NisonCo is the original cannabis PR firm. Founded in 2013, before the first legal sale. For over a decade we’ve helped cannabis, hemp, and CBD brands earn the coverage, credibility, and visibility that grow real businesses. Today we pair that media expertise with SEO and AI, so your budget goes to whatever actually moves your goal forward.
Operating since 2013
America’s original cannabis PR firm.
A decade of relationships
Cannabis media relationships and earned coverage built since the industry began.
Trusted nationwide
By cannabis, hemp, and CBD brands across every legal U.S. market.
Our founder, Evan Nison, has been featured by Good Morning America, Bloomberg TV, The New York Times, Forbes, and USA Today.
You need people to know your cannabis brand exists
You’ve built something in one of the hardest industries in the country to market. Now you need customers to find you, investors and partners to trust you, and the press to take you seriously. That’s what cannabis PR is for, and it’s what NisonCo has done longer than almost anyone.
We’ll be straight with you on this page about how cannabis PR has changed, and how we’d actually approach your goals in 2026. But first, here’s what working with us looks like.
What a cannabis PR firm actually does for you
Every cannabis company is different, so we build a custom strategy around your goals. A NisonCo cannabis PR engagement typically draws on:
Media relations and press releases
We pitch your news, products, and expertise to journalists who cover cannabis, plus the mainstream reporters now writing about the industry. Funding rounds, launches, expansions, partnerships, and hires get written to be picked up, and distributed to the reporters most likely to run them.
Awards and recognition
We identify the awards worth winning and manage the submissions, so your brand collects the credibility markers that matter to customers and investors.
Thought leadership and editorials
We position your executives as the voices reporters call first, through bylined articles, expert commentary, and editorials in the publications your audience reads.
Product reviews and reviewer outreach
For consumer brands, we connect your products with trusted cannabis reviewers and the audiences who buy based on their recommendations.
Cannabis PR is harder than PR for any other industry, and that’s our advantage
Most agencies can buy ads and call it marketing. Cannabis brands can’t. Paid advertising is restricted or banned on nearly every major platform, including Google, Meta, and most of programmatic. That makes earned visibility, press, search, and reputation, not a nice-to-have but the primary way cannabis brands get discovered.
It also means generic PR firms struggle here. Cannabis PR requires knowing the compliance lines, the regulatory landscape state by state, which outlets reach which audiences, and how to tell a cannabis story without tripping a platform or a regulator. We’ve been doing exactly that since 2013. It’s the hardest version of this work, which is why it’s the version we’re best at.
Cannabis is where we come from
NisonCo didn’t add cannabis to a list of industries. We started here. When the firm was founded in 2013, legal cannabis barely existed, and we built our business alongside the industry itself, in the belief that good communications could help cannabis earn its place in the mainstream.
That work has always been rooted in advocacy. Our founder, Evan Nison, has spent his career in drug policy reform and serves on the boards of NORML and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). We’ve supported sensible cannabis policy, and the people working to change it, for over a decade.
For you, that history means something practical. We understand this industry from the inside, our relationships are real and long-standing, and we genuinely care whether cannabis brands succeed. You’re not hiring a vendor who learned cannabis last year; you’re hiring the firm that’s been here since the beginning.
An honest note: how we approach cannabis PR today
We’ve done cannabis PR longer than almost anyone, and that experience has changed how we recommend clients spend their budget.
Most companies don’t actually want “PR.” They want a result: customers who find them, partners and investors who trust them, a brand that shows up when someone goes looking. For years, earned media was the best way to get there. Today, for most cannabis brands, the fastest and most cost-effective path is a mix, and traditional PR is one part of it, not the whole thing.
So when you call us, you’ll get an honest read on what will actually move your goal forward:
Traditional cannabis PR
Still the right tool for major announcements, funding news, and executive visibility. We still do this, and we do it well.
Cannabis SEO
For most brands, the highest-ROI way to get found by customers year-round, without depending on a reporter saying yes.
AI-enhanced PR
Making sure your brand is the one cited when journalists and customers research in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI answers.
