How I work with: Cannabis Retail Businesses

I have worked in the legal cannabis space for over 13 years. I started in the medical cannabis industry, working for the first clinic in Alberta, and spent over 7 years on the executive team for a national cannabis retailer, overseeing marketing, merchandising, pricing, products and store design. Since starting in this industry, I have helped open 47 retail stores and have worked with over 20 cannabis retail chains across North America on marketing and merchandising.

I conquered many firsts in the cannabis space: first dispensary open on legalization day in Calgary, first festival consumption site in Canada, first cannabis marketing course at a university. Since 2024, I have been a Fractional CMO, supporting cannabis retailers on a variety of areas.

My services for cannabis retailers include:

Strategy

• Marketing assessment & evaluation

• Social media marketing strategy

• Promotional planning & strategy

• Pricing strategy

• Merchandising strategy

• Loyalty program development

• Marketing strategy

• Advertising strategy

• Store design & layout

• Media strategy

• Content strategy

Marketing and Merchandising

• Organic social media marketing

• Merchandising plans & guides

• Email marketing & automations

• SMS marketing & automations

• Advertising planning & management

• Media relations & community engagement

Training and Policy

• Communications and crisis communications plan development

• Social media policy development

• Media training

• Social media training for cannabis (staying safe from bots)

• Social media and brand professionalism training

• Cannabis marketing training

• Merchandising training

• Cannabis event training & processes

Content Development

• Graphic design

• Press release writing

• Blog writing

• Copywriting

• Cannabis feature writing

Case Study: Canadian Cannabis Retailer

This chart represents the service breakdown for a cannabis retail company spending $2,000 a month with me.

Breakdown of time/services is outlined in the chart. With the metrics below, you can see that without a full suite of services I was able to execute great results in just one year.

In the first year, there were several marketing milestones:

• Increased ecommerce sales 33% YOY

• Increased website traffic 100% YOY

• Increased social media web referrals 10% YOY

• $3.53 Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

• 34.4% open rate for email automations

• Converted 92% of new customers to loyalty program

How I structure my services for cannabis retail

I utilize monthly retainers with my clients, and those hours can be used towards any of the services that I provide. The scope of work can differ month-to-month based on the needs of the business, so the retainer is tailored to the company.

My marketing services = $125/hour (execution of strategy, development of plans)

My strategy services = $250/hour (development of strategy)

Is this sparking any ideas for your business? Email me: amber@sparkstrategies.info.