Forleap Marketing. High Times magazine cover with a close-up of a person wearing sunglasses partially obscured by green palm leaves.

Generating 5K Investor Leads in 90 Days, to Fuel an 8-Figure IPO Campaign

How we brought thousands of new leads to a stalled campaign, contributing to a record-breaking capital raise.

Client Profile

About High Times

Founded in 1974, High Times, a monthly American magazine, is one of the most iconic and influential brands in the $100B+ global cannabis industry.

With nearly five decades of industry coverage, they’ve played a central role in shaping public perception around cannabis and pushing the legalization movement forward.

Through its digital and print platforms, social media presence, and global events, High Times reaches millions of readers monthly, making it a household name among cannabis consumers.

Industry

Media & Publishing

Business Overview

$100M+ Annual Revenue

200+ Employees

Audience Reach

Global Cannabis Market

Primary Platforms

Website

https://hightimes.com/

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Industry

Media & Publishing

Business Overview

$100M+ Annual Revenue

200+ Employees

Audience Reach

Global Cannabis Market

Primary Platforms

Website

https://hightimes.com/

Gaps We Identified

Strong campaigns in motion, but channels were saturated and investor lead flow flatlined.

Green circular button with a white 'X' symbol in the center, resembling a close or cancel icon.

No Scalable Lead Flow

No reliable system in place to consistently source and segment verified contact data at scale for the investor personas.

Limited Internal Bandwidth

Lacked the human resources needed to send personalized messages, track responses, and follow up across thousands of prospects.

Existing Channels Maxed Out

Most marketing channels were already running at full capacity, with no clear path to scale further, putting the IPO campaign targets at risk.

LinkedIn was Untapped

Despite being ideal for investor outreach, LinkedIn remained inactive due to resource gaps and lack of process.

Missing Repurposed Content

Campaign content built for other platforms didn’t translate well to LinkedIn’s format, requiring extra effort to adapt messaging and repurpose assets.

Compliance Risks

Due to strict SEC oversight, all investor outreach had to follow tight legal standards, limiting flexibility in messaging and format.

No reliable system in place to consistently source and segment verified contact data at scale for the investor personas.

Lacked the human resources needed to send personalized messages, track responses, and follow up across thousands of prospects.

Most marketing channels were already running at full capacity, with no clear path to scale further, putting the IPO campaign targets at risk.

Despite being ideal for investor outreach, LinkedIn remained inactive due to resource gaps and lack of process.

Campaign content built for other platforms didn’t translate well to LinkedIn’s format, requiring extra effort to adapt messaging and repurpose assets.

Due to strict SEC oversight, all investor outreach had to follow tight legal standards, limiting flexibility in messaging and format.

The Strategy That Worked

Conversion-focused LinkedIn strategy, scalable lead gen, and high-volume outreach.

LinkedIn Marketing Strategy

We developed a LinkedIn marketing strategy that leveraged all LinkedIn features except ads and aligned with the existing funnel, messaging, and compliance standards already in place.

Forleap Marketing. Graphic showing LinkedIn marketing strategies including Curated Content, InMail, and Automated Messaging pointing to a LinkedIn mobile feed screen.

Advanced Lead Gen Tools

We leveraged advanced lead gen tools, like Sales Navigator, Lusha, Apollo, Cognism, and others, to identify, segment, and collect detailed contact info for thousands of ideal investor profiles.

Forleap Marketing. Diagram showing a contact management process with tools LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo, Lusha, and Cognism, illustrating steps from identifying contacts with photos and names, to segmenting contacts with detailed info, leading to qualified contacts.

Automated Personalized Outreach

We combined LinkedIn messaging automation tools with personalized copy, engaging thousands of investors at scale through targeted outreach.

Forleap Marketing. Diagram showing LinkedIn messaging automation and personalized copy sending targeted messages to multiple recipients in a messaging inbox.

How We Did It

Produced ~240 videos per month

We hired 3 lead gen specialists for list making, 3 sales specialists to handle follow-ups, plus a designer and social media manager to create and execute a content strategy for LinkedIn.

Forleap Marketing. Diagram showing collaboration between Lead Gen Specialists and Sales Specialists above with green arrows, and between Designer and Social Media Manager below with orange arrows.

Forleap Marketing. Smartphone displaying a messaging app with recent conversations partially inside a green fabric pocket.

Sent 50+ personalized messages per day

Over 3 months, we sent 50 personalized LinkedIn messages per day on average, while ensuring SEC compliance for all communication, with a goal to direct prospects to the investor landing page.

Fed LinkedIn insights into paid campaigns

Engagement data and investor research from LinkedIn outreach were fed back into paid campaigns on Facebook and Instagram, to refine targeting and boost conversions.