In an industry obsessed with size—big canopies, big projections, and big social media followings—it is easy to lose sight of what actually keeps the lights on. We have been conditioned to believe that bigger is always better, but when it comes to marketing in the cannabis industry, that mindset is often a trap.
Most brands do not fail because they lack exposure or brand awareness. They fail because they cannot tell what is actually working. Without measurement, marketing in the cannabis industry becomes nothing more than a monthly debate instead of a reliable growth engine.
The Problem with Vanity Metrics
We see it all the time: companies celebrating “likes,” “impressions,” or “reach” as if those numbers pay the bills. Sure, it feels good to see a social post blow up, but if those eyeballs aren’t converting into foot traffic or online sales, you’re just shouting into the void.
This is where the distinction between “big” and “measurable” becomes critical. A massive campaign might get you seen, but a measurable one tells you who saw you, what they did next, and how much it cost to acquire them. In the legacy days, reputation was everything, and word-of-mouth was king. Today, digital tools allow us to track that reputation with precision, but only if we’re looking at the right numbers.
Leading with Action-Based Metrics
At Beard Bros Pharms, we cut through the noise by leading with action-based metrics. These aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet; they are the pulse of your business. They tell you exactly where your audience is engaging and where they’re dropping off. We prioritize metrics that actually let teams make informed decisions: clicks, verified traffic, repeatable performance, and clear indicators of what to scale next.
Why does this matter? Because when you know exactly which email subject line drove the most clicks or which blog post led to the most newsletter sign-ups, you stop guessing. You stop wasting budget on channels that don’t perform and start doubling down on the ones that do. It transforms your cannabis marketing from a cost center into a revenue generator.
The Power of the Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Let’s look at a concrete example from our own ecosystem. Email marketing is often dismissed as “old school,” yet it remains one of the most powerful tools in our arsenal because it is owned media—no algorithm can take it away from you.
Across our network here at Beard Bros Pharms, email performance typically lands around a 2.6% Click-Through Rate (CTR). To the uninitiated, that might sound small. But in the world of data, that number is gold. It translates to driving 95–100 highly qualified clicks to client sites per send. These aren’t just random scrollers; these are engaged readers who have taken a deliberate action to learn more about a product or service.
That is the type of metric a marketing lead can take to the CFO without sweating. It’s not pitching “vibes” or “brand awareness”; it’s pitching verifiable interest and potential revenue. When you can draw a straight line from a marketing activity to a customer action, you build a defense for your budget that no board member can argue with.
Moving from Debate to Growth
When you focus on measurable results, the internal conversation shifts. You stop arguing about which color the logo should be or whether the tone was “edgy” enough, and you start discussing how to optimize the funnel. You move from subjective debates to objective strategy.
This approach requires discipline. It means resisting the urge to chase every shiny new trend or platform until you’ve mastered the ones you’re already on. It means being honest about what isn’t working and killing those initiatives quickly. But the payoff is a marketing machine that is predictable, scalable, and—most importantly—profitable.
If you’re tired of the “spray and pray” method and want marketing you can defend, scale, and actually understand, it’s time to change the conversation. Let’s stop chasing “big” and start chasing “better.”
If you want cannabis marketing you can defend and scale, let’s talk contact us here.
