"Revolutionizing Cannabis Marketing Online" Susan Burns talks with Reagan Hatch, the co-founder of CannaSite, a cannabis marketing agency. Reagan discusses how CannaSite offers transparent and accessible website solutions for cannabis businesses. They emphasize providing ownership of websites to their clients, avoiding long-term contracts, and empowering clients with knowledge on website maintenance. Reagan shares her passion for working in the cannabis industry, meeting fascinating people, and appreciating the ingenuity and hard work present in the cannabis community. Produced by PodConX Bodacious Women in Cannabis - https://bodacious-women-in-cannabis.simplecast.com/ Susan Burns - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sburnslegal/ Reagan Hatch - https://www.linkedin.com/in/reagan-mcelroy-hatch/ CannaSite - https://cannasite.com/ Recorded on Squadcast
"Revolutionizing Cannabis Marketing Online"
Susan Burns talks with Reagan Hatch, the co-founder of CannaSite, a cannabis marketing agency. Reagan discusses how CannaSite offers transparent and accessible website solutions for cannabis businesses. They emphasize providing ownership of websites to their clients, avoiding long-term contracts, and empowering clients with knowledge on website maintenance. Reagan shares her passion for working in the cannabis industry, meeting fascinating people, and appreciating the ingenuity and hard work present in the cannabis community.
Bodacious Women in Cannabis - https://bodacious-women-in-cannabis.simplecast.com/
Susan Burns - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sburnslegal/
Reagan Hatch - https://www.linkedin.com/in/reagan-mcelroy-hatch/
CannaSite - https://cannasite.com/
Susan Burns (00:01.415)
You know, I should say when we send something out that we record audio and video, but we don't produce. We only produce audio. So yeah, just so people should know. But you look awesome. You look amazing.
Reagan Hatch (00:10.122)
Yeah, no, that's fine. Yeah, I still, I feel, I put on a little face and thank you and a nice shirt just in case, cause it makes you feel better and more prepared.
Susan Burns (00:21.91)
It does, and your jewelry is great too. Yeah.
Reagan Hatch (00:24.086)
Thanks. So I'm wearing pants today just for you.
Susan Burns (00:31.655)
I appreciate that Reagan. So do you have any questions before we get started?
Reagan Hatch (00:41.514)
No, not really. I assume it's just gonna be kind of conversational. We'll chat. You're gonna ask me some questions and I'll give you my opinion and go from there. Yeah.
Susan Burns (00:52.411)
Your best answer. OK. And what's your business name is Canisite Co? Just Canisite. OK. And you're one of the founders or co-founder. OK. That's what I thought. Yeah. Max a half hour, 20 to 30. Depends on the flow. Sometimes we get into it. I did have one that went a little bit longer. This could be.
Reagan Hatch (00:58.51)
Panicite, yes. Yes, yeah.
Yes, I'm the co-founder. Yes. And I do have a question. How long is this? Okay. Great.
Reagan Hatch (01:21.742)
Okay, all right, good.
Susan Burns (01:22.343)
We got into some fascinating discussions. And then I'm going to ask you what makes you uniquely bodacious. And you can't say passionate. You're passionate. Everybody's been saying that. I'm like, I'm banning that. That's not an answer. We're all passionate, or we wouldn't be in this industry, right? Yeah, OK. All right, and then you and I have to talk to post-bac. Oh.
Reagan Hatch (01:25.612)
Wonderful.
Reagan Hatch (01:31.49)
Okay.
Reagan Hatch (01:35.378)
Okay.
Reagan Hatch (01:38.862)
Okay, I got my answer. Yes, right.
Susan Burns (01:50.179)
Also, stay on a little bit. We have to stay on a little after to make sure it uploads. OK. You ready to roll? All right, here we go.
Reagan Hatch (01:55.07)
Okay, no worries. Got it. I am.
Susan Burns (02:03.899)
Welcome to Bodacious Women in Cannabis. I'm Susan Burns, your podcast host and a lawyer in the cannabis industry representing fine women-owned businesses in cannabis. I'm going to start that over. I was reading from a script, and then I decided not to read from a script. And so sometimes I'm like, oh.
Reagan Hatch (02:20.662)
Okay.
Reagan Hatch (02:28.654)
Totally get it.
Susan Burns (02:32.119)
Welcome to Bodacious Women in Cannabis. I'm Susan Burns, your podcast host and also a cannabis lawyer. Nothing delights me more than talking with Bodacious Women in Cannabis. Today, we are talking with Reagan Hatch, who is a co-founder of Canisite. Welcome, Reagan.
Reagan Hatch (02:56.226)
Hi, Susan. Thanks so much for having me.
