MJBizcon

‘We Have Our Magic Sauce’; How Anne Holland Helped Build a Startup That Just Sold for $120 Million

From a new company in 2011 looking for a third vertical to excel in, MJBiz quickly became Inc.’s 4th fastest growing media company in the nation—one that sold those first two verticals to focus on the third: the cannabis industry. It paid off when event giant Emerald X announced that it had acquired the 10 year-old MJBiz for $120 million, with potential future payments contingent on their performance through 2022.

“I never dreamed it would get this big,” co-founder Anne Holland told me. The rise of MJBiz has been startling—and puts forward lessons to starting and building a new vertical or business. This is Holland’s 5th time building a property and selling it, so she knows perhaps better than anyone what it takes.

“What we have done is treated every product the same, the only thing different is the niche,” she said. That has meant “super high quality content—being as useful as it can be to our end audience—a way for the community to get together and data. So we have our magic sauce. This industry just happened to take off—like a restaurant that makes great food, we were on the right street corner as opposed to being hidden away somewhere.”

Holland (pictured here) was especially pleased that Emerald X will take on all 40 or so MJBiz employees. “That’s important—plus we need everyone,” she said. “[Emerald’s] health, vacation, payroll, ability to work from home all [aligned] closely to ours. We wanted to make sure that our people would be happy. [Co-founder] Cassandra [Farrington] and I will continue as consultants. We have a really good leadership team in place. We’ve just gotten so big; our event made the Trade Show Executive Gold 100. It’s a nice transition.”

Here are more takeaways on building new verticals and niches from Holland and Farrington, based on today’s conversation and past interviews:

Find the underserved. “…We were looking at veterinary practices, medical, mergers and acquisitions—all different industries to decide who are we going to serve next,” Holland told me previously. “The primary thing is, ‘Who is unserved?’ Who’s hungry for what we’re really good at doing? There was no financial information [in the marijuana industry], no legal or financial news service that was doing a good job. ‘We can do that.’ We can help these hungry people. If it was the blimp industry, that would be okay. We just like to help people and happened to luck out.”

Is the industry growing? “We had a set of criteria that we judged everything against,” Farrington said. “Is [an industry] growing at a certain pace, at least 7% a year? Does it have a certain number of actual businesses with actual employees, not solo entrepreneurs or consultants or individuals, but people who actually have to make payroll every two weeks or every month? Pay rent on a facility that sort of thing that shows their level of investment.”

Keep an open mind. “We were topic-agnostic,” Holland said. “Cassandra was in Denver, I was in Rhode Island. I saw an article that said there were more marijuana dispensers in Denver than Starbucks. I immediately called her.” Added Farrington: “Medical marijuana met our criteria. This meant that there were at least 4,500 focused professionals in the area, 1,000 companies with employees, 100 potential advertisers/sponsors, “and at least one competitor.” There was exactly one. “You don’t want to be the only one,” Holland said. “It probably means it’s a bad idea. Lawyers, accountants and others were serving the industry in various ways. Some of these people had businesses for 20 years but never kept records. People were truly legitimizing themselves overnight.”

Survey. One of the first things Holland and Farrington did was conduct a survey of businesses in the field. What did people really want from an information company? “They didn’t want to know how to run a dispensary better,” Holland said. “They wanted a free daily news website that connected them to the cannabis industry across the country; they desperately needed business and financial benchmarks, and industry numbers. And they wanted a conference, with other mavericks who were running dispensaries.”

Create events. MJBizCon attracted more than 1,200 exhibitors and 27,000 attendees when it was held in Las Vegas in October, their first in–person event since the start of the pandemic. Holland marveled at the safety precautions being taken there. Although people told her that based on 2019 and earlier growth, MJBiz would look good to a potential buyer, Holland believed that “they needed to see that it was still a viable show, that there was excitement in the marketplace. We had good readership numbers and social media stats, our online advertising went rocketing upwards, but it was important to show that it was still a huge event.” Next up will be an event in San Diego in February and back to Las Vegas in November. “Meeting in-person is a critical thing for us.”

