATTLE, WA March 20, 2018 – Seattle-based Matters Group and Cascade Strategies, Inc., have formalized a partnership to deliver advanced data science, sophisticated analytics and market research services to the emerging cannabis industry....
One question I often get when I discuss user testing with a client is “but… we already have Google Analytics well-configured with Goals, and we do rigorous A/B testing, is that not enough”? It’s a valid question, so I thought I would address that. I recently had the opportunity to participate...
Personal Ad: Cannabis Company Seeking Long Term Relationship with Talented Marketing Agency Finding “the one” is hard, especially if you’ve never worked with an agency before. And hey, maybe working with an agency isn’t for you and your business. That’s okay. We just hope this blog post can help answer some...
One of the most important aspects of a Content Playbook is the Content Calendar. The Content Calendar is really the meat of the content strategy which is developed from the Content Audit. A Content Calendar typically includes format, topics, target keyword phrases, due dates, etc. We’ve found that more effective programs have calendars that...
Advertising cannabis and CBD brands present their own unique set of challenges, and we blogged about this some here and here. But if you’re beginning to think about advertising your product/service, let’s talk a bit about what a brand should consider first. Or, put another way, let’s have at least thought about the factors...
Many traditional forms of advertising are unavailable or too costly for many cannabis businesses today. This is perhaps why so many of them have turned to social media to engage with their customers and expand their overall reach. However, many of these businesses are also realizing that just being on social media isn’t enough....
A solid content marketing approach usually includes these three general components: Content StrategyContent Marketing PlanContent Performance Analytics Content Strategy Starting with the content strategy, it’s important to first define what your content needs and goals are. If you’re not sure what your content needs and goals are, we recommend conducting a...
We often tell people there’s no one right way to do content, but there are several ways to get it wrong. A lot of it is trial and error. It’s testing topics, tones, and mediums to see what resonates with your target audience and gets them to engage. If you’re currently...
Picture the scene… It is CannaCon, a respectable B2B cannabis industry tradeshow in Denver, Colorado. I am walking and talking with Morgan, at the time President of the MJBA, later Founder and CEO of the Cannabis Women’s Alliance. We were discussing what topics we should discuss on an upcoming panel about...
When I wrote this post nearly two years ago, it was with the expectation that I would be able to update it with “good news”, that cannabis businesses are able to take advantage of the powerful AdWords platform, running ads on Facebook, Instagram and the like, and the rest of us...
Recently, while trying to determine what impact, if any, the latest Google update (regarding the nofollow link attribute, rel=”nofollow”, now being recorded as a “hint” rather than as a directive by Google) had on our website traffic, I noticed a pattern in the nature of the service inquiries we were receiving...
The digital space is an extremely important channel for businesses today, especially businesses in the cannabis industry. Your website is really your digital storefront so to speak; in many cases, it’s the first (or only) touch point many of your customers have with your business. And because it’s almost Halloween, we...
On average today more than half of in-home devices are mobile, and mobile searches and purchases continue to rise. In a recent econsultancy study, businesses surveyed reported an average of 50.8% of their total digital traffic having come via mobile devices in 2020, up from 13% in 2017. This trend is only going...
Many small businesses in the cannabis industry tend to think that market research is a costly exercise that can provide knowledge and insight –both of which are pleasant in the abstract– but doesn’t provide tangible results like more sales and profits. Admittedly, there are some market research projects that don’t...
Our client relationships usually begin with what we call the Brand Platform process, which consists of three steps: (1) Internal Platform: in which we ensure all key decision-makers and influencers are on the same page (often more difficult than you’d think); (2) External Platform: where we seek out existing customers and potential prospects...
In its simplest terms, marketing is the communication bridge between your target audience and your brand. So once you’ve taken the critical first step and nailed down what you stand for as a brand, you then need to determine how you want to engage with your target market. This process of consumer engagement...