Susan Burns (02:59.687)
It's an absolute pleasure, Reagan. So tell us about CaniSight and what you do and what was your inspiration for starting this business.
Reagan Hatch (03:08.33)
Yeah. Okay. Well, thanks so much for asking. So CaniSight is a cannabis marketing agency. We are female owned and operated and we help brands improve their online performance. I talked to a lot of cannabis companies and either their web designer ghosted them and they have no idea where they are, can't get a hold of them.
or they contracted out another agency and they can't get access to their website and have to keep paying monthly in order to get access. And so that's kind of why Karen and I, my business partner started this is because we believe everybody deserves access to a designer website, no matter how deep their pockets are. And so we started this business, CaniSight,
a business model built on transparency, responsiveness, and speed. And so what we do is we charge one time flat rates for websites that include initial optimization to get more eyeballs on your website and website training, and we build our websites in one day, one week, or one month, and then we hand them over to our clients and they get trained on how to maintain it so that they don't have that associated cost with the website.
They can make changes, add personnel, add pages, change prices, products, pictures, whatever they need to do on their own. No one that we work with is obligated to pay us another penny after we build their website. Luckily, a lot of people really appreciate how we work and how fun and transparent and responsive we are and fast. And so they come back to us for our ongoing digital marketing services.
Susan Burns (05:01.947)
Awesome. So I'm guessing by the description that you just gave us, Reagan, that the accessibility, having access to your own website means that a lot of companies that build websites will then lock the access so that if you, as the business owner, wanted to make changes to your website, you wouldn't be able to do that without going through them. Is that the issue that you're describing?
Reagan Hatch (05:29.906)
Yeah, yes, exactly. What I call it is holding a website hostage. A lot of other marketing companies require you to host your website with them and any changes you wanna make to the website, you have to pay them to make. And we think that's bogus. And so what we do is after we launch a website, we walk our clients through the backend.
Susan Burns (05:32.081)
Okay.
Reagan Hatch (05:55.602)
and show them how to make any of those changes they anticipate needing to make. We record the session and send it to them, but we don't stop there. We actually have a video tutorial library with dozens of short succinct little videos. So if you're just trying to do one specific thing, you can watch that short video and go try to do it. And then our clients can self-host their websites if they want, or we offer a white glove service, but we just...
don't like locking anyone into these long-term contracts, especially in cannabis. There's a lot of frustration in our industry and not much transparency, and it's also new. And so when you're getting into a new up and coming industry, you don't wanna get into some long-term contract with a new company that you don't know.
And so that's really what we're offering, just the chance to be more involved and we're trying to empower our clients with that knowledge and know-how if they want it. Now, if any of our clients ever need help and want us to do something with their website, of course we're available to them and we offer discounted rate to them, but we just don't wanna obligate anyone to have to pay us month after month after month, unless they want to, of course, we're not gonna turn down money.
But again, we're just not locking in anyone to long-term contracts.
Susan Burns (07:30.479)
OK, so you do offer the ongoing service if the client elects to do that to stay with you. Because for somebody like me, I don't want to know about the back end. You have it. I don't want access because that's not how my brain works. But you brought up an important point that I want to underscore, and that's the contract. A lot of people, when they're having their website built, don't think about that. And it's a really critical, there's like, well, it's a website builder. And
Reagan Hatch (07:33.532)
Yes, we do.
Reagan Hatch (07:41.606)
Yeah.
Reagan Hatch (07:49.933)
Yes.
Reagan Hatch (07:54.339)
through.
Susan Burns (07:59.792)
but well, who owns what's created and what are the terms and what if you wanna get out, what if you want somebody else to host it, what, what. And so people don't think about that. So I'm really delighted to hear you talking about the transparency and your contract with the client.
Reagan Hatch (08:11.411)
Absolutely.
Reagan Hatch (08:18.587)
Yeah, well, and so if you've never owned or started a website before, there's a lot of facets to it. And the terminology can be overwhelming and confusing. But really in cannabis, if you're building a website, we believe it should be on the WordPress platform.
WordPress is crowdsourced. That means it's free. It's always going to be free. So our clients own their websites. We don't own it. So why would we go and hold it hostage? And I think that there's just a real lack of transparency there and a lack of knowledge, but.
A lot of people don't know how the ins and outs of this, so they don't know to look for it. They don't know the red flags. They don't understand what they're getting locked into. And so that's a lot of the reason, a lot of our why.
