Over the seven years since it was launched, Massachusetts-based marketing agency Cannabis Creative Group has grown into a trusted industry partner, offering tailored services that help brands connect with both consumers and other businesses. A specialized division of Champ Digital, the agency is backed by a fifty-person team with sixteen years’ experience across diverse industries including food and beverage, tourism, retail, and e-commerce.
“Coming from a background in traditional marketing for restaurants, food and beverage, and travel and tourism, we realized a lot of the campaigns are similar for cannabis,” said Vice President of Sales and Marketing Dan Serard. “We’ve been able to take the restaurant industry search techniques, combine them with food-and-beverage consumer packaged goods branding, creative, and social media, and then apply the result to the cannabis industry.”
Launching dispensaries and brands
One of Cannabis Creative Group’s flagship offerings is its Dispensary and Brand Launch Program: a brand-identity and website package designed to help new operators establish their presence in the market.
“For dispensaries, we focus on [search engine optimization] techniques to get the company off the ground and running,” Serard said. “And for brands, the package focuses on a social media launch instead. We walk each brand through setting up their social media and also provide them with three months of content for them to study, analyze, and continue on their own. The impact for brands is larger on social channels than search.”
The team is adamant about customization.
“That comes from our background in traditional business,” Serard said. “If we build a website for one dispensary location, in two years that company might have a cultivation operation or three new locations, and if you build in a theme or template, it’s more difficult to scale. We call it ‘starting with the end in mind.’”
Fostering growth after launch
Focused on both customer acquisition and retention, Cannabis Creative’s Dispensary Boost Program uses paid and organic search and loyalty management to attract new customers while keeping existing ones engaged.
“We accomplish this by creating custom dashboards for every client, pulling in all the analytics and putting them into a live link so the client can go in and quickly understand how much money they’ve made from our services,” Serard said. “If you’re not making enough money, the first thing you tend to cut is marketing. But if you invest money on marketing attributed to sales growth and we can concretely show growth, that’s where we see companies we work with reach a lot of success.”
Looking ahead: AI and innovation
As the industry continues to grow and evolve, so does Cannabis Creative Group. The company currently is exploring ways to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into its marketing strategies. The team is dedicated to exploring new technologies, including AI for data analysis and content creation ideas as well as implementing new native e-commerce solutions that boost SEO.
With more states adding adult-use legalization every year, Cannabis Creative Group is determined to continue helping businesses grow and succeed by delivering the kind of forward-thinking, innovative solutions that are crucial in a highly regulated, highly competitive industry.
