Geo-Targeting and the Cannabis Industry
GroundLevel Insights is a proprietary AI and business intelligence company enabling cannabis stakeholders to make more informed business decisions through data. They provide first of its kind, powerful real-time data, analytics and reports on the cannabis industry to propel their clients and the community into the future. We sat down with GroundLevel Insights CEO Asif Khan to discuss location-based marketing and its benefits to the cannabis industry.

Tell us about your journey to the cannabis industry.
For the last 10 years, I have led the direction of the location-based marketing community through the development of the Location Based Marketing Association (LBMA). The organization has grown dramatically with physical operations now in more than 20 countries and over 1500+ member companies representing many of the worlds’ most prominent brands and leading location technology service providers. Being based in Canada and watching cannabis legalization happen in our country, I started wondering what kind of data was available to companies entering the cannabis industry in making business investment decisions. I quickly learned there was not much and decided to build GroundLevel Insights to help stakeholders make more informed business decisions through data.

ground level insights ceo asif khanWhat’s geo-targeting, and how is it beneficial to the cannabis industry?
Geo-targeting is a term we use to describe the opportunity to target individuals and/or businesses within a predefined radius of a point on a map. For cannabis, this means we can understand where dispensaries and clinic locations are and the relationship from a geographic perspective to potential customers.

What sets GroundLevel Insights apart from other companies?
GroundLevel Insights is unique in that we are the only company in the world that is combining hundreds of location-based data sets comprised of mobile device data, IoT sensor data, geo-social data and more. This is all powered by our pioneering AI technology that is turning this anonymous data into real-time insights and analysis of the cannabis industry. We do all of this in a private, compliant framework where we do not gather any personal data, but instead, collect data on groups of people or audiences that exhibit certain behaviours in the cannabis industry.

Tell us about your free beta trial.
We began building our artificial intelligence platform in June and completed the first version in late October. We are now inviting potential customers from all segments of the industry (retail, medical, LP, government, etc.) to test our service by participating in our free beta trial. Our goal is to collect feedback and guidance on how we can make the tool as relevant and valuable as possible to our constituents. The free trial will run until the end of the year. Those who are interested in participating can sign-up now.

What do you like best about working in the cannabis industry?
As a serial entrepreneur, I always love the opportunity to be a pioneer – to be the first to do something. I see the cannabis industry as the wild west. It’s incredibly fast-moving, and there are so many new companies entering the space every week. I think that at GroundLevel Insights, we have a unique opportunity to help these emerging companies as they navigate an exciting new market. That is what we stand for: Enlightened Cannabis Decisions!

Interested in updates on GroundLevel Insights? Follow them on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. For interviews with GroundLevel Insights CEO, Asif Khan, contact karim@marigoldpr.com.