Party Like a Marketer Podcast
Ep 67: Innovating Together: CMA’s Support for Cannabis Marketers
Episode Description
Emily Wells and Lisa Buffo discuss the evolving landscape of cannabis marketing as 2024 draws to a close. They explore significant industry changes, including Ohio’s recent legalization of adult-use cannabis, the implications of upcoming political shifts, and the transformative role of AI in marketing strategies. Listeners will gain insights into new CMA resources designed to support marketers, upcoming events, and the future direction of cannabis marketing.
Learn more and connect with the Cannabis Marketing Association:
- Cannabis Marketing Association: https://thecannabismarketingassociation.com
- Contact us: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cannamarketing/
- Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/CannaMarketingAssociation
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/cannamarketing
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cannabis-marketing-association/
Read the Transcript
Emily Wells 00:11
hey there cannabis marketing community. I’m Emily wells the membership manager here at cannabis Marketing Association, and you’re tuned in to another episode of Party like marketer today, we’re switching things up a bit, as our guest is none other than our host, Lisa buffo, we’ll be diving into the latest trends in cannabis marketing, discussing significant changes in the industry as we approach the end of 2024 and exploring what’s on the horizon in 2025 with the recent developments in adult use cannabis legislation and the impact of AI on marketing strategies, the conversation promises to be insightful and engaging. So let’s get started. Lisa, so so excited to have you as a guest today. Yeah,
Lisa Buffo 00:48
so excited to have you as the host to do something a little different where we get to talk to everybody more directly about us and what we’ve got going on.
Emily Wells 00:56
Absolutely. Let’s dive right into it. Tell us a little bit about what the latest and greatest is in cannabis marketing right now.
Lisa Buffo 01:04
Yeah, so there’s a lot going on in cannabis as an industry right now and also as marketing, if we put them separate, and then there’s, of course, a lot in that intersection. So in the cannabis space, we are at a really critical juncture in time and history, we just had Ohio go live with their adult use sales. Ohio is state number 24 for adult use, rec use, 21 plus usage, which makes it almost half of all US states and territories. So that’s half is almost a pretty critical tipping point where now we have the majority of states and majority of the population living in areas where there is adult use cannabis. And we are as of this recording, it is late September, so we do know that the presidential election is coming up in a month and a half, which could change the makeup of Congress, which is probably more important, just as if not more important. It’s hard to kind of put those on an equal pedestal as what happens in terms of who wins in November. Congress, of course, can change the laws around cannabis, and that can have, obviously, great implications for the states. We haven’t seen that happen yet, but if Congress changes in the makeup changes and or we start to have movements on some of those bills that could mean positive things for our industry. So November, coming up in about a month and a half, is a another milestone we’ve got this year. And we also have the rescheduling hearing scheduled for December 2, so less than a month after the election, less than three months, four months, three months from today. So basically, over the course of the next 90 days, we we may or may not have a change in our president. We may, will likely, have a change in our makeup of Congress. We are going to learn about whether cannabis officially gets rescheduled or not, moving from schedule one to schedule three. And I think those things will really give us a different lens to look at the future of this space, hopefully in a much more positive way, also just being that it is almost the end of q3 as of today, and going into the last quarter of the year, we’ll start to be able to look back and see how did the industry do in 2024 How did businesses do in 2024 we are in a very different environment economically than we were during the pandemic, and it’ll just be interesting to see how things shake out for our businesses. So that’s what’s happening in cannabis. We also know in marketing and in the business world in general, and honestly, our culture in general, AI has been hugely disruptive and very exciting and positive ways, but also in ways that require conversations, in ways that are can be a bit challenging to discuss the implications for AI’s widespread use in adoption that I personally don’t think we’ve really fully understood or had those conversations as a as a society yet, but AI right now is largely focused on generative AI. So AI can be used large language models can be used in lots of different ways, but I would say the main application in terms of how folks are using it is search, right, chat, GPT better, getting information, but also generative right, creating content, whether it’s video, whether it’s text, whether it is images. Those are, those are skills that people used to do entirely before. So the when it comes to marketing, marketing is largely, largely generative, right? You’re creating content, you’re creating blog posts, social media strategies, plans, analyzing data, a lot of these things now that used to take a large team and a lot of time can now be done in a really simplified and streamlined manner. And I know I’ve had a lot. Fun getting to play with AI and learn about it. I know you and I have found different ways to integrate it into the business, but we are really just at the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. And I think marketing is one of the main areas that is impacted by it right now and will continue to be impacted moving forward. So we’ve got kind of these two major cultural shifts, as far as our lens of cannabis marketing coming together, which is possible change in our government here in the United States, and cannabis is federal status, finally moving off of schedule. One Fingers crossed. As well as what’s happening in the marketing world, which is, how do we do business there? And again, the rule book is changing a bit again, so we’re working to watch it, respond to it, participate in it, learn from our members, learn from the community. But it is exciting and interesting times ahead.
