Takeaways from Our Conversation on Cannabis Podcasts

The world of cannabis podcasts is as varied as it is broad. Some podcasts focus on the best ways to consume. Others have a business focus.

There are podcasts focused almost solely on data, podcasts with a venture capital bent, podcasts on agriculture, podcasts for dispensary owners. Many have some creative names: Blunt Business, Broccoli Talk, Lit Up Founders, Happy Cabbage Analytics, Weed + Grub. A number of them have come and gone. Some are still around and are going on hundreds of episodes.

This is the 75th episode of the Insuring Cannabis podcast. To offer a slight departure from our normal cut-and-dried style, we decided to produce an episode on cannabis podcasts.

In our latest episode, we spoke with Bethany Moore, host of The Cannabis Industry Voice, produced by the National Cannabis Industry Association, and Isaac Bock, cohost of the Roots to Risk is a podcast and managing director of AlphaRoot.

Following are takeaways from that conversation.

Moore explained how she and the NCIA started the podcast. She had been working at NCIA for over two when Cannabis Radio reached out and proposed doing a weekly podcast.

“It was early on in NCIA’s existence, and we were looking to add more benefits and more things to do within the organization for our members,” she said.

The podcast launched in November of 2016, around the presidential election cycle there.

“Since then, it’s been about six-and-a-half years of hosting this podcast. We have nearly 350 episodes, and I’m mostly speaking with NCIA members, operators, executives across all verticals of the cannabis industry, dispensary operators, marketing and branding professionals, insurance, legal services, everything in between – with the goal of educating the cannabis industry and establishing best practices and ideas and thought leadership. And it’s been an incredible experience.”

Bock and co-host Eric Schneider, managing director of AlphaRoot, started the podcast in January.

While selling insurance is in their job descriptions, it is not their goal with the podcast.

“So, the real goal is to provide another outlet for members of the industry to provide their stories, and insight into all of the awesome things that companies are doing across the space,” Bock said. “And provide value for our clients and prospects in a unique way that’s outside of our core insurance offerings.”

Asked why the podcast format lends itself to the cannabis space, Bock said he feels it serves the uniqueness of the space.

“I think it provides itself to a lot of good storytelling,” Bock said. “And truthfully, what we’ve noticed is most people who have gotten into the industry have some sort of intimate connection with the plant, whether personally or through stories of their family members and friends. So, it definitely provides a unique opportunity for people to tell their story in the form of a podcast.”

Moore also believes that storytelling and podcasts lend themselves to one another.

“I just really think there’s so many areas where you can really take a deep dive and have hours and hours long conversations depending on what it is you want to talk about and what it is you want to learn,” she said. “And listening is such an easy way to take in information if you’re just passively working on something and all you have to do is throw some headphones on and you’re absorbing information. I think it’s really great.”

Related:

• Takeaways from Our Conversation on Carrier-Broker Relations
• Takeaways from Our Conversation on ‘Behavior Products’
• Takeaways from Our Conversation on The Science of Cannabis and Toxicology
• Takeaways from Our Conversation on Selling Cannabis Insurance in Tougher Times
• Takeaways from Our Conversation on Insuring Magic Mushrooms

Topics Cannabis