As a B2C company, we have a primary focus of creating cannabis-root-infused lifestyle products for our consumers.

Our initial product line focused on balms and lotions, but we will quickly be adding new products.

When we created our original product offering, we had a consumer in mind and marketed accordingly. We believe our market has room to expand significantly and we need help proving this.

This knowledge will aid in a new approach to marketing, especially for our new product.  Our specific need is determine what competitors are also playing in this landscape and what our target market's perception is of these competing brands/products. This information will help us determine what key messaging will resonate with our target buyer. 

Here's some history surrounding our newest lifestyle pillar, and what potential it holds:

We are looking to work with students to identify new opportunities to achieve our business goals as they relate to our lifestyle cannabis pillar.

Unlike our other pillars, which are greatly restricted by cannabis marketing and advertising legislation, our lifestyle pillar uses cannabis roots to create balms and lotions capable of addressing a wide variety of health and wellness needs, and we are legally allowed to sell, advertise and speak openly about the benefits of our cannabis roots products. The brand is called Stigma Roots and the (very) preliminary website can be seen here: www.StigmaRoots.ca

The competitive landscape for cannabis-infused topical creams is sparse; with most focused on cannabis creams that contain high percentages of cannabinoids like CBD and THC — restricting sales to cannabis retail shops and making advertising very difficult. However, this will change very quickly when LPs realize there's a revenue stream opportunity for their root waste.

Fortunately, when it comes to the root-based products, only those with access to large amounts of legal cannabis roots will be able to copy our approach and recipes, and by the time they get their facility up and running, we will already be known by the entire province of Alberta. The reason I can confidently say that our brand will be known across Alberta (and potentially all of Canada) is because we have committed to a seven-figure traditional media spend across the province starting in March of 2020 that will stretch into 2022. Our goal is to capitalize on our Alberta-branding and first-to-market head-start to establish ourselves as clear leaders in the industry long before anyone else comes to the table.

We are also building a state-of-the-art e-commerce website with all the bells and whistles for an UI and UX experience that integrates with a future CRM capable of managing dozens, if not hundreds of unique audiences, campaigns and products. And therein lies our challenge: Who exactly are our audiences for these products, what do they value, how does it differ and how can I deliver it in a way that will show that keen understanding?

We have already begun to discuss this in-house, and will begin production of the e-commerce website, as well as general, brand introduction creative messaging, in the early new year, but nothing has been decided and everything, ESPECIALLY how general messaging and website UX needs to adjust to cater to unique audiences and new product offerings (without losing site of the overall brand), will be up for discussion as part of this marketing plan.

We are open to feedback about areas of focus, as we would like our assigned person or team to preform a comprehensive analysis of our business. We have shared a few high priority goals and desired benefits below to help guide you:

- Please describe the problems/opportunities you would like students to address with this project

First of all, we have no problems here; only opportunities to grow!

Our current opportunity revolves around attracting new customer markets and brand ambassadors for our products, and we will be advertising on a mass scale to both big, urban areas (Edmonton, Calgary) as well as the smaller, rural municipalities (Hinton, Sundre, Okotoks)

Here's some of the specifics surrounding this project:

Identifying potential customer profiles: We would like help confirming or excluding some of the initial, assumed audiences for our products, and request recommendations for niches we may have missed, that have potential for good ROI. We can provide the audience groups we currently focus on, and their product preferences. We are looking for help providing new product ideas that can be recommended to these audiences as a natural add-on to their regular purchases, as well as to identify new audiences that are currently underserved and who are looking for products that do what ours do, so we can add them to our inventory.

Market segmentation analysis: What do our new audiences like, need and prefer when it comes to literally everything about how we present and deliver our products, purchase process and messaging.

Perhaps more importantly, considering the subject matter and the stigmas that surround anything to do with cannabis, is discovering the barriers that exist between our message and those who could benefit from our products. How do we differentiate our products? What educational approach has the best chance at success? How do we leverage this knowledge and why should we bother (what's the ROI on any strategic approach?). When it comes to the website, what do we need to do to convert a sale, get a newsletter sign-up or get them to share our message with their personal or professional network?

If we copy the Amazon "People who purchased this, also purchased that" model, which products make the most sense to bundle or present as add-ons at point of sale?

Which retailers have the attention of these new markets, and are any a good fit for our products?

Creative promotional strategies: If we manage to introduce our brand using traditional, 'spray and pray' messaging, then where would new audiences most likely see us next — or even better, where would they like to hear about us to help them trust us enough to visit the website? Competitive analyses: What do our competitors have that we can't beat? What should we lean on to ensure new providers don't steal our market share or first-to-market advantage? Are we a better fit for some audiences than others? Should we supplement our efforts to compensate, or redirect our focus to specific markets.

Researching potential partners and channels: Any opportunity for audience growth by identifying likeminded groups with messaging that aligns with or complements our own will be considered. Which CRM would make sense to manage these types of integrated campaigns/products/audiences?

Pricing and Product strategies: Which products (type, application method, portion) should we be focused on? Which audiences will prefer which lines? And which products are we missing that are logical add-ons or jumping-off points for each audience?

- Please describe the benefits (for your customers and/or organization) that you hope to achieve with this project

We believe strongly that our products can help those in need. We are passionate about plant medicine and frustrated by the stigmas and misconceptions that have kept the healing power of cannabis from those who could benefit from its power, without the negative side-effects that plague so many alternatives.

However, let us not fool you into thinking that our sole mission is to bring healing to the masses. We are a publicly traded business that is looking to establish a name for ourselves across multiple pillars of cannabis industry. We are in this to win this and sales are the sole determining factor for success.

Our goal is to complement a massive media buy and savvy e-commerce platform with a marketing strategy that shows our suitability to service this new, emerging demographic of cannabis newcomers who would likely never set foot in a pot shop, but who will greatly benefit from our products.

Successful outcomes include a market research report, informed by primary data collection. 

We would like to understand our customer base through surveys and conversations with our present and future consumer to gather insights into buying behaviours, expectations, and experiences with us and our competitors.

This data should inform a final report that outlines key messaging that our consumers have come to know, want and expect based on the current landscape, and what we will need to say to get those who have negative opinions of cannabis, to accept the healing power and proven results of this safe alternative plant medicine lifestyle product.