Guillermo Rodriguez welcomes Samuel Fisher, Co-founder of Green Dispensary Marketing, to discuss effective marketing and SEO strategies for cannabis dispensaries. Samuel emphasizes the importance of building a dispensary's own digital assets, such as a well-optimized website and strong Google “My Business” profile, rather than relying solely on third-party platforms like Weedmaps and Leafly. He shares insights into SEO, the significance of backlinks, and strategies for creating a sustainable digital presence. The episode underscores the need for dispensaries to invest in their own digital marketing to drive growth and profitability.
“There’s about 10-15 different things that you can do right now to optimize your online presence and make sure that your number one on Google.” – Samuel Fisher
The finer details of this episode:
Episode resources:
Timestamps:
Introduction to the Cannabis Success Show (00:00:00)
Overview of the show’s purpose: to help cannabis companies scale and improve profits.
Guest Introduction: Sam Fisher (00:00:25)
Guillermo introduces Sam Fisher, highlighting his expertise in marketing and SEO for cannabis dispensaries.
Sam Fisher's Background (00:02:47)
Sam shares his early experiences and journey into the cannabis industry.
Amendment 64 Overview (00:04:06)
Discussion about Amendment 64, which legalized recreational marijuana in Colorado.
Sam's Early Career in Marketing (00:04:44)
Sam reflects on his background in digital marketing and his transition into the cannabis sector.
Founding Green Dispensary Marketing (00:06:35)
Sam explains the motivation behind starting his own marketing agency in the cannabis industry.
Defining SEO and Backlinks (00:08:13)
Sam provides a basic overview of SEO and the importance of backlinks for online visibility.
Strategies for Cannabis Dispensaries (00:10:02)
Discussion on effective strategies for dispensaries to improve their digital presence through backlinks.
Understanding Weedmaps and Leafly (00:12:21)
Sam describes how platforms like Weedmaps and Leafly operate and their impact on dispensaries.
Combining Digital Assets and Platforms (00:13:39)
Exploration of the balance between using third-party platforms and building owned digital assets.
The Risks of Over-Reliance on Platforms (00:15:49)
Discussion on the dangers of depending solely on platforms like Weedmaps for business visibility.
Impact of Pricing Pressure (00:16:53)
Sam discusses how reliance on price comparison platforms affects retail strategies in the cannabis market.
Tracking Leads and ROI (00:18:03)
Guillermo inquires about methods to track customer leads and the return on investment for marketing efforts.
Comparing Traffic and Revenue Reports (00:19:00)
Sam suggests comparing traffic data with revenue reports to gauge marketing effectiveness.
Tools for Tracking KPIs (00:21:01)
Discussion on effective tools and systems for tracking key performance indicators in retail.
Podcast Episode Timestamps
Understanding Click Tracking (00:21:04)
Sam explains the variability in tracking clicks and sales across different platforms.
Marketing Budgets and Trends (00:21:51)
Guillermo discusses the anticipated increase in marketing budgets for cannabis companies.
Challenges in Marketing Trust (00:24:20)
Sam addresses the skepticism among cannabis businesses regarding marketing investments.
Deceptive Advertising Practices (00:26:18)
Sam warns about the moral issues of deceiving Google’s advertising rules in cannabis marketing.
Importance of Compliance (00:27:10)
Guillermo emphasizes the need for understanding marketing regulations to avoid penalties.
Future of Cannabis Marketing (00:29:58)
Sam shares insights on potential changes in cannabis marketing with future legalization.
SEO Cleanup Strategies (00:31:47)
Sam offers advice on steps retailers can take to improve their SEO.
Initial Consultation Process (00:32:35)
Sam describes what potential clients can expect during their first consultation.
Client Engagement Expectations (00:34:24)
Sam outlines the level of involvement required from clients when starting a partnership.
Finding Sam Fisher (00:35:27)
Sam shares various ways to connect with him, including his website and podcast.
Excitement for Industry Changes (00:36:19)
Sam expresses enthusiasm for the growing acceptance of cannabis as medicine.
Long-term Benefits of SEO (00:39:24)
Guillermo highlights the importance of SEO in building sustainable cannabis businesses.
Intro 00:00:00 Welcome to the Cannabis Success Show. If you're a cannabis company owner or operator who's ready to scale your business, grow your profits, and plant the seeds to take your business to new heights. This show is for you. We'll share expert insights, industry trends, and actionable strategies to help you blaze a trail of success in the cannabis industry.
