Written by Drew Pedersen
December 9, 2021
MNI Blog / 3 minute read
Grow your cannabis business and blow away the competition with a comprehensive cannabis marketing plan with MNI—starting with these six must-have strategies.
Grow Your Cannabis Business with MNI
Today's cannabis businesses have plenty of challenges to navigate, especially regarding marketing. From digital advertising regulations that are governed state-by-state, to ads needing careful curation vis-à-vis the information presented—there are ample hoops to jump through in CBD and marijuana advertising compared with other industries. Take, for instance, Washington and Colorado cannabis advertising.
According to the Cannabis Industry Journal, marijuana advertising in Washington cannot be "within one thousand feet of the perimeter of school grounds, playground, recreation center or facility, childcare center, public park, library, or a game arcade admission to which it is not restricted to persons aged twenty-one years or older."
Oregon Live adds that in Colorado, "state regulators prohibit cannabis businesses from advertising on TV, radio, and in print unless they can prove the audience is predominantly 21 and older. Digital and social media platforms are even more restrictive."
When marketing cannabis, finding trusted partners—experts in their respective fields—will help you succeed. With the proper guidance and marketing, your company can confidently push messaging, further engagement, and build brand affinity. This is significant when Finance Online reports that the expected annual growth rate of the cannabis market from 2019 to 2021 is 21%—the green rush is real! The report also found the highest growth and sales to be in California ($2.75B), Colorado ($1.56B), and Washington ($1B).
6 Strategy Must-Haves When Growing Your Budding Business
1. Reach Prospects with Crave-able Content
Content is essential to marketing today, especially as cannabis consumers are more interested in the research of the marijuana industry. They want to know what it can do for them, what studies say, how it's grown, etc.
Content that educates and answers questions will likely do best, so take time to invest in your website and information that can be consumed across platforms including:
- Blogs
- White papers
- E-books
- Podcasts
- Videos
2. The Hidden Power of Cannabis SEO
Get more interested people to find your website with the right keywords through cannabis SEO marketing. Local SEO and content are some of the most important components of cannabis SEO and CBD advertising and dispensary marketing. Among the top keywords for cannabis SEO marketing content reported by the Search Engine Journal are:
- Cannabis oil
- Cannabis seeds
- Cannabis legalization
- Best CBD oil
- Marijuana legalization
3. Target TOFU/MOFU/BOFU
Embracing an always-on strategy that connects with prospects at various stages in the sales funnel is a great way to keep leads warm and people coming back for more.
- Top of the Funnel (TOFU)—the general audience is becoming more aware of their problem and the cannabis industry's potential to solve it. They're looking at product options, brand options, and educating themselves on the industry.
- Middle of the Funnel (MOFU)—in this stage, the audience is more targeted, and they're considering their options more seriously. They know what product(s) they're interested in, so now they're considering who to purchase from.
- Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU)—by now, the audience has narrowed even more and consists of serious buyers who are ready to make a purchase. In most cases, a friendly nudge will motivate them to take the action desired.
Remember that the user experience continues after purchase—this is where you form deeper connections and relationships with target audiences. It’s often said that it costs more to get a new customer than retain an existing one, and it’s true. Investing in strengthening customer loyalty through special offers, sharing new information, and so on is money and time well spent.
4. Don't Forget to Pipe Up on Social Media
Social media is a great place to beef up your advertising, if you know how to do it correctly. For instance, you'll want to focus on organic reach, but avoid paid ads on certain platforms. Facebook is especially picky about cannabis advertising. According to CBD Sloth, "Just like Google, Facebook has been very clear on the subject and has a strong no drugs policy." The report even said that they'd gone as far as deleting Cannabis/CBD Facebook business pages.
However, with the right cannabis marketing guidance and expertise, you can still generate a community of followers online and benefit from:
- Reaching a wider audience
- Shareable content
- Boosting brand awareness
- Networking with others in the industry
- Educating people about your product
- Working with influencers
5. Cultivate Leads with Email
Email is a powerful tool to reach audiences. According to HubSpot, 64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach customers, and 4 out of 5 marketers said they'd rather give up social media than email marketing. This is because email marketing for cannabis is not only cost-effective and efficient, but it has more than four billion active email users on its platform—and it’s still growing.
You can use email for marketing cannabis in a variety of effective ways:
- Deliver your message
- Share content and offers
- Build an email list with the use of content marketing and social media marketing
- Stay top of mind
- Promote new products
- Include link links to virtual experiences
6. Find a Proven Programmatic Partner Specializing in Cannabis to Grow Your ROI
If you're looking for scalable digital advertising solutions (and really, who isn’t?), you’ll want to find a programmatic exchange to improve efficiencies. For example, Cannabx—a programmatic ad exchange that caters to all sides of the cannabis industry—has the ability to make sure ads are compliant and displayed with maximum impact. Cannabx helps businesses in the marijuana business with two major online areas:- Advanced targeting—geo-fencing, behavioral targeting, mobile app data, search history, contextual targeting, and site retargeting.
- Tracking consumer insights—site conversions, cart checkouts, in-store sales, and app installs.
Cannabis Marketing is a Joint Effort
Cannabis marketing is much more complex and complicated than advertising in other industries. For this reason, the most successful businesses are making it a joint effort. MNI partners with cannabis businesses by first taking a deep dive into understanding their brand and its priorities. From there, the fun begins by working together to formulate cannabis marketing campaigns, build strategies, and monitor performance to make sure goals are achieved.