Have a purpose. “We believed in a purpose-led company,” Holland said. “We wanted to be in business to help people—kind of a cataclysm of the conscience. Companies that have a purpose also tend to be more profitable. People stick with them.” There was also an immediate focus on content and keeping the “church-and-state” philosophy. CEO Chris Walsh, whose background is as a business journalist, was their first hire. Both Holland and Farrington came from the paid content world.

Seek female representation in your company or division. “A huge amount of purchasing power in households are influenced and/or controlled by women, and at an increasingly number of companies,” said Farrington. “Without seeking this, you would be missing out on the viewpoints of a huge portion of your audience.” The cannabis industry is wide open space, she added, and the percentage of female CEOs and founders is very high. “There is a young crop of females aspiring to reach executive leadership ranks. If you are representing your industry, make sure those people can see themselves [in what you do, including any photos].”

Think progressively. Holland was proud to say that she had carried pandemic insurance. “We also had some savings, so we were doing fine. This was not a fire sale.”

SMitraKalita

‘How Can We Help?’ With All the News Out There, Providing Value Must Be Foremost

“We think people subscribe [or join] for the words we write. We are wrong. Especially during a pandemic, the need for human connectivity triumphs.” That comes from S. Mitra Kalita, co-founder and CEO of URL Media and Epicenter NYC (and a fellow Rutgers grad), in NiemanLab’s Predictions for Journalism 2022.

“Over the last few years, newsrooms experimented with innovation in various formats on how to deliver the news and the results often have been digitally native, visually arresting stories we can swipe or tap through,” Kalita writes. “What if the answer is actually to simplify? To make things less news, more info?”

Kalita wants media to provide more value—to be of more use. She points to a news channel that launched pandemic hotlines and interviewed a funeral director; and her Epicenter site translating flyers, setting up a Google Drive of vaccine-related templates and letters for workers, and booking appointments. It’s looking at your audience and assessing their needs.

“We are trying to solve problems, to create and provide information in a format that is actually helpful to the end user and still holds those in power to account,” she writes.

As you know, in a world where staying connected to the pulse of current events is more important than ever, local news holds a significant place in our daily lives.

For instance, for Floridians keen on understanding the intricacies of their state’s political landscape, The Floridian serves as an indispensable resource. From breaking news to in-depth analyses, The Floridian ensures that its readers are well-informed about the issues shaping their communities. This commitment to providing timely and relevant information, as evidenced by its coverage of events such as Jonathan Kilman attended Pitch Day at the Capitol, reflects the essence of effective journalism highlighted by Kalita.

As Kalita suggests, the essence of effective journalism lies in simplifying complexities and addressing the needs of the audience. In this regard, The Floridian’s dedication to delivering news that is not only informative but also actionable underscores its value as a trusted political media platform for Floridians.

Here are ways publishers and media execs are providing value:

Be “a wise and trustworthy guide.” “Newsrooms will also have to learn how to tell a story about their community and situate themselves within that story,” writes Ariel Zirulnick, senior editor for community engagement at Southern California Public Radio, also on NiemanLab. “Newsrooms [should] position themselves as a ‘wise and trustworthy guide,’ not the hero nor someone who remains at arm’s length. [It’s] what motivates people to become members—you’re inviting people to join a cause, to fix something that feels broken in the world… As media companies of all sizes seek to cultivate a community among their most loyal audience members, solo media entrepreneurs will combine their audiences [as well]…”

Get behind a good cause. Sustainability, DEI and climate change are all huge issues today, particularly for young people—83% of millennials say it’s important that companies they buy from also align with their values, and 73% of 35-54 year olds and 60% of 55+ year olds agree. We all want to feel like we’re contributing in our own way—if that’s to be part of something larger and doing good, so be it. Data from an Axios/Harris poll found that public perception of companies is deeply impacted by how much those companies can promise a better future for society. According to the poll, companies with the most momentum included those brands putting those commitments front and center. In a Disqus survey, people said they pay for content to “support a publication’s mission and success.”

