Tell us your cannabis origin story It is challenging for podcast host's to prevent their guests from turning an episode into a company promo piece. On A Mejer Journey podcast, Mike Mejer uses his cannabis industry experience to help his guests focus on their expertise, not their sales talking points. As the founder of Green Lane Communication, he shares his thoughts on how best to launch a "Branded" podcast with Dan Humiston Produced by PodConX Potcasters - https://podconx.com/podcasts/potcasters A Mejer Journey - https://www.greenlanecommunication.com/podcast Mike Mejer - https://podconx.com/guests/mike-mejer Green Lane Communication - https://www.greenlanecommunication.com/
Tell us your cannabis origin story
It is challenging for podcast host's to prevent their guests from turning an episode into a company promo piece. On A Mejer Journey podcast, Mike Mejer uses his cannabis industry experience to help his guests focus on their expertise, not their sales talking points. As the founder of Green Lane Communication, he shares his thoughts on how best to launch a "Branded" podcast with Dan Humiston
Produced by PodConX
Potcasters - https://podconx.com/podcasts/potcasters
A Mejer Journey - https://www.greenlanecommunication.com/podcast
Mike Mejer - https://podconx.com/guests/mike-mejer
Green Lane Communication - https://www.greenlanecommunication.com/
A Mejer Journey
Dan Humiston: [00:00:00] Everyone. Thanks for joining us. And welcome back. We have another great show in store for you today, Michael, major's here to talk about his podcast, a major journey, Michael. Welcome to.
Mike Mejer: Dan, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. I'm a big fan of the show. So this is a good option.
Dan Humiston: Well, I'm glad to have you on today too. , I talked to a lot of people about starting a podcast. And one thing I don't think people realize is that podcasts are quietly becoming almost like another social media channel. You're the founder of cannabis PR marketing from Greenland communication. And so you have a.
Of experience getting the message out. Has your firm benefited from having a podcast?
Mike Mejer: yeah, 100%, 100%. I think there's a lot of power in podcasting, especially when it comes to storytelling. And I think a lot of us, especially in the cannabis space have realized that there's power in storytelling and the ability to connect with others. Through stories and by being relatable. And so the podcast has just [00:01:00] really opened up so many doors and so many opportunities in a lot of different facets, one, it's a great calling card, right?
Another one is just a great way to kind of open the door and be a little vulnerable and let other people know who you are, you know what you're doing and why you're doing it. So a lot of benefit and value comes from having a podcast.
Dan Humiston: Oh, I see. I couldn't agree with you more. , like you said, it opens a lot of doors you follow a traditional interview format, but unlike a lot of podcasts, your podcasts aren't really. Gas promo pieces. You tend to focus on the guest's expertise. Do you think being in the industry helps you zero in on what makes each one of your guests unique?
Mike Mejer: Yeah. so I appreciate you taking the time to listen and to pay attention to those things, Dan. So selfishly, I am super curious, right? Just naturally. I love to learn from everybody and everybody's. Hence kind of the, the roadmap for the show. And so a lot of the questions and a lot of the interest and the curiosity, and the guests just comes from me naturally [00:02:00] wanting to know what they've learned from their journeys and experiences along the way.
And if I could just put that out there in the form of a podcast where other people can benefit from it, why not? And that that's how it all started. And this is how it's taken shape over.
Dan Humiston: It's like you said, you're telling a story hence the title of your podcast, a major journey. It's you tell their story of their journey, which , I think is compelling. , I really do another advantage. You have from working in this industry is you aren't phased by unorthodox guest's behavior.
Do you have any of those? This could only happen in cannabis stories.
Mike Mejer: Oh, yeah. So , there was one episode in particular. , I always tell guests, if you want to smoke or whatever, , feel free, , just be comfortable, be yourself. And so th this one guest was smoking a joint throughout the conversation, and it was awesome. , we were really into it.
And I guess all of a sudden, they must've just taken a really big rip off of their joint and they had a coughing fit. And I just, I lost it. I was cracking up, they were cracking up and it, it took some [00:03:00] time just for us and between the laughing between the coughing. It just kept going on and on. And so we just had to take a pause and just let them regroup.
But it was that moment. And even after the show ended, I looked back on it and. This would never happen in any other industry. And it was just something that was so easy, right. And we both laughed and connected over it. And we had so many jokes later on down the road about it. So you just never know what you're going to get in cannabis.
And I think , the genuine intention of a lot of people makes it a really enjoyable journey to say the least
Dan Humiston: oh, . I have. So there's so many of those stories in cannabis stories and you tell your friends that aren't in the industry. What really? That look yeah. I'm telling ya, I, you brought along a clip from one of your shows. Can you set it up for us?
