Keys to promoting a brand with a podcast When done correctly, a branded podcast can be an effective way for a company to promote it's brand. Andrew Hunzicker the CEO of DOPE CFO and the host of The Cannabis Accounting Podcast by DOPE CFO has created one of the most successful branding podcasts in the cannabis industry. He joins Dan Humiston to explain how his podcast has helped expand his company's message and grow his business. Produced by PodConx Potcasters - https://podconx.com/podcasts/potcasters Dan Humiston - https://podconx.com/guests/dan-humiston Andrew Hunzicker - https://podconx.com/guests/andrew-hunzicker DOPE CFO - https://www.dopecfo.com/ DOPE CFO Cannabis Accounting Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/7BdgTwMqgeSuRYRLgMgwv0?si=91c4c27add61484e
Keys to promoting a brand with a podcast
When done correctly, a branded podcast can be an effective way for a company to promote it's brand. Andrew Hunzicker the CEO of DOPE CFO and the host of The Cannabis Accounting Podcast by DOPE CFO has created one of the most successful branding podcasts in the cannabis industry. He joins Dan Humiston to explain how his podcast has helped expand his company's message and grow his business.
Produced by PodConx
Potcasters - https://podconx.com/podcasts/potcasters
Dan Humiston - https://podconx.com/guests/dan-humiston
Andrew Hunzicker - https://podconx.com/guests/andrew-hunzicker
DOPE CFO - https://www.dopecfo.com/
DOPE CFO Cannabis Accounting Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/7BdgTwMqgeSuRYRLgMgwv0?si=91c4c27add61484e
Dan Humiston: [00:00:00] All right, everyone. Thanks for joining us. And welcome back. We have another great show in store for you today, . Andrew huts singer is here to talk about his podcasts, the dope CFO, cannabis accounting podcast.
Andrew, welcome to the show.
Andrew Hunzincker: Yeah.
Thank you very much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Dan Humiston: Well, I'm super glad that you could join us today. We are going to focus on branded podcasts, which are used by companies to help them expand their brand. But unfortunately, most companies completely screw this up. If you are a brand in Canada. You're going to want to listen closely to today's show because in my opinion, Andrew has one of the best branded cannabis podcasts going right now.
I thought maybe the best way to start this office to talk a little bit about dope CFO and what your company does, and then we'll roll into what the, how the podcast connects to that. So what is the company.
Andrew Hunzincker: So dove CFO. , we're pretty much the leader at this point in the U S. For cannabis, accounting and tax. So I have over a [00:01:00] thousand CPAs enrolled agents, bookkeepers, CFOs, all 50 states that do nothing but serve cannabis companies, farms, and dispensary's they come to me for training and education, but it's even expanded.
Now. I have actual national accounting firms coming to me for education and the AI CPA as well. So , we teach cannabis accounting, , and this will be highly relevant about getting started. You just said it's we have a great podcast, which is kind of funny to me, cause it was just like, .
I opened up zoom and just started talking to somebody and recording, I don't have a professional setup in my office. I have a laptop only, no desktop, no microphone, no studio. We talked. In startup world, , minimum viable product, just get started. , I find a lot to people will use every excuse under the sun to not start something, cause they're not quite ready.
And so we follow , that mantra. If you've heard it ready, fire aim,
Dan Humiston: yes.
Andrew Hunzincker: accountants in particular. They want to aim for months and months and months. There's just like, just go get started [00:02:00]
, so originally, yeah, I had a very successful cannabis accounting practice, really mostly in bend Oregon, which is a tiny town of 80,000 people. As people started coming to me to help them be trained and educated, it expanded by 2018. Every client I had, I gave away to my students.
And so now I only teach it's a full-time job. We've got a sizable company, literally just teaching, educating These different firms.
Dan Humiston: And it's always changing, which kind of rolls me into the podcast. Most of your episodes are really geared for the person that's either already servicing cannabis customers or thinking about servicing. Maybe you can tell us some of the topics that you've covered on your show.
Andrew Hunzincker: Yes, so if someone's brand new and accountant, or even a business owner, there's like this can't be that difficult Canterbury.
Dan Humiston: yes, it is.
Andrew Hunzincker: Animus is super complex. We don't call it a niche. It's not a niche, it's an industry. And so really you got cannabis here, CBD hemp here. They both have sub niches.
We've [00:03:00] got farming. Chemical processing plants, we have product manufacturers, food and beverages and lotions and all kinds of products. Then we have distribution and wholesale. We have dispensaries, we have testing lab, we have delivery companies.
And so many, you can have all those different companies in one organization and it requires cost accounting. There's no industry guide yet for most industries have big four accounting guides, a big forehead, and even here yet. The AI CPA just recently got in.
And so we have created and built and these tools and information over the last six years and now can go out and serve. So if you're a cannabis owner even wanting to build your brand with a podcast yeah. Make sure you're doing accounting and tax. Right. You don't want to skimp on that, that side of things.
It's very, very important to get it done. Right.
Dan Humiston: well, I have a great clip from that. You did, you set that up perfectly for me? Let me play this. [00:04:00] that's a great episode. That was a great episode, but that's the truth. That's everyone's trying to get around to 80, but you.
Andrew Hunzincker: Yeah. , I mean, the best way is to actually just do it correctly. And so if you're a business owner, you should go hire a dope CFO accountant, they will do it correctly. And so if you do it correctly, you can actually minimize your taxable income via cost accounting. But if you're just out there listening to some attorneys even pitching ideas around multi entity, Throwing everything into cost of goods sold or doing donations or gifts, or there's all these different tricks that just don't work.
