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Michele Ringelberg is the Owner and CEO of ThrivePOP, a digital marketing agency that specializes in the cannabis industry, as well as manufacturing and technology. Michele has been instrumental in helping B2B and B2C businesses scale by implementing marketing tactics that generate leads and traffic, and she boasts impressive credentials as a certified Hubspot Gold Partner, Google Ad Certified Partner, and WBENC-certified woman business owner. She leads a passionate and creative team of experts including marketing strategists, web developers, graphic designers, and social media professionals. Michele is also an active volunteer for the National Cannabis Industry Association’s Advertising and Marketing Committee, bringing her expertise and dedication to the forefront of industry advancements.

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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

  • [03:58] How Michele Ringelberg and her husband transformed their IT company into ThrivePOP
  • [07:45] Why niching down was a game-changer for ThrivePOP
  • [12:49] The crucial role of telemarketing in client acquisition
  • [18:46] Effective strategies behind successful trade shows
  • [24:22] The importance of post-trade show follow-up on ROI and client acquisition
  • [27:15] How ThrivePOP developed branding and strategy for Potter’s Cannabis Boutique
  • [35:45] The importance of authenticity in marketing and business success

In this episode…

Ever wondered how a company can pivot from one industry to another and find immense success? How does one go from managing IT services to becoming a leading marketing expert in the cannabis industry? 

Michele Ringelberg shares her journey of transitioning from a traditional marketing landscape to focusing specifically on the cannabis industry. She explained how a fortuitous opportunity with an email campaign for a cannabis client led her to explore this emerging niche. Michele and her team quickly recognized a gap in the market. By attending trade shows like MJBizCon and learning the intricacies of the industry, ThrivePOP evolved to become one of the first agencies to specialize in cannabis marketing. Her approach included understanding the unique challenges and restrictions of the industry, which helped her craft tailored strategies that brought significant results for her clients.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz interviews Michele Ringelberg, Owner and CEO of ThrivePOP, about the evolution and strategic pivot of ThrivePOP into the cannabis industry. They discuss valuable insights about niching down and creating specialized services as Michele shares compelling aspects of her journey, including the pivotal trade show experiences, the importance of authentic marketing, and the role of partnerships in growing her business.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Special mentions:

Related episode(s):

Quotable moments:

  • “Do what you love, and you’ll naturally get people excited because you’re truly passionate.”
  • “Marketing isn’t about selling, it’s about connecting with the person on the other side of the computer.”
  • “Trade shows can be your golden ticket, but without the right follow-up, they can also be your biggest expense with no return.”
  • “To make a splash at a trade show, standing out visually can draw people into your story.”
  • “Being upfront about what’s working and what’s not is crucial in building lasting client relationships.”

Action steps:

  1. Specialize your agency’s focus in an emerging, less-saturated market: Targeting a niche industry allows an agency to become a major player due to reduced competition and increased demand for specialized expertise.
  2. Implement pre- and post-trade show marketing campaigns to maximize engagement and capture solid leads: A structured outreach keeps your agency top-of-mind and ensures a better return on investment.
  3. Develop a clear and authentic brand story for your clients: Authenticity resonates with customers, helps your clients stand out in their market, and builds stronger customer relationships.
  4. Hire external support, like telemarketing services, to fill in capacity gaps in your agency: Telemarketing can effectively supplement your lead generation efforts, allowing you to focus on your core competencies and client services.
  5. Explore partnerships with industry associations and platforms to expand your knowledge and network: Relationships with organizations can provide invaluable insights into industry trends and connect you to potential clients.

Sponsor for this episode

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Episode Transcript

Intro 0:00

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr. Jeremy Weisz.

Jeremy Weisz 0:22

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here, founder of InspiredInsider com, where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders. Today is no different. I have Michele Ringelberg of ThrivePOP. 

Michele, before I formally introduce you, I always like to point out other episodes of the podcast people should check out. Since this is part of our Cannabis Series, but also our Top Agency Series, a couple good ones are Mitch Khan of Grassroots. He built the company up, sold the cure leaf, I think, for over $800 million and shared. It wasn’t always peachy, Michele, it was actually tough times, as you know, with getting licenses. And this was early on in the space. There was a lot of legal stuff that needed to be worked out. And he really took a bet. And their company took a bet on this space early on. Also, Stormy Simon was past president of Overstock who got into the cannabis space. Wanda James was an interesting one. She was founder and CEO of Simply Pure dispensary, along with her husband, and they actually became the first African Americans legally licensed in America. So that was a very interesting story. 