Guillermo 00:00:25 Welcome to the Cannabis Success Show. I am your host, Gilmore Rodriguez. Today we have a really exciting guest. We're talking about marketing, about SEO with SEO expert Sam Fisher. He's the co-founder of Green Dispensary Marketing. and what he does is he helps cannabis dispensaries. So, we're more on the retail side today. get off of weed maps and Leafly and start making money using their own digital assets. I love the conversation because this conversation is about building a more sustainable cannabis industry, and building up digital assets is really a big part of that. Sam's going to share a lot of tips on how you can start to do that, whether you're in an emerging market and getting started, or you haven't put many dollars into your marketing budget, he's got some really concrete steps in how to improve your online presence and start to build the value of your digital assets, such as your website.
Guillermo 00:01:29 So, I really love what he has to say about the future of cannabis, and how platforms like Leafly and weed maps are going to be used in light of the reschedule. If that happens in the coming year, make sure you stick around to the end. Ask him what he's most excited about. and he shares what he's really excited about in the coming year. And I'll give you a hint, it has nothing to do with the reschedule. And it's something that I completely agree with and am totally passionate about. So, make sure you stick around to the end. That's what's coming up right now on the Cannabis Success Show. enjoy the episode. Welcome to the Cannabis Success Show. Today we have a great episode. We got Sam Fisher. He's the co-founder of Green Dispensary Marketing. they help cannabis dispensaries, with SEO, get off, weed maps and Leafly and start making money using their own digital assets. So, we really want to talk about that. Nothing wrong with those platforms. They're great. Everybody uses them.
Guillermo 00:02:31 But we'll be interested to get your take. Sam, on how dispensaries can better leverage their own digital assets and what that that even means. But before we get into that, first of all, welcome to the show.
Sam 00:02:47 Yeah. Thank you. Guillermo, it's an honor to be here. Definitely enjoy your show. And as I'm saying, it's honor just to be on here to talk with you. So, I appreciate you having me.
Guillermo 00:02:55 Yeah. You bet. So, before we get into in the marketing, we always like to know, can you, can you tell us your story of how you got into the cannabis world? World. I assume you haven't been in cannabis for your entire career. And what was the the trajectory that got you here? Yeah.
Sam 00:03:12 So, back when I was in university, actually, I remember when Colorado, I went to Colorado State University in Fort Collins. There was this big little uprising of, you know, the people who wanted to smoke marijuana, and have it legalized.
Sam 00:03:27 And so, I was actually part of the amendment 64. I was handing out cards on campus. Hey. Yeah. Oh, yes. Well, yes. But amendment 64, and also simultaneously, I found medical benefits using it. I have a condition called scoliosis. And so, I had a medical marijuana card. and I was buying legally when other people weren't able to. And I just thought that that seemed a little counterintuitive, for somebody who's getting a lot of benefits that other people in the broader market can as well. So, I was very excited when the amendment 64 passed. And we've come a long way as you know.
Guillermo 00:04:06 And that was you said Colorado. So that was very early on in the in the medical program. Or can you talk about amendment 64 for those who aren't as familiar. Yeah.
Sam 00:04:16 So, 64 was basically the amendment that legalized marijuana for recreational use in Colorado. And so, a couple of years before that, three years before we actually had medical marijuana legalized. And so, Colorado is a little liberal in that regard.
Sam 00:04:32 And so, definitely took advantage of that being a Colorado resident.
Guillermo 00:04:37 And at that point is what was your background where you already working in in marketing prior to that?
Sam 00:04:44 I was in school. I was actually in college. and so, I got a history degree. at the time, I was actually working as a professional DJ, and so, yeah, I was doing a little bit of digital marketing, placing Google ads and Craigslist ads and doing some basic SEO, but really didn't dip my toes fully into digital marketing until I started working online remote. And that would have been in 2016, about eight years ago.
Guillermo 00:05:09 Yeah. So pretty, pretty early on, you were in in cannabis pretty early on 2016 with one of the one of the first states. And at that time, were you, can you talk a little bit about, you know, what was your first, you know, segway into that, your first, you know, job doing marketing work kind of in the very early years.
Sam 00:05:32 I don't know, I've kind of.
Sam 00:05:33 Always had an entrepreneurial spirit. It's as I was saying when I was 18, actually, I got my first job when I was 12 years old. probably not legally, but doing janitor work for, a school. And so, when I was 18, I started my own DJ business, who was a mobile DJ for a while. And so really, me going into marketing is really just a continuation of what I had been doing really since I was 12 years old. Just finding ways to make money online. Make money, without having a real job, quote unquote.
Guillermo 00:06:03 Yeah, I could resonate with that. Sam. I started, I remember getting my first job when I turned 16, the week of, and I and I haven't, haven't stopped working, since then. but you were much early on at 12 years old.