Mike Mejer: Yeah. Sure. So, Joseph, Cory he is on the team over at Mary med and he's just an unbelievable tech business-minded entrepreneurial minded leader.
Dan Humiston: , let's play the clip and then we can talk a little bit about it afterwards.
[00:04:00] There's an example of you setting the stage. Because that interview could have went in so many different directions, but you really told a story with that interview.
Mike Mejer: I appreciate that. Yeah. And he really has dialed in on what it takes to. Lead and run an operation or a team or a department like an actual business, right? , he's talking about numbers, he's talking about data, not just putting out some fictitious fairy tale number of, 4,000 pounds.
That's what I appreciate the [00:05:00] most connecting , with other people in the space who really have a keen understanding, not just for , the community and the culture behind it, but also for the business side of things. That's going to allow for this community and culture to develop and grow over time into something that will have longevity and sustainability in the long run in 10, 15, 20, 30 years.
Dan Humiston: Yeah. And I think back to this storytelling and understanding the industry it's yours. Involvement in the industry that helps you get to that point and really help the guests tell this story. , I think that's the real essence of your shows from just from the episodes that I've listened to.
Mike Mejer: I, I appreciate that. And I think it just comes from. Spending so much time working with editors, reporters, journalists, where they're asking specific questions and they're trying to position questions to extract certain bits and pieces of information so that they can then craft a story that's telling that's accurate.
That's able to.
paint a picture in someone's head and really let them know why this particular subject that they're writing about or why [00:06:00] this individual that they're interviewing is important. It's not just an advertisement and kind of like you alluded to, I never wanted my show to be something where people.
X amount of dollars to get on and promote a product. I want it to be something where people walk away from each episode and say, wow, whether it was a two minute clip from that, or whether it was the entire show. I want them to walk away from it and say, wow, that was important. Or there was some piece of information or some golden nugget in there that was important and really helped me in my business or professionally, personally, whatever it is.
Dan Humiston: Yeah, it's being true to your audience. And I found this happen a lot of times where guests come in and they're prepped by their publicist to hit all these talking points and the listeners aren't really excited about some of the talking points. They're more excited about the journey.
Like, . How did you get here? What makes you different? I applaud you for taking that approach because it's so easy to fall into. Well, let's just hear your talking points and we'll go from there. Cool. Before we wrap up, , I want to go back to where we started.
What advice [00:07:00] would you give a company that's considering doing like a branded podcast, a podcast that ties into their company.
Mike Mejer: So a podcast that will ultimately help with business development, lead generation and things like.
Dan Humiston: Yeah. Every once in a while I'll get a company that says, we want to do a podcast with our company name on it. And. It's kind of a tricky approach, because nobody wants to hear, a sales podcast.
Mike Mejer: Yeah, , that's a great point. And that's something that I actually get. Relatively often as well. My best piece of advice would be figure out who your audience is. And not just from a podcast perspective, but also , from a company perspective, who is that ideal client?
Who's the dream client, what's the client avatar like and what do they want to listen to? How long do they want to tune in to episodes four? Do they want to listen to a 10 minute podcast or are they in the car? Begging for a 40, 50, 60 minutes show where it is very free reign and not necessarily buttoned up with, three or four talking points and some [00:08:00] very specific questions.
So I think there needs to be an understanding of both what the audience from an entertainment perspective would like to see to receive. And then also from a business development standpoint, who is it that you're trying to connect with? Who is it that you're trying to reach? And identify what their characteristics are and what their interests are, what their psychographics are, demographics and things like that.
And then based on that, you can reverse engineer. The qualities and the characteristics of your show to align with people that you and your business are trying to connect with. And it doesn't have to be salesy and it doesn't have to come across as, some guy on a used car sales lot trying to, turn listeners into paying customers.
But if you reverse engineer those things and just take your time with it and crafted carefully, it's a great formula to follow for success.
Dan Humiston: Yeah, I hear a podcast by REI and they never once sell anything on their podcasts. They just tell about people's adventures in camping or hiking, or, but every one of those people have a backpack. They [00:09:00] have a tent and they all got it REI, but REI has never. Pitching their products.
And I think that's the key to a good branded podcast. You can check out a new episode of a major journey every week on all major podcast sites and including pod connects, where you can also apply to be a guest. Mike, I wish we had more time. Let's do this again. Thanks for being on the show.
Mike Mejer: Absolutely. Thank you for having me, Dan. This was great.