Emily Wells 05:52
Absolutely what an incredibly well rounded recap of just the state of the industry this year, the state of marketing, given all of the various cultural inputs and and the socio political state of the US right now, given all of that, what are some tools and resources we’ve been working on to kind of uplift marketers and support them through all of this? Yeah, so
Lisa Buffo 06:18
from a historical CMA perspective, as you know, pre pandemic, we were very in person events based. We were doing events in nine different US cities. We were doing a lot of in person networking. Obviously, when the pandemic happened, we pivoted a bit well. We had to pivot a bit away from that. We were really focused on building out our online content portal with a heavy focus on webinars and moving that in person interaction online. And that’s been great and very successful for us. And now, I would say, in 2024 with some space from the pandemic, people are more strapped for time than ever, so we have also pivoted to better understanding, you know, how can we serve our members, given where they stand, the demands in their life? So we’ve been working more on downloadable, written, resource based tools that marketers can use at the time and place, and not just learn from and take away new concepts and ideas, but actually have guidebooks, resources, white papers, checklists, things that they can use and implement in their nine to fives more. So one of the number one things we get asked about is the rules and regulations. And we have had our version of CMAs rules and regulations Guide, which has essentially linked out to all of the regulatory bodies for all of the legal states, given that the the laws and regulations can change and update so frequently. But this year, we actually decided to take it a step further, and we have partnered with the amazing, capable and wonderful lawyers at Holland law, and have put together what will continue to be an evolving document, but is essentially a legal guide, a compliance and regulations guide to the marketing and advertising regulations across the different states where we have them written out, we have an explanation about who the regulatory bodies are. So for each state, we’ll say, okay, these are the regulatory bodies in charge. Here’s what they do, here’s who they oversee, and then here are actually all the regulations so and that is something, now that we are working with the legal team, we can have more constant and continuous updates and improvements, but also give marketers, you know, in time, resource for them to use and bring back to their compliance teams, and be able to incorporate in their their jobs, so that we’re really excited about. We’ve got the first 10 states that we have rolled out, and we’ll be sending that out to folks very shortly. So that legal guide is live for CMA members. Another thing. So again, that, again, partly addressing what I had mentioned about some of the changes in the industry, we also put together a You did a wonderful job on this, but we put together a downloadable on 50 AI tools that marketers can use. So as we have learned and started incorporating AI ourselves into CMA and our business, and started to play with generative AI, I’ve been in some AI marketing, you know, mastermind type groups been learning from folks in that space. We put together some of the top resources that we have played with that others have recommended for marketers to have a quick place to do some research and see how they can incorporate it. But I remember when we started down that path and with that series and just like, hey, how do we even put together a list of all these tools, we found tools we didn’t even realize could be tools, and were really obvious. And what became clear, I think, in that exercise for us, was that there’s no, really no area that is going to be untouched by AI moving forward. And the tools out there are already quite advanced, given that we’re in the really early stages. Of that, but it is a practical guide where you can see, okay, here’s tools for graphic design, here’s tools for digital marketing, here’s AI tools for social media. So we do have that live on the website for anyone to download at this point in time. So that’s our AI guide for cannabis marketers. We also have our Ask a marketer anything series, which is live for CMA members. So in the late spring, early summer, we did an eight week ama webinar series where we had experts on various different topics, from public relations to SEO to branding. Just be available for office hours to answer questions from the members, a lot of times, educational content can be, you know, being talked at, being taught to which is great, and there’s a time and place for that, but there also needs to be space for folks to just get their questions answered directly. So we did do that in the spring, and that was moderated by myself for most of them. But essentially, what we did is, if there wasn’t any space where our live members had questions, we asked the the speaker, kind of the top answers that that we get at CMA on those topics. So it’s actually a really comprehensive series that, in some ways, is like a top FAQ in cannabis marketing across the eight different disciplines. So that is live with recap posts. We have a full downloadable, multi page recap white paper on that series, as well as blog posts for each each ama that we did. So we’ve got that in video and written format for our members. And then the last thing we’ve done lately is our marketing tech stacks white paper. So one of our amas was about marketing tech stacks that we did in partnership with above the fray, which is one of CMAs members. They are a e commerce, web development agency, and we talked the whole time about how to build a really efficient and thoughtful marketing tech stack, and that had such good content that we put it together in its own white paper that was very expanded and very detailed, and that is available in live to our members now. So the four recent things, we’ve got more coming up, but we’ll keep it brief for now, the legal guide with hole in law, our 50 plus AI tools for cannabis marketers, our Ask a marketer anything series, which is a comprehensive cannabis marketing FAQ, over eight videos, as well as our marketing tech stacks white paper,