Sam 00:06:19 And when it's probably legal.
Guillermo 00:06:21 Okay. We don't talk about legal things here, but, at what point did you start, green dispensary marketing? And what did you see as the need there in the cannabis world to start? Yes.
Sam 00:06:35 Let me, fast forward. So, I previously before starting green dispensary marketing, I was working as a SEO content manager for one of these big rig SEO agencies. You know, pulling in millions of dollars a year for them. And I really that was where I noticed the opportunity when I noticed how much money is pulling in to just cannabis seeds. So that's what I was really helping them sell with these cannabis seeds, CBD products. And so, most of my job then was to optimize SEO content, plan out keywords. A lot of the stuff that I'm doing now back linking. And so really, I had a epiphany. I was like, why? Why am I doing this? Why am I making millions of dollars for everybody else when I have all the skills and I have all the knowledge and I could just jump out on my own, you know, take little risk. And so, about November of last year, actually. So, we've almost made it to a year. My fiancé and I decided, hey, yeah, we're going to start our own stuff.
Sam 00:07:27 So, we got some early sales, you know, had some luck right from the get go and also had some early results. And so, I think that's really a testament that we're going to be here for the long run.
Guillermo 00:07:37 Yeah. We're going to get into, you know, how folks can measure at the point of sale, whether it's long term or short term, the effects, you know, the, the performance of SEO. yeah. First, I'd like to define some terms because I know I work with our marketing people and they throw out terms like backlinks, and I'm like, what is that? So just to basic terms like, can you describe what SEO means and what backlinks are just to kind of set the stage for, for those who aren't as familiar with these marketing terms? Yeah.
Sam 00:08:13 I hate using.
Sam 00:08:14 The word SEO because like, what I love to do, is manage the web presence. But to answer your questions. SEO stands for Search Engine optimization.
Sam 00:08:22 So, there's, you know, ten things, 15 different things that you can be doing to optimize your, your web presence and make sure that your number one on Google. And so right now in 2021, 24, 2024, the really the best way to get the number one ranking for, you know, high volume terms like dispensary near me is to look at your Google my business profile. And so, as you're getting into, one of the ways to do that is to have a really good website, really good reviews, but also to be link building and backlinking. And so essentially what those are is when you have other websites with authority and with traffic linking to your main domain, Google sees that as a really good signal that you are an authority in the industry and that you know something. And so, for example, right now when we do this podcast, you guys are going to publish this and you're going to probably put a link to my back, put a link to my website, and that's going to qualify as a backlink.
Sam 00:09:14 It's going to increase my authority. give me some more SEO juice on my end.
Guillermo 00:09:19 And is that is that something that dispensary, owners can do on their own or what are some ways where is this writing articles or what would a retailer do that's maybe not working with you yet to be able to increase their traffic using backlinks and making sure that it's on authoritative type websites? Is it writing articles? What are some of the activities? Because I know a lot of dispensary owners have very minimal marketing budgets, especially as they're starting now. Or maybe not really a plan, to get going and get their digital presence up. what it's like an example of some of the things that that can be done to improve in the, in this area.
Sam 00:10:02 So one thing.
Sam 00:10:03 To kind of note right away when we're talking about backlink back linking is there's a white hat strategy and a black hat strategy. So, when you say white hat, we're talking about strategies that Google sees to be good, healthy positive signals. But black hat strategies on the other hand, are kind of manipulative using the algorithm against itself.
Sam 00:10:25 And so if you are a dispensary owner, you know, wanting to get some good backlink and going, I would recommend to do a white hat approach. It's just really the best way to do it. Cannabis is already a really tough niche. and so, one of the worst things you could do is to kind of ruin your own reputation by getting these spammy backlinks. You know, people go to fiber, for example, spent $10 for a thousand backlinks, you know, and you'll get like some maybe some Russian domains pointing over to your website. And I've seen cannabis dispensaries actually get penalized manually by Google because it's against their rules, to be paying for backlinks. But really the best way to kind of summarize, your question, put it in smaller terms, is to be looking at something called business listings. And so, there's various platforms. You know, weed maps is actually one of them where we're talking about them. Leafly is another one where they'll list your cannabis dispensary, and they'll put a backlink to your website.
Sam 00:11:14 These are websites with authority. and so, they're already known by Google to be in the cannabis niche. They get lots of traffic. And so, web maps and there are a couple there's actually a lot of them. So, cannabis dot net. That's another one to look at. There's actually hundreds of that really. Because a lot of these people on the other end, you know, we'd match legally what they're trying to do is they're trying to bring in these cannabis dispensaries and have them sign up to a paid plan of some sort, get paid promotions. So, you know, it goes both ways.
