How We Took a Cannabis Brand From Zero to Hero in 3 Years
You will not be able to name one business that dominates, who doesn’t prioritize brand, marketing, and authority building.
Executive Summary
In 2016, Green Relief required major brand development and a creative marketing strategy that would help them grow the business under strict advertising restrictions
We designed and executed a brand and marketing strategy that was unique to the industry, using content marketing and customer experience as the primary focus
By the end of 2018, we had built Green Relief into one of the most visited websites in the entire industry...
Scaled website traffic from 0 to 282,148+ pageviews per month (100% organic - no paid advertising)
Created systems to save client care team over 60 hours per week of manual data entry
100% of patients experienced at least one marketing touchpoint before registering and over 40% of patients directly attributed a marketing channel as the reason for choosing Green Relief
Over $182,697 in revenue from blog subscribers alone
Generated an average of $138,000 in PR value per month
Generated an average of 60 publications referencing Green Relief through online marketing/educational content per month
The Problem(s)
Brand
Cannabis was destined to become a commodity in Canada. Great businesses cannot compete on product offering alone. They must have a strong brand.
Take the sneaker industry for instance… Without a logo, aren't all sneakers just sneakers? Would the average person be able to tell the difference between them?
Of course not.
What if I put a Nike logo on one pair? Would this particular pair stand out? Would that pair of sneakers seem more desirable and valuable?
Of course it would.
The cannabis industry is no different. Essentially, everyone is selling the same thing and the key to standing out is BRAND.
Green Relief was missing a well defined brand, with no brand guidelines, and no brand voice or messaging. The brand assets and packaging lacked consistency and weren’t memorable. Potential patients had no means of connecting with the brand on an emotional level and no strong desire to choose Green Relief as a medical cannabis provider.
Marketing & Advertising
Medical cannabis patient registrations and subscription fulfillment could only be processed through a secured portal on a medical cannabis producer’s website. This meant that in order for Green Relief to increase registrations organically, they needed to start by driving more website traffic.
With heavy federal regulations in place, Green Relief was significantly handcuffed with what they could do related to marketing and advertising. They weren't allowed to make any lifestyle or efficacy claims about their products and couldn't run any Facebook or Google Ads either.
Many of the 150+ direct competitors had been in business longer than them and had more authority, both online and offline — an important factor given the customer's buying journey required a lot of offline effort.
On top of these limitations, GR couldn't use testimonials, case studies, or promotional or influential wording.
To make matters worse, the website at the time didn't have much helpful information, it had a poor user experience, it couldn't capture leads, and it just visibly showed how much the company was lagging behind the competition.
Our Solution
Green Relief needed a long term approach. Short term gains were not going to be enough to get through the unknown hurdles everyone in the industry was going to face. Unlike the rest of the industry, Green Relief recognized that it needed to prioritize brand and marketing with a primary focus on the customer, not the shareholder.
Below are the initiatives our team took to solve Green Relief’s challenges.
Brand
Took a deep dive into brand exploration, development, and design
Designed and developed a robust brand package along with alternates for brand extensions and sub-brands
Managed all creative direction and brand management to maintain brand aesthetic, messaging, intent across all mediums and platforms, brand experience, customer experience, and reputation
Packaging design and development across all current and future products
Humanized the brand - We built a custom plan that showcased and highlighted the company as something real (real people, real goals, real objectives and real successes and failures). By humanizing the company, we began to build a brand foundation
Telling stories - We developed stories through photo, video, audio, and written mediums that highlighted all the ways this company was unique. A massive amount of time was invested to tell consistent stories around the “why”, “how”, and “what” of the company as this is essential to establishing a strong brand in the industry
Leveraged the Green Relief team - Companies are not inanimate objects; they’re a collective of individuals seeking to solve problems for their customers. The wonderful team played a key role in successfully marketing the company through content development and word of mouth
Marketing & No Advertising
Executed an elaborate content marketing strategy with a heavy focus on highlighting the GR team as experts in their field (the only company in the industry taking this unique approach)
Maintained GR’s position as a thought leader through educational content
Highlighted GR’s focus on sustainability and social responsibility
Highlighted company culture and the passion that each member has for the company
Continued to use psychographics and educational content to take GR’s brand awareness to the next level
Highlighted and documented the major milestones of GR’s development
Executed 3 major phases of website design and development as the company grew and had more requirements
Managed the ongoing development of website Content (Main pages, landing pages etc.)