Emily Wells 12:32
awesome, super robust list of resources that said, I don’t really want to call them new initiatives, because they’ve been they’ve existed for a while, and they’re, they’re CMA cornerstones, if you will. But what other big projects do we have in the pipeline to to round out the year, and just further, further, those those member resources. So
Lisa Buffo 12:58
one of our main Cornerstone events has been our feature of cannabis marketing, which has been a event we do in the like late winter. So we’ll call it January, February. We’ve done it beginning of the new year, and those are Ted style talks. So Ted style talks are generally 18 minutes, and they’re focused on one new concept, one new idea that the speaker will talk about in depth and back it up with data. And again, it’s very like new, new idea oriented. And we’ve put our own spin on that, where, instead of just doing educational content, and here, you know, teaching and learning, and here’s how to do the thing, one thing that is important in a nascent industry, is really consciously getting thoughtful about what the future is we want for this space and what it takes to build it. So future of cannabis marketing is the space for five new ideas that are selected from the membership to talk about what’s the future of cannabis marketing look like in that Ted style event that has previously been a ticketed member, separate event that we’ve done in February this year. We’re actually going to do it before the year is up, around November and December. But instead of it being a separate event, it is going to be a series open to our members and a part of the membership, so that will actually be posted in the member portal, sort of like a course where you can just go back there, watch the videos, get introduced to these concepts. And part of our reasoning for doing it before the year is so that folks, while they’re in their planning for 2025 can get introduced to those concepts sooner. This for this focm, which will be our fourth installation. We’re focused on the near future, so the next two years. So we’re calling it the sprint to 2026 What do marketers need to know from 2025 2026 so not just 10 years high level future. We’ve had folks do talks on that, but really keeping it on the near term future, given the amount of change. That could happen. Like I had mentioned, with the election rescheduling, there’s a lot of change that could happen in two years. So we want to focus on the near future and what that looks like. And right now, applications are open for speakers, for our members. So CMA members, if you have an idea concept you want to talk about for the future of cannabis marketing, go to our website and submit your application. Also, we’re doing a follow up to our state of cannabis marketing survey. So we’ve served done surveys in the past looking at different aspects of marketing. This one, we’re doing a more high level what is the state of cannabis marketing and looking to fill our own industry and informational knowledge gaps. So what are folks spending on marketing? What are their focus areas? What is working for them? What are their biggest struggles? Getting as detailed as, what are their open rates on newsletters? Are they sending newsletters? So we want to look at what’s the state of cannabis marketing. So we’ve got a pretty comprehensive survey out right now, any cannabis marketer can take this. So whether you’re a member or not, we do have it on the site. If you are marketing in the space, whether you work for a brand or a retailer or you have an agency with cannabis clients, we do encourage you to fill that out, but we will process that data once we’ve got our you know, the number of responses that we’re looking for, for statistical significance, and we’re looking to have that published with results and conclusions and findings by the end of the year, so we can incorporate that into our November, December programming. And again, give folks the data that they need while they’re doing their 2025 programming, that they can get those concepts from future of cannabis marketing, and they can actually get the data from our survey as well. And then lastly, leading up to that, we’ve clearly been quite busy, but the cannabis marketing summit that we did in person in 2022 and 2023 we those were both three days of intensive sessions, educational sessions on all the different areas of cannabis marketing. So we’re doing a from the vault series where we’re putting all those resources together and categorizing them and releasing them to the membership. So we’ll look at, okay, what’s everything we did on branding? And we’ve got, let’s say, four or five different sessions, resources, books or downloadables, and we are releasing those in a drip throughout the rest of the year. So we’ve got, again, more resources, but also bundled together resources under different topics, so our members can see that again from the vault and from the archive.
