Expanding A Cannabis Lab’s Reach in New Jersey
How CannaContent helped True Labs for Cannabis connect with clients, partners, and investors in the Garden State and throughout the United States.
The Client
True Labs for Cannabis is New Jersey’s first woman-owned cannabis testing laboratory committed to serving the Garden State’s cultivators and manufacturers. True Labs offers a wide range of reliable lab testing services that prioritize consumer health and well-being, including testing required by state law and additional services, to serve as the state’s one-stop shop for comprehensive cannabis analysis.
The Goal
True Labs for Cannabis leadership had two main goals:
1.) Reach decision-makers in New Jersey’s emerging cannabis industry, and
2.) Utilize marketing as a way to establish expertise and authority in cannabis testing.
To do so, CannaContent developed a content marketing strategy built around SEO-informed web copy and blogging, informed by interviews with True Labs’s subject matter experts. Additionally, CannaContent devised and executed a social media marketing strategy to establish brand awareness, educate visitors, drive website traffic, and build an email marketing list.
Brand awareness is important from Day One – especially digitally through SEO and social media awareness. True Labs decided to partner with CannaContent to help us with this effort. Through a combination of website optimization for SEO, blogs, social media posts, and newsletters, CannaContent helped True Labs move to the top search results and gain digital presence and brand awareness not only in our state of New Jersey, but nationally! We couldn’t be happier with the results that the CannaContent team unlocked for True Labs!
Sarah Ahrens,
founder and CEO of True Labs for Cannabis
The Process
To help the lab meet its goals, CannaContent created and implemented a one-year plan focused on consumer and community education. Diving into True Labs’ wealth of knowledge, CannaContent created SEO-focused content and complementary social media strategies to bring more traffic to the website and raise the company’s profile among decision-makers.
Audit
The process began with an SEO audit to collect “foundational data.” By evaluating True Labs’ website, competitor sites, and analyzing searches conducted within and around New Jersey, CannaContent issued recommendations for ongoing on-page SEO work to help increase the website’s search engine performance. CannaContent then used the findings from the audit to make website improvements and to set the stage for a content writing plan.
Content writing
CannaContent’s plan called for an aggressive six-month publication schedule, covering a breadth of topics reflected in the audit. This library served as a vital ground floor for SEO work, such as internal linking, earning backlinks from other websites, and driving traffic from social media to the website. At the six-month mark, CannaContent continued to publish on a smaller scale, focusing on thought leadership and more state-specific topics to continue growing the website and the brand.
Social media
Leveraging multiple platforms, CannaContent built upon True Labs’ brand style to create content that positioned the lab as a leading expert in cannabis testing. As the year progressed, CannaContent nimbly navigated the ever-shifting challenges in social media trends, cannabis-specific obstacles, and algorithm changes to maximize reach.
The Strategy
1.
Lead with where the client is strongest
A brand is way more than just a logo — it’s a comprehensive encapsulation of your company’s identity. That touches every aspect of your brand, from what you say and how you say it, to how you look and how people perceive you. For True Labs, CannaContent had the blank canvas of their blog and social media to tell their strongest, most authentic stories.
CEO Sarah Ahrens’ story, rooted in a passion for quality products, came through clearly in True Labs’ brand identity and messaging. Her steadfast belief in putting customer safety first, paired with the extensive knowledge and experience of Chief Science Officer Carl Christianson, PhD, provided plenty of material to work with.
This sincere messaging held power in New Jersey’s cannabis community. Content penned with CannaContent’s collaboration appeared in notable publications such as New Jersey Cannabis Insider, House of Puff, and Cannabis Science & Technology, providing True Labs for Cannabis with exposure and validation in respected circles in the Garden State’s — and the nation’s — cannabis industry.
2.
Focus on geographic keywords relevant to New Jersey
Adding New Jersey-specific content to the website served to reinforce True Labs’ connection to the target audience of cultivators and manufacturers in the state. To that end, CannaContent researched and added key information about New Jersey’s cannabis program to relevant site pages. This translated into the blog strategy as well, where CannaContent dedicated space in the editorial calendar to respond to the ongoing and ever-changing development of New Jersey’s legal cannabis industry.
3.
Build a comprehensive content calendar
True Labs, a new website, was up against labs with years of publishing history on their sites, even though some of those heavy-hitters were not operating in New Jersey at the time. This, coupled with an analysis of New Jersey’s testing laboratory space, informed the foundation of the content marketing plan. The final calendar included a mix of relevant keywords, educational content, geo-specific updates, and thought leadership pieces that helped secure True Labs’ position as a knowledgeable authority in cannabis, despite the competition’s dominance.
4.
Leverage social media to increase brand awareness
Content developed for the website and blog was repurposed and optimized for social media channels, helping to reinforce the brand’s expertise and drive more traffic to the website without a significant investment of additional time and resources. Following a meticulously developed content calendar, CannaContent developed graphics, created videos, and engaged with followers to participate in the active online discourse surrounding cannabis.
The Results
%
increase in organic website traffic
%
increase in total ranking keywords
%
increase in average monthly user activity
%
increase in Page 1 ranking keywords
*Data sources: Google Analytics 4; AHREFS. Data measured from 3/1/22 to 3/1/23.
Get ahead in cannabis with education-based strategy
For True Labs for Cannabis, the company didn’t wait until the first day of legalization in New Jersey to get moving. They thought ahead, knowing early on that marketing was not only powerful, but necessary, to ensure future success when the time came to apply for their license. With the combination of a strong brand identity, a solid content-based SEO strategy, and active and engaging social media, True Labs is successfully positioned to grow with the Garden State. No matter which stage of the cannabis industry journey you’re on, branding and marketing can’t wait. It takes time and effort to build an audience and a following, and the earlier you begin, the stronger your position when it’s “go time.” CannaContent can take you there.