Guillermo 00:11:42 Can you describe how those platforms like leaf link? leafly. And weed maps. You know how they work because, you know, your approach is to use more of your own digital assets. So, maybe there's a combination of the two. maybe there's a stronger, I don't think you're saying we're going to go, you know, do away completely with those platforms. Right. But maybe a combination.
Guillermo 00:12:07 Can you talk about what you just mentioned? One thing, but like, how does how does weed maps, really work? I mean, just, what do they do for a dispensary just to get some kind of some basics?
Sam 00:12:21 Think of it as an alternative to Google Maps that lets you upload your menu and helps you process your orders for you. That's what these platforms do. And so, they invest a ridiculous amount of money in SEO to make sure or to help ensure that they're number one for these high-volume terms. So, you know, dispensary owners listing one of these terms that you should be looking at something called dispensary near me. This is something that they're currently investing tens of thousands of dollars a month, to dominate any sort of local market. And so really, they're trying to compete against you. also, meanwhile, taking in your money. And so, if you were to pay for a book slot on them, you're basically helping them with their investment on the dispensary as opposed to investing your own money and getting number one rankings to beat them.
Sam 00:13:11 And this is what I helped, dispensary owners do.
Guillermo 00:13:17 Yeah. So that's a segue into do you, how do you help dispensaries, create that, that presence to where they can compete, with the weed maps or do they use both for, for a period of time or a combination of the, of the two? What are some things that you do to kind of improve that.
Sam 00:13:39 Yeah.
Sam 00:13:39 And so if you're a brand new dispensary, it's really easy to see why you should get on weed maps, because it just gives you a really simple onboarding process to get your menu and have an online store. But really, I think one of the big moments is it's really not that hard to do that on your own, and you can do this on your own. And so, a lot of cannabis dispensaries are kind of stuck doing this old strategy. They'll be relying on weed maps. They'll have walk-ins that have come in one time. they'll have some word of mouth customers on the back end also be hoping for an investor.
Sam 00:14:09 So, any of these dispensary owners or bootstrap ers, and so they're hoping for an investor or excuse me, hoping for an investor hoping for an ROI in about five years. And so really instead what we could be doing is we could be leveraging strategic SEO, enhancing your loyalty programs, you know, having people opt in, retarget them, have them keep coming back in, and then just keep using digital marketing strategies to improve your web presence and have you more visible in areas and also beat weed maps. That's really what we love to do. That answers your question. Well, yeah.
Guillermo 00:14:40 Is this similar to like, you know, I think what a lot of people don't realize is, like, if you have a strong presence on a platform, we don't really own those assets. Right. It's like exactly. Especially in cannabis, where I know when I, when I started, I was really gung ho and I was like, I got my Instagram and I started putting ads out and then they didn't get approved and they got they got shut down.
Guillermo 00:15:04 And then then my bank account got closed as well.
Sam 00:15:07 oh no way.
Guillermo 00:15:08 Yeah, that was fun. And then, but you know, like YouTube can take you take, take you off. You don't really own that platform or the content on there. This is similar, right? I mean, we can make a comparison that weed maps is, is similar in the sense that you don't own that content. If it goes away tomorrow, your online presence goes off. If you're highly dependent on that. And so, what you're saying is form a different strategy where you have your own assets that that you manage and, and start to build a value in, such as your website. So, you have a more sustainable and valuable business. Right? Yeah.
Sam 00:15:49 It really once you stopped paying.
Sam 00:15:51 The weed maps, ads, then the ads go away, then your visibility drops. And so, I hear it all the time, people that are stuck doing this old plan is that they won't get an ROI.
Sam 00:16:00 They'll be paying high costs, investing high amounts of money on weed maps. So maybe it'll work initially, and then it'll start to come back down. and then, you know, at the same time, they'll be dealing with saturated competition on these sorts of platforms, you know, bidding per click. and then really, weed maps will tell you I had a client tell me there's people on this platform. We're just looking for the cheapest marijuana possible. and so, it's really not a platform that you're going to go to find loyal customers that are trying to pay top dollar for quality products. and it's not going to help you also, at the same time, those are those Are you looking for investors? It's not going to help you stand out with your branding. It's really just going to get these one off customers looking for the cheapest deals possible.
Guillermo 00:16:43 Yeah. And I mean, what your what I hear you saying is that it's, it's enabling the, the pricing pressure that's, that's going on in the industry.
