EXCLUSIVE: Cheech & Chong's Motto — 'Try Anything Twice,' Plus: Leafly, Weedmaps Embrace Digital

Building a strong digital presence is essential for the success of cannabis brands in the modern world. Several leaders in the cannabis space discussed their approaches to digital Wednesday at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago.

Brandon Harshbarger, president of Cheech and Chong's Global Holding Company, told the crowd that an organic social media presence really defines a brand. 

"But at the end of the day, our presence now is augmented by a lot of paid advertising," Harshbarger said.

Through ads, the company is able to attract new eyes. The social aspect of the brand acts as a window into the daily lives of famous comedy duo Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong.

The Cheech and Chong company is also willing to experiment to figure out what works and what doesn't.

"We have a motto... we'll try anything twice," Harshbarger said with a laugh. 

Jackie Gonzalez-Becerra, VP of revenue at WM Technology Inc MAPS, who sat alongside Harshbarger at the conference, explained that the company is focused on storytelling to drive engagement. 

As X (formerly Twitter) continues to relax its advertising policies in the cannabis realm, the company is able to be more authentic with its audience, Gonzalez-Becerra said. 

Related Link: EXCLUSIVE - How X Is Shaping The Future Of Cannabis

Weedmaps aims to be the top tool for anyone looking to find cannabis near them. The company is constantly investing in making it easy for its users to find what they are looking for. 

Gonzalez-Becerra said the company partners with several organizations to place a "find weed" button on different platforms, which helps open up the experience to a broader audience. 

"At Weedmaps, if there is a channel we can try, we're going to do it. Test and fail, test and scale," she said. 

Another panelist at the conference, Carlos Pinto, chief commercial officer of Leafly Holdings Inc LFLY, emphasized the importance of understanding the people who are engaged with your brand.

"Every market is different. The more you understand your community in each market, the better you are able to engage in a more genuine way," Pinto said. 

A big part of that push involves educating the end user. By focusing on educating more and more people about cannabis, Leafly is able to create more opportunities to reach new audiences, he said.

Once the company finds new audiences, they study their behaviors and share data with partners in order to help them be more effective with their advertising efforts.

Leafly looks to identify at what point in the funnel consumers are dropping off. Understanding where that is and why it's happening helps the company to pivot advertising campaigns accordingly, he said. 

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