On the agency side, Jason Swenk, who we both know. Jason, I have two interviews with him. One, how he built his agency up to over eight figures and sold it, and then the second, how he had been buying up agencies and what he was looking for. So it’s interesting the valuation space. Another good one, an agency one, is Adi Klevit. Adi Klevit, Michele, is really interesting. She has a done for you company to help with SOPs. So that’s all she does. So she helps, you know, smooth out onboarding of teams, staff, clients, whatever it is, and helps actually create SOPs for the company so that it functions smoother. We geeked out on our favorite productivity softwares and and resources. That was a fun one as well to check out. 

And this episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25 we help businesses give to and connect to their dream relationships and partnerships. And how do we do that? We do that by helping you run your podcast. We’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. We do the strategy, the accountability and the full execution. So Michele, we’re kind of like the magic elves that run in the background to make it look easy for the company and the host so they can run their company and develop amazing relationships. And so, you know, for me, that’s the number one thing in my life. I’m always looking at ways to, you know, create amazing relationships. And I found no better way, over the past decade, to profile the people and companies I most admire and share with the world what they’re working on. So if you’ve thought about podcasting, you should. If you have questions, go to Rise25.com, or email us at [email protected] to learn more. 

I’m really excited to introduce Michele Ringelberg. She’s the founder and CEO of ThrivePOP. ThrivePOP is a digital marketing agency located in Michigan. They have over 20 years of marketing experience. She’s responsible for the business operations, sales, marketing, and they specifically specialize in the cannabis industry. It wasn’t always that way, so we’ll talk a little bit about the evolution and journey. But she does have a talent for getting her team and clients inspired by marketing and Michele, thanks for joining me. 

Michele Ringelberg 3:36

Thanks for having me. I’m excited.

Jeremy Weisz 3:40

As we talk, I’m going to, there’s going to be a video piece to this. So I’m going to share ThrivePOP and the website. They are, you’ll see amazing design from the website. So Michele, talk about ThrivePOP and what you do.

Michele Ringelberg 3:58

All right. Well, we are a digital marketing agency, and we started in 2017 and we actually spinned out of an IT managed service company. So my husband owned NeXt IT, which is an IT managed service company, and I was managing the web and the marketing team, and he was looking at possibly selling, and I missed doing marketing for multiple companies, so we decided to spin out and create ThrivePOP. And my daughter is also a partner, and she works right alongside me, so that’s exciting. And like Jeremy was saying, like when we started, we were just a traditional marketing, we did not have a niche, and I was working with a consultant. I became, like certified woman on business, and ended up getting a grant for, like, a marketing consultant to help me make sure that we’re doing everything the right way. And they just kept on me about, like, you have to niche down. And we had this client that came to us, which was just a hosting client and said, Hey, we’re thinking about doing this email campaign, and it’s for the cannabis industry. Can you like help? So that’s how we first started working it. So it was not a strategic plan by any means. It just kind of happened, and I think that’s what happens a lot with marketing agencies. And I’m sure Jason Swenk would agree, because he talks to a lot of people, and typically this is what happens, you know, people kind of fall into it, or they start a new job, and I didn’t like it, so I tried to do it on my own, and basically, like, we ended up going to this trade show, tried to learn about cannabis. And it was there that we realized, wow, like, this is a tough industry, and if we do a good job, and we learn all the ins and outs, there was not very many marketing agencies that specialize in cannabis at the time. So we were one of the first that started going down that road. And now, like that’s all we do. Well, we do some other traditional businesses, but the majority of everything that we do are really specializing in cannabis. And it’s hard, it’s not easy, for sure. 

Jeremy Weisz 6:47

And we’ll talk about, you know, what’s interesting about is that obviously are restrictions on this industry, and maybe it doesn’t give companies the flexibility, the complete flexibility. So, you know, maybe they just avoid it, because you do have to know certain things. You can’t just jump into it. But I like what you said there about the niche. You know, it wasn’t this, like a master plan, but oftentimes, when I’m talking to people, Michele, it’s the clients. They don’t even realize they have a niche sometimes, because it’s the clients that love them get the best and they who they get the best results for, right? And you luckily hit that from the beginning with that. But I’d like to hear about the evolution. So we talk about niche and how important that is. You know, there’s niche of the industry. There’s also a niche of the services. What would be the evolution of your services? What do they look like? Because it sounds like with this particular client, they wanted to start with email marketing.

Michele Ringelberg 7:45

Right. Yeah. And when we first started, we were pretty much, well, we were 100% online business applications. So very like high end websites, basically. Magento, Laravel, things like that, and I ended up getting frustrated because my passion was marketing, right? And I couldn’t, like get my hands in it, because I’m not a developer, and really, like, got burned by some developers, and had to go to a client and tell them that, you know, my team can’t do this, so I need to give your money back, because I don’t feel confident that we can do what it is that you want. And you know, many consultants will tell you, do what you love, and it was hard the first year. And I remember crying a lot, um, losing a lot of money.

