NisonCo

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NisonCo?

We needed to improve our product awareness and brand visibility, so we hired NisonCo for their general PR services. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

NisonCo provides us with a variety of customized PR pitches, curated lists, and contacts. Aside from that, we’ve engaged them for their SEO and blog writing services, too — they’ve been writing four blogs per month for us.

What is the team composition?

We work with Evan (Founder & President), along with acquisition salespeople, PR project managers, associates, and an SEO manager. 

How did you come to work with NisonCo?

We found NisonCo through Google.

How much have you invested with them?

Our group has invested between $10,000–$20,000 in the partnership. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with NisonCo in November 2021, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’re a brand new product, and we’ve been able to go live. As a result of NisonCo’s PR services, our organic search traffic has increased b 1,300% over a couple of weeks. Moreover, within a week of our launch, around 40,000 people have tried to sign up with us —- this has been a direct result of our PR efforts. 

How did NisonCo perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t use any project management tools; our teams communicate via emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

NisonCo has the relationships that we’re looking for in the press for our industry. They can quickly have conversations with reporters who are interested in and report on the cannabis industry. They have a curated list of customized pitches, and it’s easy to search for specific contacts who are interested in our product — I find this unusual relative to other PR providers. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their project management and reporting capabilities.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is Ionization Labs. We’re a chemical data, aggregation, and analytics company focused in specialty agriculture. I’m currently the co-founder, president, and COO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NisonCo?

We wanted to introduce technology to the industry and create brand awareness.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Every month, NisonCo provided a number of outbound PR and articles. They supported us in writing and placing articles and blogs in variable outlets around the country. They also helped us coordinate some of our graphics and social media, working on our LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Evan (Founder & President) and two other writers, who were very good. One was the account manager, and the other was a creative writer.

How did you come to work with NisonCo?

They’re pretty well-known in the industry, so we reached out based on reputation. They set up an initial call with their writers and PR specialists, and they submitted a lot of questions to us in the onboarding process.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent close to $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with their team in April 2019. We had to slow down around March 2020 because COVID-19 hit everybody’s budget. We’ll renew our partnership with them when we get a budget back up, but it’s currently not active.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The KPIs we had with NisonCo were based on clicks to the website after an article would come out or was posted on a social network. We’re deep tech, so we didn’t really rely on the revenue impact, but mainly on getting the name and word out there. They performed very strongly with our KPIs relating to visitors and clicks.

How did NisonCo perform from a project management standpoint?

There was a lot of hand-holding. They were very structured and organized, which we really appreciated.

On the communication side, they met me where I needed them. I’m an old-school person, so it was mainly email and telephone. We did have to exchange data points and documents through a shared network, like Google Drive or a File Transfer Protocol (FTP), but it was very easy to access the data we needed at the time we needed it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team stood out for their communication and proactivity; they were very involved. We were very pleased that they met their reputation and service level with us. Also, the founder is great, and he knows the industry and has a lot of contacts, which is invaluable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I just can’t think of anything because I really didn’t have to think about it. I focused on running my business, and they were helping us with our PR.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Really understand and have a strong idea of what your internal goals are as a company utilizing services because people can’t guess. You have to present your goals, and they’ll be proactive at coming up with the solutions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and a member of the board of directors of Radiko Holdings, a publicly-traded Canadian cannabis company with operations in the US, largely in California and Nevada. We are a vertically integrated company that centers its mission around the development and management of world-class cannabis brands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NisonCo?

We hired NisonCo to provide PR services in our space.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide purely PR services, but there is a consulting piece to it as well for positioning the company. They’re responsible for creating media hits for us. Getting us in mainstream media and in industry magazines, and in online industry information repositories are things they work on. As well as this, they help us source opportunities to speak on panels and opportunities to extend our brand even into the television space. 

What is the team composition?

There are between 4–5 people working with us, it varies. Evan (Founder & President) himself helps us at times, as well as Richard (Head of Client Services). 

How did you come to work with NisonCo?

I’d worked with Evan in my last publicly traded marijuana company that was also centered around cannabis. His work was extraordinary, so when I moved to my current company, I immediately hired them again. Evan is sort of a unicorn because he’s uniquely positioned as one of the youngest entrepreneurs in the space. We hired him because of his service in a variety of different industry networks and boards. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2018 and our engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

As a CEO, the impact of their work has been extraordinary in my personal brand. Even googling my name with the keyword “cannabis” or “marijuana”, there are pages and pages of articles that are a function of the work I’ve done with Evan. Their deliverables have resulted in me being able to raise capital and get a book publishing deal as an expert in cannabis. The results have been phenomenal. 

How did NisonCo perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been excellent — I can’t say enough good things about them. We primarily use email, text, phone calls, and video conferences to communicate. They accommodate the culture and needs of the business. Whatever works best for me, they adjust to meet it. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re nimble and solution-oriented. Evan’s position within the cannabis community gives them a big level of credibility. When dealing with reporters, his background is so extensive and strong, reporters react immediately based on his recommendations. 