Susan Burns (09:18.831)
Yes, and the flexibility that you described, because the legal parameters of the industry change so often, and what's legal in one state and another. And I mean, until we have something that's more standardized from the federal level, there is a lot going on. If you're online and you're targeting outside your own jurisdiction, even within your own jurisdiction, it can change from year to year, depending on the winds of the legislature.
Reagan Hatch (09:37.186)
There's a lot going on.
Susan Burns (09:48.447)
and who's got the ear. So yeah, so I think it's a smart, it's a smart thing to approach your market that way and I'm sure your clients appreciate that.
Reagan Hatch (09:50.889)
For sure.
Reagan Hatch (10:02.406)
Yeah, yes, they do. And even though I part of my role with the company is I do all the business development and the sales. And then if somebody signs on, then they get to meet the rest of the team. But I always, you know, in all of my touch points before we move on and onboard a client, and they put their down payment to secure their build week or day or month or whatever it is,
I make sure that I repeat some things several times, such as you will own your website and we will not hold it hostage, even if they're hosting with us. We, and it's a white glove service. So it's more expensive, but you also set it and forget it. You never have to think about it. But I want to remind people that anytime they want their website, we are happy to move it for them wherever they want. And a lot of people still don't.
remember this, I even had an old client reach out yesterday asking for us to release his domain. And, and I told him, like, of course, here's your password. We haven't changed it. And in fact, your, we moved your website for you about five months ago. So here you go. I don't know if this password will work, but wishing you the best. Let me know if you need anything. And so, um, and
Susan Burns (11:25.173)
Mm-mm.
Reagan Hatch (11:28.53)
And that's just one of the things that, um, that I wish more people knew about to empower themselves.
Susan Burns (11:38.04)
Mm-hmm. That's great. Also, I have looked at your website. And your own website is nicely developed and clear and transparent. And all the different categories that you described are laid out and easy to understand for even people that are non-techie, such as myself, or such as me. And
And so I really appreciate that, not to mention the beautiful design, but, and so, and you mentioned your website in one day, one week or one month, and I, that depends on the complexity of the site and the amount of work that you're doing for the client, I'm guessing.
Reagan Hatch (12:23.198)
Yes, absolutely. A lot of it has to do with also not just the complexity of the website, but where the client is in their journey. Are they brand new? Do they need a simple landing page? Well, we don't just do simple landing pages. Think of it as a homepage, but a lot longer, where you can have a menu and click jump to different places in it.
So that's a one day. And that's for somebody that's brand new, just needs to get the word out there and have an online presence. And they know they're gonna have to scale and add to it later. So that's the one day. And then our one week or our five day design is really geared towards somebody that's a little bit more established. Maybe it's their second or third iteration of their website. They want to improve.
the look and functionality of it and maybe add some more bells and whistles. Well, that's our five day design. And our custom website takes a month and that's for a company that needs more bells and whistles and functionality at it for it. And it's like a membership website where you're gonna have a lot of people log into the backend and interact with each other.
or anybody that wants to incorporate more admin functionality into their website. Custom or advanced? Well, so what I mean by that is if a company needs, if they're selling B2B and B2C and they want to automate a lot more of the stuff,
Susan Burns (13:58.008)
What's admin functionality? I don't know what that means.
Reagan Hatch (14:12.778)
just in general, advanced plugin integration. And a plugin, what that does is just add functionality to your website so that you don't have to manually do things yourself. And that's for a more established company that needs a lot more pages, already have a website and they're gonna move everything over and just a lot more sophisticated, more robust.
Susan Burns (14:36.115)
So a little more sophisticated.
Susan Burns (14:41.311)
Okay, all right. All the bells and whistles. How long have you been in business?
Reagan Hatch (14:41.846)
so it can handle more for you. Yeah.
Oh, barely. I'm not going to say barely, but a little over five years. We started in May 2018. Yeah.
Susan Burns (14:54.499)
OK. And then have you worked in the same industry before non-cannabis?
Reagan Hatch (15:01.338)
Have I worked, we work in both cannabis and non-cannabis. Did I answer that? I didn't understand. Oh, yeah. No, good, yeah, good question. No, we come from, my partner and I come from different industries. I was doing a, I was doing business development for fiberglass tank manufacture.
Susan Burns (15:06.799)
No, but before you started CaniCite, did you work in the same industry that wasn't cannabis?
Reagan Hatch (15:26.774)
focusing on the water industry. And I started to kind of go into cannabis because cannabis needs very specific, good, clean water and they like to reuse a lot of it. So we would, you know, these giant grow houses will buy fiberglass tanks to reuse the water. And then my partner was working in for a big agency in the automotive industry.