Emily Wells 17:38
Awesome. So, so excited about those upcoming initiatives, I know we’ve got a few few minutes left, so I want to just touch on some of our other upcoming standard member webinars to round out 2024, and and the rest of the year. We had kind of touched on previously, all of our all of our content, really heavily focusing on, on annual planning and just rounding out the year, cleaning up for for q4 and prepping for q1 what are some of our upcoming open to the public and closed to the Members, webinars as we close out the year. Yeah,
Lisa Buffo 18:22
so like you mentioned, our next phase of programming is really focused on strategic planning and organization, which is sort of a new topic for us. We’re normally quite deep and again, like the different topics of marketing, but something that has been coming up over and over again is the importance of good quality planning as well as organization. So we do have an emphasis on that over the next few months, and we’ve got, would say, at least six different events planned. We’ve got a so for our members, specifically, we do our quarterly networking that gather round event where you can chat and meet other folks on video and speed networking online, that is in November, on our gather around platform, November 19. So that is our next in I say in person, but online, in person, way to connect with each other. We have our annual brunch that we do at MJ bizcon in December. So we do that mixer with the Nissan co team that will be the week of biz con. So look for that on the site. So we’ve got, in terms of in person networking, our gather round online, and our marketing mixer with Nissan co in Las Vegas, and then online. We’ve got our strategic queue for planning webinar that is for members only on October 8. We also have our state of cannabis marketing in 2025 planning and forecasting webinar in December, which is something that I host. And what we’re going to do is look at the data from the survey, talk about what it means, and talk about how to implement that. We’re also planning a, uh. Um, state of cannabis marketing, Industry Insights and trends in November. So those are two parts where we’ve got the first part is industry insights and trends, and then that second part is the one I just mentioned, the 2025, state of cannabis marketing and planning. So we’ll look at what the industry is doing, and then how that kind of factors into everyone in their day to day. And we’re also working on scheduling. We’ll have the official date for that soon, a webinar specifically on or digital organization. One of the thing marketers struggle with is actually their digital asset management, organizing. How do you manage projects? Cross across teams, you know, even within themselves, whether you’re a freelancer, w2 manage people only work by yourself. Getting organized digitally is actually really a common issue that folks don’t that may have, but there isn’t really a focus place to talk about it. So we’re going to be talking about that with Steph Rona, who’s one of our members, who has worked for a lot of major brands and retailers in the space, and she’s a consultant now, and she’s going to be talking about the Para method, P, A, R, A, which is specifically a digital organizing method. So we will have that coming up soon.
