Enjoy this interview series recorded live at MJBizCon 2025 in Las Vegas. In this episode, Respect My Region sits down with Matt Scarenberg of Deep Roots Partners, a digital marketing agency focused on cannabis dispensaries and delivery services.
Who is Matt, and why should operators listen?
Matt’s story matters because he’s not selling “marketing theory.” He came up through real cannabis ops.
He traces his path back to 2014—choosing not to pursue an expensive music degree, working in music licensing, then getting pulled into a California delivery business during the Prop 215 era. That turned into doing marketing while “wearing all the hats,” and eventually building agency capability around what actually moved revenue.
He also shares a personal reason for staying in cannabis: seeing CBD help a family member, which reframed the work as more than business.
Deep Roots Partners’ focus: three levers that drive revenue
Matt keeps it simple. Deep Roots Partners focuses on three core services:
- High-converting websites
- SEO (especially local SEO)
- Google Ads
That’s the “stack” he discusses throughout the interview.
1) High-converting dispensary websites: the foundation nobody wants to fix
Matt makes a point that a lot of operators learn the hard way: you can’t do serious SEO on a broken website.
He explains that early on, he didn’t even want to touch web design—but in cannabis retail, he kept running into sites that were locked down, poorly built, or missing the functionality needed to execute SEO properly.
So they built a development team and started rebuilding the backend of “pretty” sites so they actually functioned as revenue tools.
What “healthy website” means in practical terms
Matt calls out the basics that operators often overlook because they aren’t flashy:
- Page titles and meta descriptions
- Alt text
- Internal linking and content structure
- Flexibility to add location pages and local content
- A menu experience that doesn’t slow people down
He also shares a simple consumer behavior insight: many shoppers want to get to buying fast. Often, a clean homepage with a direct “Shop” or “Deals” pathway wins over complicated design.
2) Local SEO: where most dispensary money is hiding
Matt is blunt about what actually drives dispensary traffic.
He points to “money keywords” like:
- “dispensary near me”
- “weed delivery near me”
- “dispensary + city”
- “deals” queries tied to a location
He estimates those core local searches can represent the majority of a dispensary’s search-driven business.
A key distinction: traffic vs conversions
He’s clear that ranking for national strain keywords might bring traffic, but it doesn’t always bring buyers for a single-location store.
For local operators, he says conversion usually comes from owning:
- “dispensary in [city]”
- “dispensary near [neighboring city]”
- “brand available in [city]” pages that match shopper intent
If you’re a buyer or operator reading this, that’s a real planning takeaway:
Your SEO plan should map to how people search when they’re ready to purchase, not how people browse when they’re bored.
The most underrated SEO asset: your Google Business Profile
Matt gives one of the most actionable tips in the whole interview: treat your Google Business Profile like your homepage.
Even if your website is not perfect, he says GBP matters because it’s free and it’s often the first thing shoppers see.
His baseline playbook is simple:
- Name it correctly (brand name plus “dispensary” or “weed delivery” where appropriate)
- Fill every field Google gives you
- Post photos regularly
- Get consistent reviews over time (not a big burst and then silence)
One review per week beats 100 reviews once and then nothing.
3) Google Ads: when it’s useful, and when it’s a trap
This is where the conversation gets practical and honest.
Matt states clearly that Google’s policy technically does not allow cannabis ads. He also points out the industry reality: cannabis operators have always had to be scrappy.
He says Deep Roots runs Google Ads as an offer, but not as the first lever they pull.
When he recommends Google Ads
- When a dispensary is buried in search results (think page five and beyond) and needs revenue while SEO ramps up
- When a company needs to show revenue quickly, because ads can potentially start producing faster than SEO
- When a dispensary wants to test whether Google search converts before investing months into SEO
When he doesn’t recommend Google Ads
This is the part most agencies won’t say out loud:
If your SEO is already decent, Ads can cannibalize the same keywords you’re trying to win organically.
If you can push SEO into the top positions, he suggests you may not need Ads at all for those same terms.
The strongest line in the interview: marketing amplifies what you already are
Matt drops a simple truth that applies beyond SEO:
If your operations are messy, your customer experience is weak, or your brand is unclear, marketing doesn’t fix it. It just makes more people notice it faster.
That’s why his advice keeps coming back to foundations:
- clean operations
- a functional website
- a well-maintained Google Business Profile
- then scale your acquisition channels
Where to learn more (straight from the source)
At the end, Matt shares how operators can reach him:
- Deep Roots website with a “book a call” option
- LinkedIn (search his name as stated in the interview)
He also notes Deep Roots focuses on dispensaries and deliveries, but he’s willing to steer brands in the right direction.
Sponsorship note
This interview is part of the Respect My Region MJBizCon 2025 coverage. Canna Brand Solutions supported the broader series as a sponsor.