Guillermo 00:16:53 Right. If the majority of retailers are using weed maps, the majority of sales are coming through weed maps and, specifically in the flower category, you're training these consumers that they can just go to the site and find the, the, the lowest cost. And then all of a sudden retailers are competing on price versus value. But the strategy that you're offering is to start, entering the marketplace, competing based on the value of your, of your product and your offering. Right? Not just not just price. Is there a way to track, You know, for retailers that are starting to, to come off weed maps, I mean, is it relatively straightforward because you have some states that allow e-commerce and some that don't, where you're let's just call them leads, where your leads are coming from, where the revenue is being generated. This is a selfish, real question because as a virtual CFO, that's what I'm always trying to track is what's ROI on this platform, on these marketing dollars? Because if it's if it's working, we want to spend more.
Guillermo 00:18:03 And so are there some ways that, whether through your point of sale system or other tools to be able to track where the leads are coming from, where your consumers are getting that first touchpoint.
Sam 00:18:18 Yeah, absolutely. So, when we.
Sam 00:18:20 Build your website, when we're managing your GMB profile, when we're managing your weed maps profile or managing your Yelp profile, we'll have all the information on your clicks on when they're coming to the website. And so, at the same time, I'm not asking for the keys to the revenue reports. I think that would be a little bit irresponsible. What I would recommend as a business owner is to compare these reports of these traffic with your revenue reports, to really see the impacts of the managed web presence, as opposed to saying, hey, Sam. Yeah, we made $10,000 today. How the clicks do? I really think the best way to do it is to compare our reports, which is our clicks and traffic and engagement with your revenue reports.
Guillermo 00:19:00 So, you're saying you're.
Guillermo 00:19:03 And from that, I mean, is it possible to see where the foot traffic is coming from?
Sam 00:19:09 Yes, absolutely. Okay, absolutely.
Sam 00:19:11 And so I also recommend to all my clients, I mean, when people are coming in, want to have them prompt, prompt them to do review when they're, when they're checking out, you know, have like little McDonald's order, you know, when you go to McDonald's, when you purchasing your meals, do you want fries and a drink with that? that, you know, there's something that it's really easy to implement as well as having a review. And then at the end of the day, keeping track of where people are coming from. Ask them where, how they're, how they're coming into the store. Hey, how do you find us? You know, it's really simple, easy ways to track this and so on my end, yes, we can track the clicks. We can track people coming to the store. We could track people opening your emails.
Sam 00:19:45 We can track if they're going to the deals page. We can track if they're checking out the products online. But really, at the end of the day, you also have to compare those with the revenue reports that are coming in that your manager is performing.
Guillermo 00:19:56 Have you noticed any tools that that that work better than others? You know, when we bring on a client, first thing is we want we get all, you know, get access to all the software. You know, for some clients, it's easier to get data, some clients, it's less reliable. There's technology that's outdated. for a retailer to really have success and be able to track foot traffic, you know, conversion, all these various things. You track some of this through your website, but is there any tools that have worked really well? to any recommendations that that you have to make sure that that retailers are able to track the KPIs that they need to, to track to ensure that marketing dollars are being well spent? whether the point of sale systems or any, any kind of stellar tools that that you've seen out there that have worked really well, that you, you know, in conjunction with your services, you're really able to work with retailers and provide really good insights.
Sam 00:21:01 So, if you have a point of sale, which is directly on your website.
Sam 00:21:04 we're going to know exactly who's checking out when and what exactly they're buying. To answer your question a short manner. However, not everybody does it this way. And so, some people will want to have their store remapped just because they don't want to invest in having a store on their website. And so, when we're working with them, we can track the clicks going over the web apps. We can look at the, the, the reviews being made on emails, but really the sales being made on weed maps. It's out of our control unless we have a access to their profile. You know, it really depends on the person. and so, there's not really a one size fits all unless you give us keys to these sorts of things and you give us your full trust. happy to help you out, manage all these aspects for you to present better reports for you, but it really depends on the person, to be honest with you.
Sam 00:21:45 It depends on the client, depends on what they're willing to give over and hand over.
Guillermo 00:21:51 And have you, you know, shifting topic over to like what it's like to work with you. you know, I did a, we're part of the Cannabis Marketing Association. And I think one of the topics this year was, you know, cannabis companies are going to be spending more on marketing. Just budgets should theoretically get better with better cash flow. over the next, coming years, whether from new markets are doing better emerging markets, but also potentially, lowering the, or eliminating the burden of 280 or a lot of cannabis companies are simply using other tax strategies to amend tax returns and bring in additional cash flow. Have you seen an increase in marketing spend, even though the reschedule is not happening? But we have a lot of new markets like New Jersey and a lot of new, exciting markets. And have you seen an increase, especially as operators are getting more sophisticated and consolidated in marketing spend? Because, like I said, going back to, the presentation that, that I, that I participated in with the Am, with the Cannabis Marketing Association is that compared to other industries, marketing spend is extremely low in cannabis.