Evan has an extensive network and a large domain knowledge of the space. His political advocacy for both medical and adult-use marijuana coupled with his business acumen is part of why we work with him. I’m quite satisfied and believe strongly in what they do — they’re nimble and solutions-oriented. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could do better. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It really comes down to the onboarding process. Make sure they have all of your corporate collateral and a comprehensive overview of the company’s mission. NisonCo needs to understand the priorities.

Make sure you have the right people on your team and their team interfacing so you get the maximum results. The message and opportunity they achieve are only as strong as the message you’re able to deliver to them. Sometimes you can get notified of an opportunity very shorthand, but that’s more a function of reporters than NisonCo. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a software company. We provide a seed to sale tracking solution for the hemp and cannabis industries. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NisonCo?

We hired them for PR.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were supposed to be helping craft stories and place stories that talked about our work and the company story. 

What is the team dynamic?

We worked with about four people. 

How did you come to work with NisonCo?

We found them online. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about $60,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in May 2019, and we ended the engagement that October. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did your relationship with the vendor evolve?

The whole time we were working with them, our in-house team ended up having to do most of the PR work. They didn’t come up with any original ideas or stories, and their team needed a lot of hand-holding.  

Immediately upon engaging with them, the representatives we spoke to fell off the job and were replaced by lower-paid employees that lacked experience. 

How did NisonCo address the challenges that arose?

We made our issues known and they promised to do better. We gave them an opportunity to continue working with us, but we didn’t see any improvement. They placed some stories with them, but my employees had to coach them through the entire process. We ended up training their employees for them. 

How was project management handled?

They managed deadlines fine, but overall project management was lacking in professionalism and understanding of the PR industry. 

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

No. 

In what specific areas can they improve. 

I disliked their ability to provide any clear deliverables. They lacked direction, and oversight of the project was poor. 

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

I would recommend that other companies in the hemp and cannabis industry do not work with them. 

Company Responses

The vendor responded on July 20, 2020.

We are sorry you felt you had such a negative experience. We have noticed that when certain teams we work with are so early-stage or still exploring their messaging it can present communication issues and result in confusion over things like deadlines and scheduling. We’re also surprised to hear such criticism of our professionalism, something in which we take great pride and have been consistently praised for by our clients since our start over 5 years ago. This is evident from the fact that our Account Manager responded to calls from the CEO even on Christmas Day after multiple prior attempts at outreach to clarify conflicting asks and communication from team members.

While we won’t spend time addressing many of the other questionable claims in this review, we would at least like to clarify that the account team was never “replaced with lower-paid employees” and we’re perplexed as to how that perception ever came to be considering we do not share employee compensation with our clients nor do we pass off accounts once they are on-boarded. We are always trying to improve upon our services for clients and for that reason we openly welcome criticism and constructive feedback so we respect your right to leave this review. However, we are disappointed an honest representation of our services and acknowledgment of the communication gaps in your organization were not represented here. Best of luck in the future and we hope you find the PR services you are looking for.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CMO of a MedTech company in the Cannabis Industry. I oversee our MarCom and PR is a key component of this.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire NisonCo?

We started as a small, relatively unknown manufacturer and needed to build brand presence. We outsourced our PR strategy and execution to Evan and his team.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to increases sales, exposure and build awareness for our brands. The outreach had to be done by a seasoned team of experts- who are selective with the brands they choose to work with.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Evan's reputation proceeds him. As an advocate and Executive of NORML, we were introduced in 2014 as he was representing a number of well known brands and did not have room in his roster. In 2016, I was finally able to secure his direct services.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We created a media kit, gained traction through product reviews, thought leadership and storytelling. They helped us identify opportunities with positive influencers (not paid), what industry events to participate in and helped us organically build our brand and presence.

What was the team composition?

I've worked with many members of their team- over the course of our partnership I've seen Evan diversify their offering to add additional support- ie. working in-house on digital marketing to include email marketing and campaigns, GR and some IR.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The foundational work that Evan and his team did for us meant that the reviews and placements still hold strong today. They helped evangelize the benefits of our flagship products that still sells and is on demand - five years after its launch.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

This team is patient and perseveres. They recognize that we are a small team and helped us manage communication, scheduling and expectations.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are agile, actually listen to what their partners truly need, and do their best to accommodate. Evan is a pillar of our community and has truly worked with us as a partner. He and his team have a long term vision, which is why they are particular about who they work with and the way they engage with their network. I believe they are the best in the industry- I have seen the results to support that belief.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They are true PR champions always putting their clients first. I want to see NisonCo get the coverage that they deserve as a company.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of an innovative hardware development brand

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire NisonCo, and what were your goals?

NisonCo helps with our messaging, strategy, reviewer outreach, and all media relations

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Premier provider in our niche, strong company values

Describe the scope of their work in detail, including any steps and the final deliverables.

NisonCo is responsible for monthly strategy meetings, delivering products to reviewers, scheduling prepping and executing interviews

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Multiple account representatives over the years and the executive staff. All excellent

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have had significant reviewer traction, strong placement in many leading publications, and grown our brand significantly

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They meet regularly, are always prepared, communicative with changes to strategy or execution, and very equity focused and have excellent values

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their social equity focus and authentic communication are impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None.