The Challenge
My company was tapped as a third-party marketing partner to execute and lead generation campaign for IndicaOnline (a leading cannabis industry point-of-sale software company based in Los Angeles) and Elo Touch (a POS hardware manufacturer also based in California).
Reaching current and soon-to-be dispensary owners is challenging. They're a non-corporate demographic who generally relies on word-of-mouth advice from their peers.
The Approach
We decided to create a compelling, educational eBook that would also serve as a strong indication of future purchase intent. For this project, we leveraged existing photo assets and paired them with original research and statistics to create the Retail Executive's Guide to Dispensary Software.
The eBook outlined the top features and benefits leading built-for-cannabis point-of-sale systems should have. At the end of the piece, we made a succinct pitch for IndicaOnline. In order to gain access to the content, people were required to share their contact information, which we used to nurture these folks into requesting 1-on-1 demos of the software.
Getting Tactical
Once we felt we had zeroed in on the audience via the channels we communicated, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and via third-party email marketing through industry associations, we experimented with a more straightforward approach, asking prospects outright if they were interested in a demo of the IndicaOnline software and Elo Touch hardware.
Lead Capture
To better merchandise the software, we deployed a LinkedIn carousel ad that touted many of the key benefits and features. To further explain, we linked to a purpose-built landing page, devoid of distractions or main website navigation, where people could learn a bit more about IndicaOnline before decide whether to request a software demonstration.
To better merchandise the software, we deployed a LinkedIn carousel ad that touted many of the key benefits and features. To further explain, we linked to a purpose-built landing page, devoid of distractions or main website navigation, where people could learn a bit more about IndicaOnline before decide whether to request a software demonstration.
The Results
Overall, we were able to reach approximately 45,000 people across LinkedIn, Twitter, and 3rd party email marketing. We generated 166 eBook downloads and 16 software demo requests. To date, we have closed 7 new customers for IndicaOnline resulting in hardware sales of over $20,000 for Elo. The total budget of this campaign was $10,000 and the full ROI is yet to be determined.
Learnings
Some key learnings form this campaign were related to the audience. We found that some segment of the leads were people who hope to have a cannabis industry business in the future, tire kickers, if you will. As well, we found that cannabis-industry professional under index on LinkedIn but are tricky to target on channels such as Facebook who's ad tool is more appropriate for B2C. Our best channel for this industry were industry associations and professional groups. As well, tapping into state-held licensee information proved helpful.