Guillermo 00:23:13 Some of that has to do with its non-deductible. Some of it has to do with just the newness of the industry. And operators aren't just spending as many dollars on professional services. have you seen any change over the last year as far as how retailers are, especially in new markets, are engaging with marketing services or getting set up from the get go?
Sam 00:23:38 I have to be honest with you, I don't know if that's a trend.
Sam 00:23:40 That I would know completely on my end. Yeah. You know, we're floating, we're surviving. We're not going to go out of business because of a lack of spending. To be honest with you, I think the biggest money is coming from the biggest players up top. Whereas down below, some of these small medium business owners, they're really, they don't really trust marketing dollars. And I find that kind of sad because, you know, really any sort of, big company, they'll hire a CFO, they'll have a CMO. And it's essentially what I'm doing is providing you a full service CMO or marketing team while working as your CFO and charging less than a full-time worker.
Sam 00:24:20 And so really, I think a lot of it has to do with bad actors who come in and overpromise on the front end and deliver trash on the back end. as well as also people who have a good career in sales who come into this and, you know, start selling some SEO packages and they don't know how to do fulfillment. And so really, it kind of creates a trauma for some of these people who do invest, don't get results. And then all of a sudden, they just think it's, you know, marketing is a scam. And it's like, obviously marketing is not a scam. You know, that's why any sort of big company you'll hire a CMO, it's just probably means that you're just not working with the right person who has a track record and knows how to do this.
Guillermo 00:24:58 Yeah. When we have, I've had several, calls with, potential clients over the last few weeks, and I would say almost all of them have had some kind of bad actor in the past, as you mentioned, some kind of trauma from some consultant they've spent money on, some bad decisions or just a lot of, a lot of these types of consultants out there in the, in the marketing world.
Guillermo 00:25:26 So, it is a it is a real thing. And that's why it's so important for us to do like what we're doing right now is for the industry to, to get to know us, to have conversations, to be thought leaders so we can establish that credibility and separate ourselves from those who are out there not doing really good things. But I really want to get for our listeners is how they can, you know, other than recommendations or vetting people or making sure that, you know, you're out here speaking, that they get to know you. What are some of the things that, you know, if you hear this from an SEO expert, from a marketing person, like run the other way. If they promise you this, are there some things to look out for, retailer that that they want to make sure, you know, when they're, when they're trying to, you know, sign up for.
Sam 00:26:17 One of the big.
Sam 00:26:18 Trends that I've noticed recently that I kind of see a moral issue with is people deceiving the Google system to run Google ads.
Sam 00:26:28 and so there's a way that you can run Google ads right now. I don't know if you know this, but really, when you run Google Ads, it stays set in sun forever and they prohibit you from running cannabis ads. And so, there's an organization, as you know, called the FTC that does not like deceptive ad campaigns. And so, I kind of see this as like, really, you guys are going to run Google ads and risk getting sued by the FTC. I think that's a big one. people, bad actors trying to bend and twist the rules. This really just not a good idea. I don't personally do that on my agency. We don't do Google ads for that reason, as we are not trying to risk a lawsuit from the FTC. But there are people who do.
Guillermo 00:27:10 So, that that's a I mean, what I hear you saying is just simply on the call. ask the question, do you know the rules? And give me some examples of some of the rules and some of the things we can and cannot do? I'm sure there are stories out there of marketing companies that have broken these rules and put their clients, in harm's way.
Guillermo 00:27:33 but what I what you're saying is basically, you know, when you're talking to someone, I'm sure that's a question for you on a call. Right? When you're meeting potential clients is like, what are the rules? What are the things that I need to look out for to make sure that you are truly a cannabis marketing expert and not just, you know, you know, dabbling in the cannabis space. And that was a really good example, that you gave there. Have you seen companies, you know, do those specific things and get in trouble? facing fines from, not following rules.
Sam 00:28:10 I have a client. It's not in the cannabis niche.
Sam 00:28:12 it's in a other one of these banned banish and the psychotropic realm. They sell mushroom spores. they were running Google ads, and they recently got a dangerous content penalty. And their site is not doing well right now, and it's completely their fault. And it's really not just this industry to you. I work with a marketing coach.
Sam 00:28:30 I'm a big coach. His name's Frankie. Fin. Shout out Frankie. You're awesome. and he has one other client who works more in the medical realm. And so, they have something similar with the HIPAA, HIPAA regulations. And so, it's the same thing. You know, if you break those, you'll get sued into oblivion.
