How RollPros stayed top of mind through a year-long sales cycle.
RollPros makes the Blackbird, an automated machine that rolls pre-rolls instead of stuffing cones. Green Lane secured 100+ media placements and 4.6M coverage views.
By Mike Mejer, Founder and Principal · Published
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About RollPros
RollPros, based in Vancouver, Washington, builds pre-roll automation for the legal cannabis industry. Its Blackbird system mimics the compaction of a hand-rolled joint, and RollPros was the first company to build a commercial joint rolling machine that doesn't need pre-made cones.
The challenge
When Johnathan McFarlane joined RollPros to lead sales and marketing, he found a visibility problem. The company had been in market for more than two years, yet trade show visitors routinely told the team they had never seen the product before.
The Blackbird has a long sales cycle, sometimes more than a year, so prospects need repeated brand touchpoints to stay engaged. RollPros had invested little in marketing and had no PR strategy. “Marketing, including PR, was really just an afterthought before I joined,” McFarlane said.
What Green Lane did
Green Lane built a PR strategy to raise awareness, build trust and position RollPros as the go-to name in pre-roll automation. The program rolled out announcements and stories around product launches, innovations and company milestones.
Green Lane also positioned the CEO and team members as subject-matter experts through contributed content and interviews, and kept RollPros in the conversation with steady outreach across the cannabis trades. RollPros chose Green Lane for its hands-on service and category exclusivity: Green Lane represented none of its direct competitors.
“Now it's rare for someone to walk up to our booth at a trade show and say, ‘I've never heard of you.’ That wasn't the case two years ago.”
The results
Brand awareness went from RollPros' biggest hurdle to a strength. Earned media gave the company third-party validation it couldn't create through its own email list or social channels, and steady coverage kept it visible through long buying journeys.
“Green Lane helps us stay in the conversation. When our leads are finally ready to buy, we want to be the first company they think of. Thanks to Green Lane, we often are.”
Johnathan McFarlane, RollPros