How AI Is Changing Cannabis Marketing | The Blunt Boardroom Ep. 02 Ft. Varun Patel & Lauren Laplante-Rottman

Most dispensaries are spending money to drive traffic to their website. Varun Patel thinks that is not the primary problem to solve.In this episode, Matt sits down with Varun Patel and Lauren Laplante-Rottman from Spokes Digital to talk about what AI is actually doing to cannabis marketing right now, why the conversion problem is more important than the traffic problem, and what operators who are not paying attention are about to miss.They get into why most cannabis marketing still operates like a traffic problem when it is actually a conversion problem. Why sending ten thousand people to a dispensary website does not mean anything if fifty percent of them cannot figure out what to buy. How AI budtender tools are evolving from basic product recommendation engines into something that could replicate the best consultation your floor staff has ever given, at eleven-thirty at night, to someone sitting on their couch.Varun explains why cannabis AI has to operate differently from every other industry. You cannot pull training data from outside the store. The compliance constraints are real and the consequences of getting it wrong are serious. Today, the machine learning has to come from your own data, your own menu, your own customers. That encapsulation seems like a can be a limitation, but can also be a competitive advantage for operators who understand it.They also cover what the relaxation of Massachusetts advertising restrictions actually means in practice, why the platform policies of Google and Meta matter as much as the state rules, and why 280(e) tax treatment has been quietly shaping every marketing spend decision in this industry for years and what federal rescheduling might do to that math.And Lauren closes with something worth writing down: the dispensaries that win long term are not the ones with the lowest prices. They are the ones that are known outside their four walls. In the community. At local events. On the merch people wear in public. That is the brand that survives.Direct, specific, and useful for any cannabis operator thinking about where marketing is going in 2026 and beyond.Topics covered: AI in cannabis marketing, conversion rate optimization, AI budtender tools, customer segmentation, Google Ads AI optimization, GEO and generative engine optimization, Massachusetts advertising restrictions, 280(e) and marketing spend, wholesale brand strategy, community presence and brand loyalty.ABOUT THE GUESTSVarun Patel is the CEO and founder of Spokes Digital, the number one cannabis AI and performance marketing agency in the United States. A former IBM executive with six years of international business experience across digital, energy, and e-commerce, Varun has helped over 200 cannabis and CBD brands build data-driven growth strategies. Connect with Varun: linkedin.com/in/varunpatel-spokesLauren Laplante-Rottman is the Chief Growth Officer at Spokes Digital and a Carnegie Mellon graduate with deep experience in strategic marketing, business planning, and cannabis industry growth. Based in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Connect with Lauren: linkedin.com/in/laurenlaplanteABOUT THE HOSTMatt Richman is the CEO and CFO of mello Cannabis, an award-winning vertically integrated cannabis company based in Haverhill, Massachusetts. A former Deloitte auditor, he entered the cannabis industry in 2017 after two decades in corporate finance, public and private company CFO and COO roles, and M&A advisory.He rebuilt mello on one operating principle: run it like a real business. Financial discipline, compliance rigor, and a team culture that develops people rather than burns through them. Under his leadership, mello has grown into a multi-award-winning cannabis company with a dispensary serving the North Shore, a licensed delivery operation, and a valued wholesale partner to dispensaries across Massachusetts.New episodes of The Blunt Boardroom drop twice a month.#cannabispodcast #cannabismarketing #cannabisbusiness #AImarketing #cannabisindustry