Making 6-Figures Every Month in a Saturated Market
Golden Trends is one of over 2,000 processors fighting for the attention of less than 400,000 medical patients in Oklahoma. Once a contract manufacturer for other brands, they decided to use their cannabis oil to build their own brands.
Golden Trends started with strong ideas but quickly realized they needed help if they wanted to grow into a $1MM+ business per year. We helped Golden Trends find their voice, update their look, and get into hundreds of new dispensaries across Oklahoma.
Today, they’re earning 6 figures every month and are a Top 10 vape brand in the state, according to WeedMaps.
Increase in Sales
June ‘22 – June ‘23
Social Media
Follower Growth
“We have an identity crisis,” Golden Trends’ General Manager Chad Wittman said in our first meeting. He was unsure of who Golden Trends was. They’ve been a fast-moving start-up that knew one thing – they make great CO2 oil.
Our first step was to understand what makes Golden Trends special, and what they did that separated them from the thousands of other vape brands in Oklahoma. Underneath the surface, they were an innovative business with a rigorous extraction and testing process to create quality oil.
But that wasn’t enough to become a top brand.
The slideshow below shows how we defined Golden Trends and gave them a strong story.
Golden Trends identity crisis expanded to their packaging. They didn’t stand out on shelves and used a common color scheme of Black, Gold, and Teal that other well-established competitors used. A not-so subtle critique of the original vape packaging was it looked like “a pack of condoms.”
We redesigned Golden Trends’ packaging to keep the luxurious black and gold sheen, while letting the the strain label add the much needed pop-of-color. We reduced the packaging size, decreased waste, and made it more appealing on the shelves.
After the new packaging released, we saw a 136% increase in sales the following month.
Cannabis creates a psychedelic experience difficult to explain to the mass market. We reviewed the testing for each vape and created an easy-to-understand product communication guide.
We started with strain type since most Oklahoma patients are familiar with Indica, Sativa, and Hybrid. Next, we chose a color that communicated the flavor of the vape.
Finally, we added a “Perfect For” phrase on the top of the packaging. We created the “Perfect For” situations to simplify what experience consumers can expect based on the dominant terpenes and strain of each SKU. This was created so that when patients look down through the dispensary glass to look at the vapes, they can find a product that fits their needs. Most consumers in a dispensary have an ideal experience they’re looking for. The “Perfect For” communication helps the patient and budtender easily find something for them.
It’s illegal to directly state “this product helps with anxiety.” This communication helped us work around that by not making direct claims, but alluding the best situation to use the product.
This shift turned the Blueberry SKU from their worst selling product into their 5th best.
There are over 2,000 operating dispensaries in Oklahoma. Way more than a small sales team can handle going door-to-door. After defining the Golden Trends brand and repackaging their signature vapes, our next challenge was getting on shelves and expanding our reach.
We integrated multiple software platforms to create a seamless digital sales system. We gathered contact data for every dispensary on WeedMaps and the state list on the OMMA website.
Through specific targeting criteria and months of persistent outreach, we generated interest from some of the most popular dispensaries all over the state.
These were our results.
Increase in Sales
June ‘22 – June ‘23
Sales Meeting Created
of The Top Dispensaries in Oklahoma Carry Golden Trends
Open Rate
Reply Rate
Additional Sales People Hired
Our research showed that Instagram was our best platform to target our audience. Golden Trends had an active Instagram but didn’t have a huge following or consistent posting. When we arrived, they were fresh out of content with no plan to create more.
While finalizing the new packaging, we created a series of launch campaigns to generate interest. We started by partnering with local influencers for “The Struggle” campaign. For a month, Oklahoma’s most popular influencers spoke about their daily struggles and how they use cannabis to combat them.
We paired a product with each struggle to show the public that Golden Trends products are the key to a higher quality of life.
After that, we slowly rolled out the products, highlighting award-winners and their “Perfect For” situations.
To reinforce the message, we settled into a consistent social media feed highlighting lifestyle imagery, reels, and graphics.
Instagram
Account Growth
Accounts Reached
Golden Trends needed a new website to fit the new brand. We wanted an efficient way to get information across, tell the brand’s story, and monetize the traffic we created. We integrated the website with Involve.me to create a product quiz that recommended website visitors a product based on their preferences.
The data we collected helped inform our future product development and gave us data to remarket the web visitors.
We also integrated WeedMaps directly into the website. This lets web visitors place online orders directly with their nearest dispensaries.
This helped us solve a major problem for cannabis brands – online sales.
You can view the website here.
Website Visitors
June ‘22 – June ‘23
As Golden Trends’ public perception grew, dispensaries saw us as a viable partner to collaborate on marketing campaigns. Lemon Cannabis, one of Oklahoma’s best dispensaries, recognized us as a partner that could drive traffic to their dispensary and help them sell more products.
We entered a one-year billboard deal to promote our products on a rotating basis. Every month, four new billboard designs graced Northeast Oklahoma near Lemon Cannabis.
Without eCommerce, cannabis thrives off physical marketing material and consumer touch points. It’s easier to get someone at the dispensary to try your product, than to get someone to drive to a dispensary to buy your products.
We created a series of collateral for the sales staff to leave behind at dispensaries. For dispensaries that purchase many products, we developed specific banners and collateral to put in their dispensaries. This helped dispensaries sell Golden Trends products faster.
Are you ready to increase your sales and connect with a larger audience? Take the next step and explore a project with Hotbox Digital. Click the button below to get a free consultation.
