In the fast-paced digital world, the cannabis industry is no exception.As an emerging market with new opportunities and challenges, cannabis companies need to think strategically about how they want to position themselves in the coming year.
Cannabis marketing is a complex process that requires you to answer some difficult questions. Who is your target audience? How can you best reach them? What kind of imagery works best for your brand? How will you measure your ROI? Fortunately, there are several different marketing strategies that can help you get ahead of the competition.
This guide will walk you through common marketing techniques and explain which ones are right for your cannabis business and the products you want to offer. Keep reading to learn more!
What is a Marketing Plan?
A marketing plan is a document that outlines your strategy for reaching customers. It can be as simple as a checklist or as detailed as a full-on business plan. You can think of it as a roadmap for your business, outlining things like your target audience, the value you provide, and how you will reach those customers.
In short, a marketing plan helps you organize your thoughts and make sure you’re covering all the right bases. Although the specific components will vary depending on your industry and business, there are four main components of any marketing plan.
Vision and goals – What do you want your business to achieve? What problem are you solving? What are your long-term goals? These questions will help you identify what your business really needs to succeed.
Audience and research – Who are you trying to reach? What are their pain points and desires? What do they need from a product or service like yours? What do you know about your audience already (demographics, psychographics, personas)? What do you need to understand about them? These questions will help you tailor your marketing efforts to the people you want as customers.
Tactics – What mediums and tools do you want to use? What efforts will you focus on to reach your audience? What do you want to say to your customers? These questions will help you decide what specific techniques will work best for your goals.
Metrics – How will you measure the success of your marketing efforts? How will you know if they’re working? These questions will help you determine how to best track and evaluate your marketing so you can make improvements as needed.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is any marketing strategy focused on creating and distributing valuable and relevant content to attract and retain customers In the cannabis industry, this often means blogging, email newsletters, and social media posts. The goal of content marketing is to engage your audience and provide them with value.
When customers in the cannabis industry are engaged with and interested in your business, they are more likely to be excited about your products or services. Content marketing is an excellent strategy for cannabis businesses because it can be used at any stage of the sales funnel, from attracting new customers to increase product sales.
There are a few different types of content marketing you may want to consider for your cannabis business. A good cannabis marketing strategy will use the best methods that work for them. The cannabis market can be fierce. You have to do what works well for you.
Existing content repurposing – You can repurpose older content to bring attention to it again, especially during times when you’re not publishing new content. For example, you can create social media posts, email newsletters, or blog posts that link to old content. Make sure you’re not just repeating content verbatim, but that you’re presenting it in a new way.
Newsworthy content – Create content that is interesting and relevant to your target audience. This can be as simple as blog posts about topics relevant to your industry or product reviews. Another option is to host a contest or giveaway. Make sure you stay in compliance with all local and state laws.
Audience or customer-focused content – This can include any type of content that speaks to your audience directly, such as surveys or polls. Make sure this content is relevant to your business and helpful to your audience.
Paid Ads
If you’re creating new products or if you’re rebranding, paid cannabis ads are a great way to kick off your marketing efforts. They’re a quick way to get your name out there and start generating interest in your brand. You can use paid ads to target potential customers based on their interests and demographics.
You can also choose the number of ad impressions you want to receive per day or per month. That way, you’re not spending too much (or too little) on your campaigns. You can use paid ads to accomplish several different marketing goals, such as:
Building brand awareness – Paid ads are an excellent way to build brand awareness to cannabis consumers, especially if you’re new to the industry. You can use paid ads to bring new customers or people who don’t know about your brand to your website.
Gathering leads – Another popular cannabis marketing strategy you can also use paid ads to gather new leads. When you’re gathering leads, you want to make sure you’re capturing that information in a way that’s compliant with local laws.
Increasing traffic to your website – Paid ads can also help bring more traffic to your site. Make sure you’re not only targeting an audience that is already familiar with your brand.Â
Organic Advertising
Another great way to get your cannabis brands out there and build brand awareness is through organic advertising. Organic advertising includes strategies like guest blogging, content marketing, search engine optimization, word-of-mouth marketing, and creating and sharing guides and tips.
These strategies are free and don’t show up as advertisements to your customers, making them the ideal choice for the early stages of your marketing efforts.
Organic advertising can help you accomplish several different goals, such as:
Building your brand – When you contribute to blogs and create content, you’re building your brand and bringing attention to your company or products. There are several ways to do this, including writing guest posts for popular blogs, syndicating content on other websites, and creating guides and tips.
Gathering leads – You can also use these strategies to gather leads from potential customers. Increasing traffic to your website – You can also use these strategies to increase traffic to your site.
Conclusion
Cannabis marketing is more than just creating advertisements. It’s about creating an entire experience for your customers. A well-thought-out marketing plan will help you connect with customers and create an emotional connection with your brand. It will help your cannabis brand thrive.
Keep these tips in mind as you develop your marketing plan. They will help you to create a successful marketing strategy that connects with your customers. When you do, you’ll see more sales and engagement from customers.Â
Clout Brands is here to help you with all your cannabis marketing plan needs whether you are known in the marijuana business or just getting started in the marijuana industry. Contact us today.