If you want to break the law, just stay in the [00:05:00] illegal legacy. Markets, tell people that some people want to go partially into the legal markets. If you really want to be legal, just be legal. You can make a lot of money and be successful doing two 80 correctly. So I tell these owners, why don't you do it?
You actually should do when anyone builds a company. Focus on your brand, your marketing, your revenue, your growth, your strategy, those kinds of things. And just do accounting and tax, right. That will add value to your company.
Dan Humiston: well, your words are really a Testament to your podcast, you stayed true to the course. And even though it's a kind of a really narrow focus that you've had, you've stayed true to the course. And now I see you're up close to a hundred episodes.
Andrew Hunzincker: had a hundred. Okay.
Dan Humiston: You look at the downloads and you're like, oh man, we could do better. , have you ever been tempted to expand , your scope and I'm start trying to talk about different topics. It's gotta be.
Andrew Hunzincker: Well, yeah, it's funny. , we do have guests , and it can be all over the board. Mostly accounting and tax for cannabis, I tried to do two shows a month, at least once a [00:06:00] month. I'll have one of my students in the program and we are talking about their sub niche within the industry and things they're at countering.
And, and so we usually highlight those people. We have experts in so many things across this network of the U S so. Like we just had an episode with Tina and she's focused , on the reservation in Montana, or we have someone else that just focuses on salt sales and local taxes, so we have all kinds of diversity within the group
Dan Humiston: what? With, Colleagues all over the country and all 50 states, some people working on reservation, so every state has different rules. So you have access to all this knowledge, which makes it, just really enhances what you're doing.
Andrew Hunzincker: Yeah, since we have attorneys and CPAs and enrolled agents and bookkeepers and CFOs everywhere at this point, there is not a question that if I don't know the answer, that's fine because somebody else will know the answer, whether it's tax accounting.
, it might be as simple as where do I find. Cannabis bank in Northern Detroit. Some I'll answer it. ? What's the [00:07:00] best extract machine. Something has nothing to do with accounting or tax. We'll have the answer because our knowledge is so deep at this.
Dan Humiston: Yeah. And you're their trusted advisor. You're their trusted advisor. Before I finished, I always like to leave with some advice for aspiring podcasters, but today I thought . We would share advice for companies that are thinking about starting a branded podcast, maybe share some of the tangibles and maybe more importantly, the intangible benefits that your company , has realized since you launched your pod.
Andrew Hunzincker: As I think of cannabis companies, so if you're out there, you're going to make a new CBD beverage or a special gummy bear, or just grow pot and you want to do the best and it's organic and all this stuff. It's a way to get, to start to build that audience. And not just only using say Instagram and Facebook build that.
Via your podcast. You can even use that on YouTube as well because in this industry, and I think a lot of the business owners get this, you really have to [00:08:00] build that audience and they want to be more involved in your company. So if you're a growing pot, they want to know where and how it's grown. , how do you treat employees?
We talk about E S and G now. To evaluate companies, environmental, social, and governance, and people want to know that the company is actually run well, doing good things. Looking at the social equity component as well. So , by building up podcasts, you can start to connect your audience and your customers.
And they really get to know you and the company, as opposed to just being like wonder bread. I'm buying a loaf of wonder bread, and I have no idea about anything
Dan Humiston: you're right. It's nice to know the CEO is engaged and you get to know his personality. You're the host of every show. So they know you and they get to know your personalities, your quirks, some of the things that you like, things you don't like, and the community builds because they connect with you.
I think that's really.
Andrew Hunzincker: I tell people just be authentic. So I've given a whole bunch of speeches on stages, both to national accounting offices, but also national cannabis conferences I talked to this all the time [00:09:00] about your podcast has to be perfect or your website's got to be perfect or everything people connect with.
They want to hear about your ups and downs and not only how great you are or whatever as well. But he was, I was tell people I was on a stage in Orlando in December. And everything went wrong with their tech, or I was supposed to be the first person, but they couldn't get the thing to start. And they were on a very tight schedule.
And so my hour presentation got crammed into 15 minutes and there were 600 people in front of me and not only that the slides were working. And so
I went totally off script and I was just authentic and , people got so into it that's all we talked about. All the failures I'd have.
Dan Humiston: that's great. That's back to ready. Fire aim.
Andrew Hunzincker: Yeah.
Dan Humiston: Ready? Fire
Andrew Hunzincker: go with it and, and be authentic. And , don't be worried about it. It's the same with, if you're a cannabis owner or we'll have an account and say, oh, I'm scared to talk to a cannabis business owner. Cause they know everything. And I don't know even how marijuana is grown or whatever.
For the most part cannabis business owners are [00:10:00] very nice and friendly and passionate about the movement. I tell people if you actually believe in the movement and the medicine side of it and social equity and the jobs and the tax dollars, they will connect with you that way more than just whether your website is.
Dan Humiston: Wow. That's great advice. And , you can listen to a new episode of the dope CFO, cannabis, accounting prod cast on all major podcast sites. Or you can check the links in our show notes to go to their website and just check out some of their services that they provide.
Andrew. This was a lot of fun and it's nice getting to know you. Thanks for doing the show today.
Andrew Hunzincker: Well, that was awesome. Well, thank you for having me and super fun.