Jeremy Weisz 8:53

Over what? Just about the tough parts about? 

Michele Ringelberg 8:56

Press event, or, like, can I make payroll? And you know, just figuring out all the processes and software that you use, and it was, it’s just, like, really hard. And we were just like, burning money. I mean, I was losing at least $5,000 a month, which was difficult, you know? And so I remember, like, meeting with the CPA, and it’s like, what are we doing? Like, what are you doing here? You know, do you tell me? Tell me about this. And he’s like, why do you want to do this? And I’m like, Oh, well, because I just love helping companies, but I don’t like the one piece, you know. I mean, I’m pretty technical, but I’m not a coder, technical, and what I love is just like getting clients excited. And he’s like, then, why aren’t you focusing on marketing? And I’m like. I don’t know. So he’s like, Well, do what you love, because then you’re going to naturally get people excited because you totally just got me excited. I’m ready to sign with you right now because of all the things you just told me. I’m like, really? But I’m not outgoing. I’m more of an introvert, and this whole like, you know, trying to get the meetings was like a challenge. It is a challenge, as anyone knows. So we hired a telemarketing company to get us leads, and then I was fine, you know, doing the meetings and getting people excited, like, there’s got to be other ways. Like, what can we do? You know, let’s try this. Let’s try that. So then it just started growing, because I really was doing what I loved. And so we eventually just started weaning out, like those clients that were the online application systems and the Magento clients and so forth. And just focus on like WordPress sites that I could go in and check on the developers to make sure things are getting done. Because typically what they would always say, oh, it’s behind, you can’t see what’s happening. Trust us, we’re making progress, you just can’t see what we’ve been doing yet. You know, which was a standard response that I would get. So just went down that road, and it just like, naturally, we just started getting clients, and it kind of grew from there. 

Jeremy Weisz 11:44

It’s really interesting, because it sounds like, you know, the Magento sites can be super complicated and complex. You’re like, Okay, let’s get rid of, even if you are decent at it, let’s get rid of things that takes long, that we don’t like doing and instead of just saying, yeah, we’ll try and do that with our developers or find someone, it’s you’re like, oh, let’s focus on the marketing part. Like you like doing, probably the print design stuff, the social media stuff, the email marketing stuff. And if it’s a website, if they have a specific type of site, it’s like, you won’t work with certain websites, but if it’s like a WordPress where it’s just easier and less complex than like a Magento site, where if you I’ve heard, if you tweak one thing, then it’s all over, then you really need someone who specializes in that. So I could see that, and that kind of helped turn it around, along with just a specific plan for getting in front of clients, which was the telemarketing side, which is interesting. What made you think of going that avenue with telemarketing?

Michele Ringelberg 12:49

You know, actually it was our CPA that said, I think you should do this. And I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. I’m in marketing, but when you’re doing your own, you know, it’s like, you have blinders on or something, you just can’t see. You know, it’s like, so easy to do it for clients, but then when you think about your own stuff, it’s like, well, I don’t know what to do now. 

Jeremy Weisz 13:19

Does the telemarketing company develop a list for you of different cannabis companies and then reach out?

Michele Ringelberg 13:26

Well, we had a list. And so basically, we would just give them the list, and, you know, give them a script, and this is what you can say, and here’s, you know, a nice call to action to try to get the meeting, and then they just schedule it with me or Brittanie. And so we just, basically, we’re just consulting. You know, we’re not, I’m not, like a pushy salesperson at all. Like, typically, our process is we’ll do a discovery meeting where we’re just learning about the business, and then I will then come back and I’ll okay, like, I hear what you said, I’m going to do some research and come up with some recommendations, and then we meet with the client and present like, here’s what is going on, like, with your website and your marketing, and here were your pain points, here were the problems that you were frustrated with so let’s solve those, and here’s the solution. And that is what like has been working and I get excited because I like doing the marketing research and like digging in and finding out, like, Okay, who are your competitors? And like, what is it that you like or don’t like about them? And what do you think your weaknesses are? And then I dig into it, and then present to them. And you know, usually, because, like I was saying earlier, like, when you’re in the middle of it, you just can’t think straight, right? And then you have an outsider come in and like, Well, have you thought about doing this, and they’re like, oh my gosh, that’s a great idea, you know? And so just like getting people excited about, you know, there is hope you can, like, generate more revenue. And when we’re comparing, like, websites versus marketing, when you have this story of, we’re going to help you make more money, it’s a lot easier to sell than we’re going to cost you this much money for a website. And so when you can prove the ROI that’s what is super helpful. 

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