Your offer is difficult to understand.
Customers or business buyers cannot quickly see what you offer, who it is for or why it matters.
For the cannabis industry
Cannabis expertise. From inside the business.
An agency led by Abraham Villegas, whose work in legal cannabis since 2013 spans major operators, advocacy and community building, followed by winning licenses, opening, operating and selling dispensaries of his own. Put that experience to work for your dispensary, brand or ancillary business.
Your audience changes.
The strategy should too.
Help customers find the right store, discover your products or understand the services you provide. We connect those needs to the website, search and advertising work that fits your place in the cannabis industry.
The right audience cannot find you.
Your locations, products or specialist services need useful pages that connect discovery with the next step.
Your systems create a disconnected journey.
The website, menu, product locator or inquiry process leaves people unsure where to go next.
Different businesses.
A clear path forward.
Our cannabis specialty spans the businesses selling products and the providers supporting the industry. The website, search and advertising strategy should reflect your role in that ecosystem.
Dispensaries
Connect local discovery, location details and menus so customers can find the right store and continue to the shopping experience.
Store visits and ecommerce handoffsCannabis brands
Help shoppers discover your products through clear brand content and campaigns we set up, launch, manage and optimize.
Jane menu merchandising and Jane GoldAncillary providers
Make your services clear to the cannabis businesses that need them, from technology and professional services to industry support.
Business inquiries and sales conversations
From MSO playbooks to dispensary ownership.
Abraham’s cannabis career began with multistate operators. Over more than a decade, he has worked with and for companies including PharmaCann, Green Thumb Industries (GTI), Cresco Labs and Airo Brands.
- Created the playbooks for MSOs.
- He now helps other cannabis businesses implement those playbooks, adapting the work to their markets, team and stage of growth.
- Then built and sold dispensaries of his own.
- He later applied for and won dispensary licenses, opened two dispensaries and sold them. That experience connects the strategy to the decisions an owner has to make.
Work with an agency whose founder has been responsible for the opening, the operation and the exit. We adapt the MSO playbook to your market and resources, from how customers discover you to how they shop and return.
Discuss your cannabis businessCompare cannabis agency experienceChoose a cannabis agency
that knows the business.
Your agency should understand the operation behind your marketing. AV Social Strategies is led by Abraham Villegas, whose experience in legal cannabis began in 2013.
Compare the people behind the proposals. These are the questions we would ask before choosing a cannabis marketing partner.
| What matters to your business | AV Social Strategies | Ask the other agency |
|---|---|---|
| Depth in regulated cannabisStart with industry context already in place. | Abraham has worked in legal cannabis since 2013, with experience spanning regulated operators, dispensaries and the people they serve. | How long have you worked in regulated cannabis, and how much of that experience extends beyond hemp and CBD? |
| Major operators. Multiple markets.Plan for the complexity of a competitive market. | He has worked with and for PharmaCann, Green Thumb Industries (GTI), Cresco Labs and Airo Brands, creating MSO playbooks and working across U.S. markets. | Which operators and markets have you worked in, and what were you personally responsible for? |
| Dispensary ownership and operationsConnect marketing decisions to the business on the ground. | After his work with MSOs, he applied for and won dispensary licenses, opened and operated two dispensaries, then sold them. | Have you applied for a license, opened a dispensary or been responsible for operating one yourself? |
| Work with compliance teamsBring market requirements into the conversation early. | His experience includes working with cannabis compliance teams nationwide. We coordinate marketing decisions with your team’s review and approval process. | How have you worked with cannabis compliance teams, and how will you adapt the work to our markets and approval process? |
| Advocacy, policy and lobbyingUnderstand the industry beyond the next campaign. | He has been involved in cannabis advocacy, policy and lobbying, including contributing to changes in cannabis laws. | What have you contributed to the development of the cannabis industry beyond providing marketing services? |
| A community built from the insideUnderstand the people behind the search terms. | He built The Cannabis Community and has been a cannabis consumer since the early 2010s, bringing firsthand customer experience alongside his industry work. Visit The Cannabis Community | Have you built a cannabis community or business of your own, and how have you learned directly from its customers? |
Put that experience to work on the website, search and advertising decisions your cannabis business needs to make.
Discuss your cannabis marketingCannabis client work.
Work from across the cannabis industry, including dispensaries, brands and the organizations that support them.
Mood Shine
100%+ growth in weekly revenue.
WordPress, Jane ecommerce and local marketing helped Mood Shine connect discovery with shopping during its August 2024–February 2025 engagement.
Website, ecommerce migration & local SEO
“They understood our brand, built the foundation for long-term SEO, and made sure our online presence matched the experience we provide in-store.”
Mood Shine
Plan your platform move
around your customers.
Map your content, platforms and customer paths before deciding what to change. A platform move can affect product information, service pages, location discovery and inquiry handoffs.
Your website, ecommerce, locator and inquiry tools each have their own capabilities. We review the systems you use before defining the work.
- Keep the useful content.
- Inventory product or service information, location details and useful existing content.
- Map what moves.
- Match existing URLs to the new structure and define redirects where the destination changes.
- Reconnect the customer paths.
- Check menu links, product locators, integrations and inquiry handoffs that apply to your business.
- Agree who checks launch.
- Your team confirms business information; the delivery team checks pages and connections within scope.
Give each update
a clear owner.
Your locations, products and services will keep changing. We build the website and customer paths with that in mind, and agree who keeps business information current, manages connected tools and handles the next update.
- Your business information
- Confirm product or service details, markets, approved content and any location-specific information.
- Your platforms and access
- Identify your website, ecommerce, locator or CRM tools, the relevant accounts and the people who manage them.
- The website after launch
- Agree on reusable content, editing access and the ongoing responsibilities for keeping the site current.
Connect this work to the engagement your business needs.
Questions about your cannabis business.
What cannabis experience does AV Social bring?
Abraham Villegas has worked in legal cannabis since 2013. His experience began with multistate operators and has included work with and for PharmaCann, Green Thumb Industries (GTI), Cresco Labs and Airo Brands. He created MSO playbooks before applying for and winning licenses, opening two dispensaries and selling them. Today, he helps other cannabis businesses implement those playbooks around their market, customers and team.
Do you work with cannabis businesses beyond dispensaries?
Yes. Our cannabis specialty includes dispensaries, brands and ancillary providers. The work is shaped around your audience, offer and business goals.
How does the work differ for brands and ancillary providers?
A brand may need clearer product information and paths to retail partners. An ancillary provider may need service pages, search visibility and a stronger inquiry process. We define the priorities around how customers find and choose your business.
Can you work with our menu or other business platforms?
We review your current systems and available integration options before defining scope. For dispensaries, that includes the connections between store pages and the menu or ecommerce provider.
Can you help us move to WordPress?
Our relevant projects include WordPress migrations and dispensary ecommerce work. We assess content, URLs, integrations and ownership before defining a move.
What’s next for your cannabis business?
Whether you’re a dispensary, brand or ancillary provider, start with who you need to reach and what is getting in the way.
What we’ll discuss
Share what you offer, the markets you serve and where your website, search presence, campaigns or customer journey needs to improve.
Discuss your cannabis projectWe'll discuss the business priority and how website, SEO, eligible advertising or strategy work could support it.