Emily Wells 21:14
Awesome, stacked calendar. Really excited about it all. I know all of our members will have plenty of juicy info to pull from those I know that you had mentioned both gather round and our in person mixer with nissco at bizcon. I also just wanted to mention our Slack workspace as an incredible means of our our membership being able to connect with each other and support each other and be a resource to one another outside of our plethora of networking and opportunities to get plugged into the the CMA community at large. What? What other insights or advice would you give to folks who are are considering CMA membership, and how our resources and benefits might might be something that they can leverage. So
Lisa Buffo 22:08
I would first say, know what you’re looking to get out of it? So a lot of folks, when they join groups like this, they’re looking for education, or they’re looking for specific resources, or they’re looking for networking and lead generation and finding clients or finding partners and collaborators in the space. So when you join any type of membership based group, understand your own goals, so you can better understand how to leverage and utilize what they have. Many associations and groups like ours have multiple different ways you can plug in multiple ways to make the best of the benefits. There isn’t just one benefit, there’s multiple benefits. So know what you’re looking to get out of it, what would give you the most return? And then come up with a plan for that. So talk with you. We always have. So for every member who joins CMA, we do an onboarding call with them, and Emily will walk them through. Here’s the benefits, here’s how to use them, and we also better understand that gives us an opportunity to speak with our members and better understand what do they need and what are they looking for from day one. So knowing what you need and essentially having a plan for that, right? So if you really like attending live events, then make sure you’re registered for webinars or those gather rounds. If you need resources, write down what types of resources you need, see if we’ve got them, ask or request them. And if you need networking, let us know who you’re looking to connect with. You know what type of partnerships you might be looking for, and make sure you’re going to those events and talking with us about it. So essentially making a plan for how to make the best use of the investment that you’re making, and then also understand what’s the best way that you engage? Do you like to engage via email, and that’s the best way you get informed about what’s going on. Do you need everything to be put on your calendar? If so, then make sure those events are on your calendar. Do you prefer to just watch the recordings in the member portal later? If so, make sure you’ve got that time blocked off, or that you note what they are and you download them and have a plan for that. So really just understanding what what are my goals, what do I need, and then what’s my plan for using and maximizing those benefits? I believe is the best way to get the most for your money. Membership based organizations are services, but they’re a little bit more passive in the sense where, you know, we’re not an agency where, okay, I need this type of campaign or this type of content creation, and then the organization returns a deliverable. We are constantly putting out deliverables and content, but the folks need to engage with it, so just better understanding what channels and how you engage, and then also what’s the type of content or needs that you have, and then really focus in and hone in on that and staying in touch. We try to keep very we’re a lean organization. We’re a small business, so folks are always able to access. You and I and the team, so staying in touch let us know what you need. You can always schedule a call to get a refresh on your benefits. So if our members you’re listening to this and you either forgot your benefits or you want to refresh, just reach out, schedule a call. We will go through all of that with you, and we can also help you make a plan and let you know about what we’ve got coming up, and make sure you’ve got it on your calendar as well.
Emily Wells 25:23
Perfect. I think that was the cherry on top of our our conversation this afternoon. I um, I’ll make sure that we’ve got all of the the links to all of those former resources. Lisa mentioned our upcoming events. Um, our survey link, our future application. Link, my email is membership at marketing cannabis.org if you aren’t a member, or you are a member, I’m happy to hear from you, answer your questions, assist you in whatever ways possible. If you’re tuned in, I’m sure you know that our website is the cannabis Marketing association.com and that’s where all of our events, resources and tools live. Lisa, anything you want to touch on before we wrap,
Lisa Buffo 26:08
my email is Lisa at marketing cannabis.org you can follow us at at Canna marketing on Instagram. We’re on LinkedIn. We have a LinkedIn newsletter. You can also sign up for our newsletter on our website, and don’t hesitate to reach out to either of us. We’d love to hear from you.
Emily Wells 26:25
Perfect thank you so much for your time this afternoon, and looking forward to sharing all of this with CMA community.
Lisa Buffo 26:33
Thank you. Emily, thanks, Lisa. Hi everybody. Thank you everybody for tuning in. Please subscribe to this podcast. We’re also on YouTube, where you can see the video version. And if you’d like to connect with the CMA community, please visit us at the Cannabis Marketing association.com, or on social media at Canna marketing. You can also sign up for our newsletter on our website to stay up to date with new episodes, tools, insight, blog posts and more from the CMA community and hear from our members. And if you’re interested in learning more about membership or becoming a guest on the show, please reach out to our team at [email protected], see you next week.
— Transcribed by otter.ai
Meet Your Host
LISA BUFFO, Founder and CEO of Cannabis Marketing Association
Lisa Buffo is an award-winning entrepreneur and marketer with a passion for launching companies with experience in both the cannabis and technology industries. Lisa is the Founder & CEO of the Cannabis Marketing Association, a membership based organization focused on education and best practices for industry marketers with the vision of rebranding cannabis at the national level. She was named one of 2019’s 40 Under 40 Rising Stars in Cannabis by Marijuana Venture Magazine in 2019 and named “The Marketing Guru” by Women & Weed magazine and is a featured speaker and media source in publications like Forbes, The Guardian, and VICE. You can find her on Instagram @libuff and Twitter @libuff21.
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