Um, and we both quit our jobs about the same time and we're just kind of commiserating to each other. We're we went to college together. We're college friends. If you read our website, it says we bonded over a bong and a beer in college. Um, and so but we're just kind of commiserating over our old jobs what led us to quit and why couldn't we just start our own company built our on our own values?
And then we said, wait a second, that's exactly what we can do. And so that's led to where we are today. And I think why cannabis is, we both been using the plant a long time for both medicinal and recreational uses. We've seen it firsthand how it can change people's lives, especially in the medicinal.
arena and primarily for as far as marketing goes, Karen, my partner, was doing some freelance work for some growers in Seattle when she moved out there and they sent her to a trade show and she walked in and was just couldn't believe how bad the marketing was for a lot of these companies. You know, a lot of them are farmers. They don't know marketing, don't understand
how to better market themselves, what they can do, what they should do. And so that kind of the idea was born, the light bulb came on and here we are five years later. And we've been very blessed, especially during the pandemic, but it's been essentially word of mouth and referral growth for us outside of some trade shows.
Susan Burns (17:47.103)
That's great. And I think I was going to ask you about what's different about the cannabis market than other markets. But I do want to make one comment myself. And I think one of the things, because cannabis, both the hemp and marijuana sides were illegal for so long. And then we had the hemp side becoming legal. And now marijuana is referred to as cannabis. They co-opted the name. But.
So then that side is legal in certain states, but not federally. But I think because the all, you know, the legacy industries, it started as an illegal.
industry, but so many consumers were consuming. Then when the businesses started growing, they weren't thinking about this is a business and I need to treat it like any other business. I need to make sure that my website looks good, is available to people, easy to understand, blah, clear, beautiful, user friendly. So I think that that's part of the difference because other industries, when you start...
a business and you build your website, you know you need a professional look. I don't, do you agree with that or not? And it's.
Reagan Hatch (19:05.874)
Yes. No, I do a lot. And, you know, for so long, a lot of the industry was just built on handshake deals. And it wasn't really hiding any kind of traceability of what you're doing. And marketing on digital marketing completely goes against that. So it kind of contradicts the entire history of
legacy brands growing. And so it's a new frontier for sure for cannabis. But also that's why I love it. It's just, you know, it's really, it's, you can encapsulate such a fast, crazy growth and change in trajectory for the industry in such a short amount of time. It's really cool to watch.
But that's also exactly why it's such a challenging industry. And again, that's why I like it. I love a challenge, but it's, you know, it's the last couple of years have been interesting, especially the past year. But I genuinely love the people that work in cannabis because they're full of passion and full of fight. And, and,
Susan Burns (20:29.884)
Super creative.
Reagan Hatch (20:31.318)
Super creative. Yeah, yes. There's a lot of ingenuity and a lot of them Started their careers in other industries and chose to get into this industry because they love it and they They want to see it go places and so many of us are Yeah
Susan Burns (20:35.935)
Mm-hmm.
Susan Burns (20:48.067)
And usually because of a per, do you, I mean, do you think this? Cause I'm interrupting you, but I can't, but I'm good at that too. But, but do you, so in my experience, most people that, that come into the cannabis industry from other industries are, it's because there's a person, there's always a personal story behind it. You know, it's not like why I was walking along one day and I applied for this job and blah, blah.
Reagan Hatch (20:53.892)
You're fine. Yeah, you can.
Reagan Hatch (21:12.629)
Yes.
Susan Burns (21:16.635)
you know, then I became a budtender. There's always a personal story that ignites the passion that makes somebody, do you find that?
Reagan Hatch (21:25.954)
Oh, all the time. And do you know, I love my job because I get to really get to know a person and a brand and their why, why did they start? And every one of them has such a different and unique story, but it's because essentially it's love that brought them here. They love somebody in their life that cannabis made a difference. And...
That's why they started their brand. And, or, you know, or conversely, they knew somebody that they had somebody they loved that couldn't access cannabis. And that's why they started their brand. And so it's, you know, I just never got to have those meaningful, compelling stories working in the water industry. Yeah, it just didn't, you know? So it's...
It's a lot of fun. It is. And I feel kind of guilty saying that, but I love my job. I get to speak with fascinating people every day. And I really do love it. It's a lot of fun.
Susan Burns (22:38.607)
Oh, that's great. It's good to love your job, isn't it?
Reagan Hatch (22:41.946)
It is because I've had some jobs I didn't love before. Yeah, yeah, my one of my first jobs I remember going to I was like day three and I went to the bathroom and I was crying in the bathroom stall and I thought okay this is not the job for me.
Susan Burns (22:45.737)
Haven't we all?