Think communities. Kalita makes another good point: We hear so much today about the importance of local news—which doesn’t resonate as much in B2B—but remote work has changed that outlook to something that does resonate. “To me, our definition of ‘local’ is at odds with the expansive definition of ‘community’; industries besides journalism are responding to the trend. For a recent column, I interviewed Jennifer Gomez, co-founder and chief marketing officer of oneKIN, an online marketplace for retailers and entrepreneurs of color. She told me consumers define ‘local’ differently than before, with a focus now on size and intimacy over location. Example: A friend of mine wants to only buy Christmas gifts from Black-owned small businesses; she’s happy to criss-cross the country (and internet) to find them.”

Show your audience that you’re listening. Grey Montgomery, SVP, head of ag product and operations at DTN, once told us that publishers not only need to create value but must hammer it home. “If [one of your customers] doesn’t want to buy your content because he says it’s too expensive for him, then maybe you need to do some soul searching in your content,” Montgomery said. “My audience in a lot of ways can’t afford it but they do because we also pitch back; for example, ‘If you follow all of our hedging strategies with your size crop, this is how much you would have made. Therefore by investing the $500 you’ll make $5,000.'” Kalita writes that her reporter’s instinct was always to ask “what happened?” Now, she tells her staff, it should be “how can we help?” or “is there something you need?”

Personalize experiences. According to Litmus, 80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides personalized experiences, and 83% of customers are willing to share their data to create a more personalized experience. That also means more segmentation. More than 65% of marketers are creating at least two versions of an email on average. Nearly 16% are creating four or more. “Run an A/B test with your subscribers, with and without personalization, then look at your analytics to see how subscribers engage with both emails,” they advise. CEO Craig Fuller says that “the idea of the FreightWaves Live Experience is to bring you into the action, make you a part of the experience—letting you see how technology is going to shape the future of our industry.”

Candace-Amos2

‘Have a Game Plan’; Successful Social Media Is Often Part of a Bigger Initiative

“The days of poking fun at Instagram influencers are over—because they, at least, have a game plan. Legacy media has stood on the tall pillars that have informed its editorial strategy for so long—but in just a few short years, creators have been able to bulldoze outdated practices and find new ways to reach audiences.”
Candace Amos, director of audience and social media, The Daily Beast, in NiemanLab’s Predictions for Journalism 2022

Let’s repeat: “They, at least, have a game plan,” Amos (pictured here) writes. As my colleague Matt Kinsman says, “Too often social is just fire-and-forget with reposting a link.” It needs to be so much more. Amos offers some tips:

– Employ social listening to decipher what’s relevant to the audience you’ve built as interests shift over time.
– Teach team members in the newsroom diverse ways to communicate with their audiences and assist in bolstering their social presence.
– Design every touchpoint of your operation with social behaviors in mind, from communication methods down to the positioning of buttons on the site.

A clever job recruitment video, questions on Instagram stories, Facebook Live interviews and a summer tag-it promotion are just some of the publisher social initiatives that shone brightly. It’s obvious that none of these were one-offs. They were part of a strategy, ideas conceived and carried out to increase audience engagement.

(Note: Our 9-part, new Editorial Training Series will feature a mid-February session titled 10 Easy Steps to Promote Your Own Content on Social. Check it out here.)

Here are four successful social media publisher examples:

Recruit with video. The scene: Four executives sit at a long table. Enter a young job candidate (pictured above), talking into her phone about her social media followers. She gets off the phone and tells the panel to move in closer for a selfie. She is now all business. “All cell phones off and everyone look over here. I brought a concept. Hand this out please but don’t look at it yet! First of all, only one thing matters to me: Verkaufen. Verkaufen. Verkaufen. [Sell. Sell. Sell.]” “In this video for job applications, we turned around the relationship between the applicant and the company to stand out from other job advertisements in order to get more applications in particular from young professionals,” Behr’s CEO Arno Langbehn said. It worked. The video on Facebook reached 21 times more than a previous text ad there. It also drew 40 times more impressions but only at 7% of the cost per result. They also posted it on Xing (the German LinkedIn equivalent). See the video here. (Use CC for English subtitles.)