Often the right answer is a combination. Sometimes it’s pure PR. We’ll tell you which, even if that means recommending less PR than you came in asking for. That honesty is why clients have stayed with us for over a decade.
Bring us your goal. We’ll get you there.
Cannabis PR in the age of AI search
Earned media has always been about showing up where people place their trust. Increasingly, that place isn’t a newspaper. It’s an AI answer.
When a journalist researches a cannabis story, or a customer asks ChatGPT or Perplexity for the best brands in a category, an AI model decides who gets named. Being that named brand is the new earned media, and it matters even more in cannabis, where paid ads are off the table on nearly every major platform.
NisonCo helps cannabis brands earn that visibility: authoritative coverage that AI models learn from, structured and citable content, and the technical signals that get you surfaced in AI-generated answers. It’s PR logic, applied to where attention is actually going.
Cannabis PR for every kind of cannabis company
Whether you need PR for cannabis cultivators, PR for dispensaries, medical marijuana PR, PR for cannabis manufacturers, PR for hemp companies, PR for vape companies, PR for edible companies, or PR for CBD and cannabinoid brands, we’ve done the work, built the relationships, and learned the compliance edges. That includes PR for:
- Cannabis cultivators and growers
- Dispensaries and cannabis retailers
- Cannabis brands and product makers
- Cannabis manufacturers and processors
- Edibles and beverage companies
- Vaporizer and device companies
- Hemp companies and hemp-derived brands
- CBD and cannabinoid companies
- Medical marijuana providers
- Ancillary cannabis businesses (law, accounting, tech)
We work with cannabis companies in every legal U.S. market, nationally, not just one city or region.
A decade of results
We’ve earned coverage and credibility for cannabis brands across every segment of the industry, and the work has been recognized by the leading voices in cannabis media and beyond.
Cannabis brands we’ve worked with
Green Roads · Greenlane · Brightfield Group · Whoopi & Maya · Moxie · Daily High Club · Ardent · Dip Devices · Sana · CannDelta · Bureau
Recognized as a top cannabis PR firm
2017
Cannabis Industry Journal
Top PR Firms in Cannabis
2018
Observer
Most Powerful Cannabis PR Firms
2019
Green Market Report
Top 10 Most Effective Cannabis PR Firms
2021
Business Insider
Pre-eminent firm in the cannabis sector
2022
Observer
Best PR Firms in America
Rated a top cannabis PR firm 5 years running.
How a cannabis PR engagement works
1. Strategy call
We learn your goals, market, and budget, then recommend the PR, SEO, and AI mix that fits.
2. Custom plan
You get a clear plan scoped to your goals, not a one-size template.
3. Execution
Our team does the work, pitching, writing, placing, optimizing, and stays compliant every step.
4. Reporting
Regular, plain-language reporting on what we placed, what it moved, and what’s next.
Cannabis PR, frequently asked questions
What does a cannabis PR firm do?
A cannabis PR firm earns your brand visibility and credibility through media coverage, thought leadership, and reputation building, rather than paid ads. NisonCo pitches your news and expertise to journalists, secures press placements and editorials, and manages awards and reviews.
How is cannabis PR different from cannabis marketing or SEO?
PR earns coverage in third-party media; SEO earns visibility in search; marketing usually covers paid and owned channels. They overlap, and the strongest cannabis brands use them together. PR builds trust and authority, SEO drives consistent discovery, and AI search visibility ties them together.
Should my cannabis brand invest in PR, SEO, or AI?
It depends on your goal. If you have major news or need executive visibility, PR is the right tool. If you mainly need customers to find you year-round, SEO usually delivers more ROI. Most brands benefit from a mix, increasingly AI-enhanced. On a strategy call we’ll tell you honestly where your budget is best spent.
Do you work with hemp and CBD companies?
Yes. We work across cannabis, hemp, hemp-derived, CBD, and other cannabinoid companies, including the ancillary businesses that serve the industry.
How much does cannabis PR cost?
It’s customized to your goals and scope, so there’s no single price. We’ll scope a plan to your budget on a strategy call, and we’ll be honest if a different mix of services would get you a better return.