Guillermo 00:28:48 Yeah. Yeah. So, really important to get on this. from the, from the get go. Shifting over to the future, do you see some changes with any changes with the reschedule in terms of how the platforms like, like webapps and Leafly will be used in the long term with, any potential in, in interstate commerce or do you see any real changes in in marketing due to the reschedule?
Sam 00:29:18 And I think the really, it's.
Sam 00:29:20 A question of when we will get legalized, you know, maybe it'll be in ten years. I think really just based on tax dollars and money and Uncle Sam wanting a cut of that, that we are going to legalize it. That's what I would guess.
Sam 00:29:34 And I think that that's when platforms like Google, they're going to be more welcoming to things like Google Ads. They'll let you place your Google ads, potentially. You know, it depends. it really if that were to happen, that's.
Sam 00:29:46 When.
Sam 00:29:46 Weed maps legally they're going to, you know, start to either have to adapt and jump into a niche or decline.
Sam 00:29:56 Yeah.
Guillermo 00:29:58 So, do you see is your prediction I, I poll, I got my own little research thing going on here, but I poll, every guest that we have on. And do you, do you feel like the reschedule will happen when you buy. Need all the points you could get. Now we know he needs a lot more points. And do you think the reschedule happened before the election?
Sam 00:30:23 Honestly, that's a great question. I am not a political mind. I am not a master in these sorts of things, nor do I really like to speak on it that much. But if I were to guess, maybe we'll get a desperate last move.
Sam 00:30:36 You know, our president right now is. Seems like a guy who would be willing to do that. You know, given his son his history with his son, Wolfie Wolf. I'll just leave it there. I have no idea. don't presume to know.
Guillermo 00:30:50 It's all just guesses. So. Yeah. and so, what, before we get in, I wanted to get into what it's what it's like to work with you. What? Somebody could expect what the steps are. but before I ask that question. Let's just say someone right now is, maybe not ready to work with, not yet working with them with a marketing expert or CMO, but maybe they've made some mistakes. Is there anything that retailers and brands can do to clean up their SEO? in the meantime, is there any steps or actions that you can take to maybe, clean up some, some damage that's already been done or some, some changes that, that you could make, immediately that would have an impact.
Sam 00:31:47 That's a question.
Sam 00:31:48 That we could be talking about in depth for about another 30 minutes. What I would recommend to anybody who has that similar question, I actually have a free resource if you go to my website, Green Dispensary Marketing. Com if you just click on the cheat sheet you can download that. It gives a way, you know, most of my ideas that I would tell you to answer that question.
Guillermo 00:32:10 Okay. And we'll definitely link that, in the show notes. But let's just say someone is ready to, to, to work with, CMO. They need help on the SEO. maybe it's a new market, and they're ready to get up and running. What's the what's how is it like to work with you? I mean, do they just reach out to you and have a call? What is that initial, kind of consultation? Like, what can someone expect?
Sam 00:32:35 Yeah. So just reach out to me.
Sam 00:32:36 There's plenty of ways to reach out to me. You can Google me.
Sam 00:32:38 Go to green dispensary marketing.com. I'm happy to talk with you and consult you for free. I'm not going to ask for money to just give you some advice. And that's part of the reason why I also have this free cheat sheet. At the same time, I also understand a lot of people are skeptical about, you know, the CEOs, the people like myself in this industry. And so really, I'm trying to help build some trust. I don't do cold emailing. I don't do cold calling for that reason. You know, people who do hire in that realm are also really skeptical on the back end. And really what I want to wanted clients that are trust me. And so that's what I have. The clients that trust me know that I'm doing what I'm doing. They don't have to be constantly asking for calls because they trust me. And so, to kind of continue on that when I'm working with you, I'll be sending you weekly reports. I'll be sending you exactly what we're doing.
Sam 00:33:24 I'll be sending you giving you access to our online dashboard. We have a dashboard to kind of show you all the day data that I'll be sharing with you. You'll also have access to that. And so, it's completely transparent.
Sam 00:33:36 Yeah.
Guillermo 00:33:37 What's the level of engagement from an owner that's required to start this? Because like as a virtual CFO, that's one of the things I always talk about in our prospect calls is like, okay, you're ready to get started. This is a partnership. We're not a vendor. We're going to be working together. We're a part of your leadership team, as I'm sure you are. And so, I always say, you got to have time. You got to be ready to start and meet. We're going to meet a couple of times a week. These are the time commitment that you're going to have on this. Is this is this a similar situation or, can a client be, going to in the background or you're working in the background or how does the relationship really, start and evolve when you're working with you?