Susan Burns (23:01.345)
My first clue was sobbing in the bathroom. Yeah, so you've been in business for five years. Talk to us about a challenge or two that you and your partner have overcome and you know how it turned into something cool.
Reagan Hatch (23:05.111)
Yes.
Reagan Hatch (23:18.682)
Yeah, well, I would say one challenge for us has been scaling. And because we are capable of building websites so fast, finding another developer out there that's familiar with our builder on WordPress has been challenging. Another challenge was just like everybody else was the COVID lockdown.
Um, thankfully a lot of people, I mean, get being online and being able to be found online when everyone was on lockdown was essential and very important. So that business kept us alive, but as my, when you only work or, you know, when, when your growth has been primarily because of word of mouth and referral, and you can't go to the trade shows and I can't get out in network. Um, that was.
That was a scary time, but we made it through. We're pushing through. And other than that, I think it's challenging time. That's all really that's come into mind. And it's been just, I would say the last year has been challenging in cannabis. Just watching a lot in the markets.
tank is scary. But I mean, we're still we're still here still fighting.
Susan Burns (24:55.671)
Put them to good fight. What about, I think our listeners would be interested in knowing about going into business with your best friend. How about challenges there and how do you navigate that? Because this is an industry that I see more people who are friends go into business together. And to me, from my perspective, you have to have so much clarity about things and trust if you're doing that.
Reagan Hatch (25:07.751)
Yeah.
Reagan Hatch (25:13.89)
Yeah, that's, yes, you do. And that's a good question. So I think one of the magic ingredients to going into business with your best friend is doing it remotely. I think that distance adds a great layer of
honesty, but also trust. If Karen and I didn't trust each other, it would be all out the window. We're also really far from each other. I'm in Texas, she's in Seattle, but we have very different roles. Karen's started and sold several startups before and
If we didn't trust each other, this wouldn't work. But she trusts me to do my job and I trust her to do hers. And we come together and talk regularly. And I think also it all comes down to trust and just relying on each other to work hard and do your job, being transparent. And so, yeah, are there challenges? Sure, especially, you know, when...
when sales are down, it's, you know, it's, and she's working her tail off and I am too. It's, you know, there's been a couple of tiffs here and there, but nothing, nothing big. And I trust her and she trusts me and that's what it all comes down to. But I would be remiss if I didn't focus on how much fun it is.
because we trust each other. We get together for trade shows and we have a blast and you work hard, you play hard. And so we still really love one another and love each other's company. And so we look forward to those get togethers, the work trips. We're also both working moms. And so we understand that there's, you kind of work when you can and sometimes it's late at night, but family comes first.
And I think because both of us are mothers to multiple children, that also adds a layer of appreciation that bonds us and ties us together.
Susan Burns (27:43.623)
There you go, can of moms. Have you heard about that podcast? Yeah, yeah. And so what do you like best about what you do?
Reagan Hatch (27:45.71)
Hannah Moms. I have, yes.
Reagan Hatch (27:57.314)
All the people I get to meet. Yeah, just all the people I get to meet. When we started this business, I didn't realize that cannabis was going to be full of so many extremely intelligent, high caliber, hardworking people. I live in Texas, I just didn't know. I hadn't seen it firsthand. And I'm just blown away at how...
Susan Burns (27:57.335)
and what's been surprising about it. Yeah.
Reagan Hatch (28:26.878)
at the ingenuity, let's go back there, that I see in cannabis and all of the cool companies and the hardworking people and intelligence I see in everyone around me, almost on a daily basis. That's what I love and that's what surprises me.
Susan Burns (28:46.647)
Yeah, I agree too. And what, Reagan, is your authentic brand of bodaciousness? What makes you uniquely bodacious?
Reagan Hatch (28:58.306)
my extreme honesty to a fault, I would think. Yeah, I was on a call with, they weren't a client yet a couple of weeks ago, and they held up their product and said, would you buy this? And it was a Zoom call, you know, I can't hide my face. It was too late. And I said, no, I would not. And that's...
what led to us ended ending up getting the getting the job is because I was so honest and um you know it's it helps me sleep well at night but it's also not going to serve us well as a company or anyone else well if I'm going to lie and say oh yeah I'd buy that product so um I'll stick to honesty.
Susan Burns (29:49.223)
There you go. So where can we find you, Reagan hat?
Reagan Hatch (29:53.006)
Oh, thanks for asking. I would love everyone to check out our website, see what we're all about, and that's www.cannasite.com. You can also find us online on social media handles at
Susan Burns (30:17.939)
Awesome. Thank you, Reagan. It's been an absolute pleasure.
Reagan Hatch (30:20.066)
Thank you so much. It's been a blast. Thank you, Susan.