Reach out on Instagram Stories. To celebrate reaching one million followers, Vice World News journalists responded to audience questions about what stories and regions they want to hear more about, writes Samuel Ketch on Journalist.co.uk. The questions were sent through the Instagram Stories ‘question’ button, and it is still ongoing. This connects the audience on the platform, predominantly made up of the under-34s, with the journalists in a much more personal way. The journalists also get to see where their followers are and what is concerning them, while also creating appealing content.

Live interviews. It’s good to see Chesapeake Family Life still doing their 3rd Floor Views, live interviews on Facebook. Last Friday’s topic: Great Reads of 2021 with librarians from Anne Arundel County Public Library. The one before that was about Maryland Legal Aid’s efforts to distribute free coats and legal advice. “I really like to do those virtual interviews as long as we can give 2-3 day notice,” Donna Jefferson told me a couple summers ago, adding it’s a good platform to talk about timely topics. Previous interviews focused on Virtual School From Home Tips, the Benefits of Play Time and Navy Football Takes on Racism with an assistant coach and running back. (That interview received more than 700 views.) “By doing virtual [and live] interviews, we get things out there quickly,” Jefferson said. They are doing most Fridays, providing great content for their audience.

Tag, you’re it. Speaking of planning, what are you thinking for the summer of 2022? Advertising Specialty Institute won a 2021 Neal Award for their #PromoInTheWild campaign. They asked industry members to be on the lookout for logoed products, tag a photo of it with #PromoInTheWild and share it to ASI’s online platforms. Four people were awarded $25 gift certificates for their posts. “The campaign generated tens of thousands of positive impressions on social media and even helped some promo newcomers get a better sense of the scope of the industry,” ASI wrote. Said Tim Andrews, ASI president and CEO: “One of the best ways to convince people of the power and reach of our industry’s affordable, effective products is to showcase them wherever and whenever we can. A summertime social media campaign is a perfect way to celebrate our industry when we need it most.”

EndlessCoffeeCup2

‘Search as Marketing Channel Is Completely Undervalued’; Will 2022 Be Year of SEO?

Google’s John Mueller said putting the category name or topic name in your URL slug has zero impact on your rankings. Entrepreneur’s Timothy Carter said that in today’s SEO, the functional role of keywords has evolved into a “guiding force for your strategy.” SEO is a complicated thing these days. We’re here to help.

“Why are there so few vice presidents of search engine optimization?”

That was a question asked in a recent Endless Coffee Cup podcast by host Matt Bailey of SiteLogic quoting the headline of an article written last year by his guest, Greg Jarboe, CEO & co-founder, SEO-PR.

“It seems to me that search as a marketing channel is completely undervalued,” Bailey said. “And despite everyone wanting to say they’re data-centric… I’ll give you this example. I was in a training call with a marketing department, and I even had an analyst say, even though social doesn’t make a big impact in the analytics, we still can’t not do it. And, and I’m just kind of looking like, ‘So you’re saying the data’s not there, but yet you’re choosing to make the investment. And I understand there might be some tangential things or something like that, but that means in the absence of data that supports your conclusion, you’re still going to do it anyway. So why the emphasis on data-centricity?’”

Jarboe quickly responded. “Let’s just take a long look at the fact that 53% of the traffic that you can track comes from search. It turns out only about, oh, 5% comes from social. Now, if you look at the budgets in most organizations, I would argue that they are probably the reverse… And that’s because social is what our good friend, Avinash Kaushik, likes to call, ‘a faith-based initiative.’

“And the answer is I’m all for experimenting and finding out new things that may work. But at the end of the day, SEO, this organic search stuff, is paying your salary and also paying the salary of five other people who aren’t in your department. But they’re wasting the company’s money down in the social media group.”