Sam 00:34:23 Yeah.
Sam 00:34:24 And so really at.
Sam 00:34:24 The front end, you're probably going to be wanting to be really involved in what I'm doing and wanting to know everything that I'm doing. and really, what I try to do is build trust over time to the point where they're not needing two calls a week. And so, you know, the first couple of months. Yeah, we need to be on the call a couple times a week, just so you know what I'm doing, just so you know that I'm holding my end of the deal, just so you know exactly the steps that you can take. Should we ever stop working together. Completely awesome with that. I'm not going to complain. I just want to build transparency and trust with the clients. Really? On the front end. It's really my goal.
Guillermo 00:35:00 Yeah. And where can people find you? From green dispensary. Com obviously we're going to link that in the in the show notes and include your resources there. I think there's always questions about marketing and rules.
Guillermo 00:35:14 And so I appreciate you putting that resource out there that that we can share with our listeners. But if others want to connect with you, maybe visit with you, what's the best way to find you?
Sam 00:35:27 I'm on LinkedIn.
Sam 00:35:28 You can also check out my podcast. We got a podcast. Just type in Green Dispensary Marketing podcast. We're publishing all channels of LinkedIn, my website, my personal email, Samuel at Green Dispensary Marketing Dot net, as well as also my personal phone number 30321927093032192709. So, lots of ways.
Guillermo 00:35:49 I like phone numbers. I've started doing that. We got away from phone numbers, but it's making a comeback. You're like Various guests in the past few weeks have shared the phone number, and I'm going to start doing that as well.
Sam 00:36:04 You never know how people like to get Ahold of you. You know, since we have to be everywhere.
Guillermo 00:36:08 Hey, it always works. So, last question, Sam, as we wrap up the episode. Thanks for sharing all that information.
Guillermo 00:36:19 what are you most excited in the coming year? There is a lot of changes. I'm excited for potential tax changes. I am excited with just the level of stigmatization that has happened over the last year. So, I think it's just a forward momentum as people are starting to have more and more access to plant medicine and health, which is the reason I got into this industry in the first place. Is there something you could share with our listeners in terms of like, what are you most excited for the coming year?
Sam 00:36:52 I think there have been.
Sam 00:36:53 Industry is probably the most exciting, in my opinion. Really the CBDs, are the medical benefits. And really to see that spread before we see, you know, the recreational THC stuff. making it mainstream. You know, markets like Texas, you know, you're based in Texas. It's just beautiful to see people starting to accept cannabis, as a, as a medicine. And so, if we can, if we can make some progress there, I think that's when we really start to be able to make bigger progress with the recreational ticket.
Sam 00:37:25 That's what I'm most excited about. And so, the farm bill, then we'll see if that gets extended. Let's see if they continue to crack down on it. What exactly happens?
Guillermo 00:37:35 I'm extremely excited for the future hemp, particularly here in Texas and the industrial uses of hemp. It's just such a plant in what it can do. I think we've always known about the medical benefits, but the fibers of the plant and the way they're used in building materials, have such a tremendous health benefit to people as well. So just so many exciting things coming so much in the work. But I'm sure you agree, we're about a, you know, a hundred years behind, because we've been dealing with the long period of prohibition. So, it's taken some time to catch up, particularly markets like Texas. But we got some, some really smart people, working on it and developing, the industry and a lot of support. So, I completely agree with that. Well, Sam, it's been a pleasure having you on the show.
Guillermo 00:38:30 I think our listeners are really going to benefit from you. Main takeaway is that SEO building your digital assets, it is a, a long term, endeavor. but it's it's really well worth it. And it's a part of building a more sustainable business, which is really what, what we're needing in cannabis because for one, it, it, it starts to challenge the pricing pressure that is happening across every market. and building more value. And that's going to build more sustainable businesses, more, more long term businesses and just going to help educate consumers as well. I'm buying based on value rather than price. I think it's really going to help everybody. It's going to create a more stable market. So, you're a big part of that in what you're doing and really appreciate you being on the show today.
Sam 00:39:24 Yeah. Likewise. I appreciate you having me, Guillermo. It's been an honor.
Guillermo 00:39:28 You bet. Well, we'll put your information in the show notes, Sam. And that's it for today.
Guillermo 00:39:36 Thank. Want to thank all our listeners for joining the cannabis success show. And we'll see you next time.
Outro 00:39:41 Enjoy this podcast. Visit our website Anders cpa.com/virtual CFO cannabis. To get more tips and strategy for achieving business success in the cannabis industry.