Performed daily website management, optimization, and improvements to ensure patients would always have access and resources required to purchase
Prioritized Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and content creation (Blog posts) to continue to scale website traffic in Canada and globally for future proofing
Developed a consistent social media strategy using high quality video and photo, with a primary focus on brand (what makes GR unique), instead of product (just a commodity)
Ongoing social media content and community management to ensure every follower felt heard and was a part of the Green Relief community
As we began to scale the content marketing program, we introduced 2 podcast concepts to generate awareness with new audiences. Podcasting was and still is one of the best marketing channels for any business
Incorporated a PR firm to boost press, acquire podcast guest spots, and develop press releases
Developed an ongoing video marketing strategy that included short stories as well as mini docs, and long form productions (80% of all content online is consumed in video form)
Other Initiatives
Implemented and optimized GR’s customer management system used by the customer care team to intake and manage patients, which saved hundreds of man hours per month and incorporated the brand voice to ensure consistency between marketing and sales
Developed tools and integrations for increasing patient intake efficiency which reduced hundreds of man hours per month
Managed all packaging production (sourcing, negotiating, ordering, etc.)
Designed and managed production of all promotional materials (hats and other merch, cards, stickers, posters, etc.)
Designed and managed production of all customer experience materials (shipping boxes, thank you cards, etc.)
Provided creative direction, design, management, and execution for all events, including the entire Lift & Co title sponsorship project
Provided support and management for 2 projects between Arrive Alive and Green Relief
Provided support and management for police education project between CPKN and Green Relief
Provided support and management of a collaboration between Pat Crocker and Green Relief
Results
As you can imagine, this took years to scale. We started small, tackling the major issues first, and slowly increased our efforts (and team) over time as the company grew. The results we achieved were incredible. Not just for the cannabis industry, but any industry.
Created one of the highest traffic generating websites in the industry
Produced industry leading results at a fraction of the cost of the competition
Grew website traffic from 0 to 282,148+ pageviews per month (100% organic - no paid advertising), compared to competitors who were averaging approximately 10,000/month
96% of GR online traffic generated by blog content
Saved client care team over 60 hours per week of manual data entry
By the end of 2018...
100% of patients experienced at least one marketing touchpoint before registering and over 40% of patients directly attributed a marketing channel as the reason for choosing Green Relief
Attributed over $182,697 in revenue to blog subscribers alone
Generated an average of $138,000 in PR value per month
An average of 60 publications referencing Green Relief each month through online marketing/educational content
Notable mentions
Green Relief brand was voted for best social media marketing in the cannabis industry via AdCann in 2018
After Green Relief's unique growing method, it’s marketing program was the next most prominent differentiator
We were able to form strong relationships in the cannabis community and were regarded as a pioneers in the cannabis marketing space
Team
As the agency on record, Green Relief required 100% of our attention and we were required to grow a team to handle the increasing demand of content development and unforeseen tasks laid out by management. However, we did our hiring slowly and carefully to ensure we were able to keep costs down and hire individuals with a vision of the future.
Below are the roles that were required to execute this elaborate program. Companies producing similar results and volume were approximately 10x the size.
VP of Marketing / Creative Director
Growth Strategist / Content Marketer
Art Director / Production Manager
Content Writer
Graphic Designer
Web designer
Webdeveloper
Videographer / Editor
Photographer
Social media manager / community manager
PR manager
* * In 2018, our business name changed from Allan Glanfield (DBA: Blackburn & Foster) to Bellwether X * *
Conclusion
When traditional marketing methods aren’t permitted, the idea of building a cannabis brand and producing marketing results was a major problem for marketers. The landscape and regulations were always changing and required significant attention, flexibility, and investment. Forward-thinking executives understood this reality and were prepared to make the necessary investments to ensure the longevity and stable future of their company.
By the end of 2018, our results were really beginning to snowball and take off...
In early 2019, a new and ill informed management team decided to pivot in a new direction. This change in focus and effort resulted in a massive crash for the company’s online presence and causing irreparable damage.
Witnessing the rise and fall of a company’s brand and marketing success is an interesting experiment, as it quickly demonstrates that brand awareness and marketing is a machine that must be fueled and maintained forever. It simply cannot be turned on and off whenever you please.
Currently, Green Relief has monthly traffic below industry average, generates $0 from blog subscribers, has a negative PR value, and is no longer being referenced by other publications through valuable content.