The timing of this discussion could not have been any better for our AM&P Network. On Jan. 20, Erin Hallstrom, director of digital content at Putman Media’s Food Processing brand, kicks off our new 9-part, 40-Minute Editorial Training Series with a crash course on SEO best practices.

The numbers on where our emphasis lies do bear out. A report from Clutch and Ignite Visibility found that just 19% of SEO-focused businesses put resources into paid search.

“While you will get a better ROI on organic search long term, brand-new websites should always start with paid,” Ignite Visibility CEO John Lincoln, winner of Search Engine Land “Search Marketer of the Year” award, said in the report. “Even mature websites that get millions of visitors a month from organic should invest in paid. The two complement each other. Paid is a bit more precise and controllable.”

Charity Huff, CEO of January Spring—a digital marketing and advertising agency that partners with niche media companies—also sees the benefits of paid search.

“Businesses need to have both a paid and organic plan to reach customers,” she said. But “paid search is one of the few places on the web where businesses can own the message. You pick the keywords most important to your potential customer, and you deliver the message that you know will be the most compelling. Organic search is strongest when the content comes from other people, such as ratings and reviews. Organic search sources the message. Paid search lets the business control the message.”

Jarboe said that the reason he decided to write the article on the lack of VPs for search was to underscore “the fact that in many organizations search is in the wrong department. It started off in IT because it seemed technical, and 15, 20 years ago it was technical, by and large. So that was the right place to put it then.

“Over the years, particularly after the Panda Update, it’s all about your content, and pardon me, you can’t fake links anymore. You’ve got to earn the links and how do you earn links? Well, with really good content. So it goes back to content again, and all of a sudden the success metrics in SEO shifted out of the technical IT department realm into the marketing realm. But the SEO people didn’t shift with it.”

Enterprises are recognizing the indispensability of cultivating a robust link profile through organic means. Strategies like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) link building offer a systematic approach to garnering high-quality backlinks from reputable sources. By leveraging HARO’s platform to connect with journalists and industry experts, businesses can showcase their expertise and secure valuable mentions in relevant publications. HARO Link Building – Build HARO Links at Scale represents a dynamic avenue for bolstering a website’s authority and fostering organic growth. In navigating the ever-shifting landscape of SEO, aligning link building initiatives with content-driven methodologies emerges as an imperative for sustained success in digital marketing endeavors.

As the dynamics of search engine optimization continue to transform, staying abreast of these changes becomes imperative. For those seeking to navigate the nuanced realm of SEO and stay abreast of the latest developments, Pitiya, an esteemed internet marketing blog, offers a wealth of insightful resources. Explore the platform for blogging tips that not only demystify the evolving SEO landscape but also provide actionable insights to ensure your content remains at the forefront of digital success in the ever-changing world of online marketing.

“It is absolutely amazing to me,” said Bailey, whose Endless Coffee Cup podcast continues to draw a big audience. “And you said something that really triggered something I’ve been saying ever since I started in analytics, and that’s that big numbers lie. And as much as the executive team loves big numbers and the more big numbers you put on a report that seems to do well, but they always lie.”

More will be coming on SEO in 2022! Register here for our session.

risingup (2)

6 2021 EXCEL Award Winners Follow Paths That Are Replicable for Others

Every association [and organization] has anniversaries, and they mean more than a date on the calendar. Use them to boost engagement and membership and raise a little money.” That idea came from Stacy King, executive director of the Federal Bar Association, during a presentation last year.

The centerpiece of their 100th anniversary was a coffee-table book—Centennial: 100 Years of the Bar and the Bench, 1920-2020—that turned into a Bronze EXCEL Award winner. An impetus for the book was, of all things, our new virtual landscape.

“Attorneys love books,” King said. “They really do. Since we’ve been doing all these Zoom calls, I never realized how many of my leadership has just books on books behind them. Everyone has that prestigious bookcase with all of their books. The other [reason] was that when the [centennial] was over, we really wanted to make sure we had something to celebrate, something about the bar for years to come. We also wanted it as a marketing tool to raise our profile.”

