Wholesale Cannabis, Fake Bees, Groundhog Marketing, Girl Scout Cookies, Guest Experience and Immigrant Credit

In the Bill Murray classic?“Groundhog Day”, Phil?is a weatherman assigned every year to cover the groundhog emerging from its hole. When he gets caught in a blizzard he failed to predict, he?finds himself trapped in a time warp, doomed to relive the same day over and over again.

Every day he would follow the same routine, and (not shockingly)?would have the same outcome. Finally, he decided to do something about it and he?began to change his behaviors, which changed the outcome.

Many businesses?are in this same loop when it comes to their marketing. They come up with a basic marketing plan and?"set it and forget it". Post on social on the same set schedule, send the same emails, all based on the same messaging that isn't working. The same thing every month while hoping that the results will eventually come.

News flash - they won't! So what to do instead? Mix it up.

-?Revisit?and refresh your core messaging (at least every 6 months)

-?Test?posting at different times and platforms and tweak based on results

-?Try?something new. Google AdWords, promoting social, a contest, add a chat function, add personalization?- anything you're not doing now

-?Make?sure it isn't all about you. Marketing should deliver value, be educational, and can even be entertaining. It isn't a nonstop sales pitch

-?Be?human, transparent and interesting. The days of overly formal business language and pitches are over

Remember, you can't grow if you're stagnant. Get out there and embrace change!

What happened in the?startup world?last?week:

• LeafLink,?a wholesale cannabis platform, raised a $100M Series D. Their tools streamline the way legal cannabis businesses create, manage, pay for, and ship their orders.?Founded in 2016, their marketplace currently processes approximately $5B in annual transactions, representing an estimated 50% of legal US wholesale cannabis commerce.?
• Triple Whale, a startup that?provides Shopify store owners with a single platform that brings all of their analytics together into a single service, raised $25M. They help improve conversion numbers and get better insights into marketing campaigns and saw 1,400% year-over-year growth, with 5,000 brands using the service.?
• BloomX, a startup with?bio-mimicking pollination technology, raised $8M.?Their platform pinpoints the optimal window for pollination and then sends crop-specific hardware devices to replicate the natural pollination process. These are electric vehicles with mechanical arms which navigate between two rows of plants and vibrate their stems, detaching pollen that lands on flowers’ stigmas to pollinate them.
• Upwardli,?a?financial services startup making credit fair and accessible to new immigrants and Gen Z who are shut out of the U.S. credit system, raised $2M. They help consumers build their credit into an acceptable range and then pass the customer back to the lending institution, ready for approval.
• RocketRez, the?data-driven guest experience startup with an end-to-end cloud ticketing platform for tours and attractions, closed a $15M Series B. They handle online and on-site ticket purchases, mobile ticket scanning, retail and food and beverage purchases, email and SMS communication, and various other interactions are all part of a single customer journey

I love Girl Scout Cookies, love?living in a small town, and love this post from our local police department.

We crush it with startups and emerging brands working to launch, grow and scale. Want to make sure you aren’t in the same place 6 months from now??Let's connect.