Besides the lift that journalism awards can bring to careers and hard-working staffs, they can also help your peers. The 2021 EXCEL Award winners discussed here spotlight underserved segments of your audience, promote DEI, celebrate an anniversary and explain a complicated system—all replicable ideas in your own niche.

An EXCEL Award can often be the icing on your accomplishment cake. But you have to enter to win. The early-bird deadline for the EXCEL Awards has sneaked up on us fast—it’s Friday, Dec. 17. Submit your best work in one or more categories (including our new category: Best New Innovation). (We also need judges. Register here.)

Here are five other winning entries from 2021 and the great lessons we learned from each.

Focus on an underserved group. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) won a Silver EXCEL for Rising Up, focusing on women scientists. It leads with an inspiring tic-tac-toe scientist board (pictured above) and then moves to engaging intros. “If someone tells you that you can’t do something, then that probably means that you should go and do it. Don’t let other people hold you back,” says Andrea Dutton, a geologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who studies ancient coral reefs with an eye on today. Jennifer Eberhardt studies unconscious psychological biases at Stanford University, and her findings have been used to reform police departments and challenge the constitutionality of death sentences. “Racial bias is something that’s difficult for many people to see and to talk about. I’m looking at something that’s everywhere, yet it’s invisible at the same time.” The real faces are powerful.

Provide a needed service and subvert stereotypes. The American Bankers Association won a Gold EXCEL Award for Best Website (General Excellence) for Banks Never Ask That. This is a clever microsite that has responded to a common problem, with a quiz to test your scam IQ. “Show us you have what it takes to outsmart online scammers, then encourage friends and family to do the same!” There’s also a humorous video about phishing. “I love fishing,” says Tim. “No Tim, not the kind with rainbow trout and good memories of grandpa,” the narrator says. “This is bad guys tricking you into sharing your password or pin.” Later a millennial woman says that, “senior citizens are always falling for internet tricks.” “No,” the narrator says, “people under 30 are more likely to become victims of identity theft for phishing.” “Sorry,” she says, “typical millennials. Narrators are so helpful.”

Use video to explain something complicated. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Institute swept the three awards in the category Video – Single Entry (Education). The Bronze winner, Reality Check: What Are the Costliest Insurance Claims?, is a straightforward, professionally done video with a polished spokesman. Compared to how an article might handle this, it’s all easy on the eyes and ears as he explains what needs to be done. And it has a sponsor, AssuredPartners Aerospace, showing that sponsors will get behind many types of content, with the right push.

Use a blog to lead your DEI efforts. The Air Conditioning Contractors of America won a Silver EXCEL for Best Blog Site (Overall) for the ACCA HVAC Blog. Some of their posts are in front of the paywall, and some are “member exclusive.” “Login to access this member exclusive. Not a member? Join now!” There’s one post that especially caught my eye: How Do I Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion? Beyond just making a statement, the article interviews people in the field who are making a difference: “According to Jennifer Pierce, general manager of Clay’s Climate Control located in Linwood, N.J., DEI training is the key to identifying your unconscious biases… For example, a ‘Culture Day’ is created at Clay’s Climate Control where staff members are encouraged to celebrate their differences.”

Plan special issues to highlight a big topic but don’t limit your coverage to there. In the award for Best Single Topic Issue, it was good to see a range of topics among the winners: climate change (Project Management Institute); inspiration (Council for Advancement and Support of Education); artificial intelligence (National Investor Relations Institute); mental health (ASCD); civic engagement (American Alliance of Museums); and DEI (International City/County Management Association). One tip that I’ve heard repeated is to try to integrate these key topics into many issues or areas. For instance, diversifying your sources and writers in all of your content should be an overall goal rather than just a special issue on diversity. Similarly, AI—while making for a great issue—is such a huge topic going forward that it needs to be discussed in respect to many topics.

Again, the early-bird entry deadline for the 2022 EXCEL Awards is Friday, Dec. 17. Enter today and save—and maybe win!