10 Key Strategies for Marketing Your Cannabusiness

The legal cannabis industry may still be relatively new, but it’s already highly competitive. An influx of C-suite executives are bringing innovative business models from more traditional fields into this space. Cannabis brands are jockeying for a leading position not only in states that have ended prohibition, but with an eye on the national cannabis market. Dispensary shelves are overflowing with new products featuring a wider range of branding than ever before. 

So how do you reach prospective customers in a field that’s full of cannabis advertising regulations and is constantly changing, that's flush with “look at me” messaging? The best way to cut through the noise and stand out from the crowd is a smart cannabis marketing strategy that blends proven techniques with deep knowledge of how the industry operates. 

How Does Cannabis Marketing Help My Brand?

Whether your brand is focused on cannabis B2B or B2C efforts (perhaps a mix of the two), you need a plan for how to reach your target audiences on key platforms. Having strong knowledge of how different media outlets cover the cannabis industry, and what kinds of stories they look for, can mean the difference between making headlines and languishing at the bottom of search engine rankings.

We call Grasslands a journalism-minded agency because our team collectively has spent decades working within the media industry as writers and reporters as well as marketers and publicists. We truly understand what it’s like on both sides of the news desk, and how to tell powerful, appealing stories that grab the attention of audiences interested in all things cannabis. And we have a few tips to jumpstart your cannabis brand marketing strategy. 

1) Establish Credibility for Your Cannabusiness

At Grasslands, everything we do helps our clients build brand equity and customer trust. Trust is important in any industry, but especially in one where federal prohibition limited scientific research and prohibitionist propaganda influenced the public for decades. 

Cannabusinesses are battling stigma and working diligently to educate potential customers about the benefit of their products, whether they’re designed for medical or recreational use. That means earning—and keeping—the customer’s trust is paramount for cannabis brands.

Did you know that, according to a 2016 Nielsen study, 82% of consumers seek recommendations from people they know before making purchases? When you build a reputation as a trustworthy brand that is consistent in its products and messaging, something amazing happens: Your customers start to talk about your business.

When enough of them start talking about how your product benefited them, word of mouth becomes one of the most important tools in your marketing strategy. You’ve probably taken part in these kinds of conversations yourself when friends or family start asking questions like “What’s your favorite edible?” or "what's cannabis marketing like in Michigan?"

2) Develop a Strong Cannabis Brand

You’ve heard this simple statement before: “Know thyself.” But Socrates was onto something when he advocated for self-knowledge before all else. 

Like any company, cannabusinesses need to develop strong brand values. If you don’t know what your business stands for, it will be that much harder to build trust with your customers.

Think about it—how will you know what to communicate about your products and services if you don’t know your own brand intimately and in detail? It’s best to know who you are and what you stand for so you can shout it loud and proud, instead of letting competitors define you or call dibs on industry tablestakes.

You may also like: How thought leadership can help build your cannabis brand

3) Educate Your Audience With Earned Media

What is earned media? In short, it’s making sure your brand is included in quality news coverage and is considered one of the most reputable and trustworthy sources from which a customer might learn about cannabis. 

That might mean providing commentary to journalists looking for industry experts who can speak to particular trends or offer insight into timely news topics. It can look like a reporter profiling your company’s CEO for a feature-length article, or independently selecting a new item from your product line for a holiday gift guide.

If this sounds like it overlaps with public relations, you’re right. The difference between PR and marketing comes down to the audience: PR is primarily media-facing, while marketing is about engaging customers and compelling them to seek out your product or service.

Finding ways to connect with a time-strapped, “seen it all before” reporter or editor requires more finesse in the messaging. That’s where it really helps to have an agency partner that’s fluent in cannabis, who can craft a compelling narrative about your brand and always has one eye and ear open for opportunities to "newsjack" trending stories and leverage them to boost public awareness of your brand.

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4) Make the Most of Owned Media

Unlike earned media, owned media is where you fully control the narrative. Owned media is made up of platforms where your company can say what you want, when you want. There are multiple avenues: 

• Your brand’s website, including primary pages and a regularly updated blog
• Your branded social media accounts (there are some caveats for cannabis messaging)
• News releases sent to media outlets 
• Newsletters or e-blasts that flow directly into your customers’ inboxes as part of a marketing automation strategy

While many companies put all their focus on their homepage, that’s just one small segment of your owned media kingdom. An informative blog—one that’s carefully built for search engine optimization (SEO)—draws a lot more web traffic than any single home page or landing page can on its own.

A smartly written, well-curated blog is instrumental to a strong content marketing strategy. Not only can individual blog posts help your cannabis SEO strategy by ranking for secondary and long-tail keywords you might not be able to target with just your homepage, they also give you fuel for social media posts.

Broadcasting your fresh blog content on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, using cannabis hashtags and other optimiztion tools, as well as your company newsletter, will keep your brand in followers’ feeds and give your target audience a way to share information about your products and your latest company updates.

5) Boost Your Content Strategy With Paid Media

Paid media is the third element of a strong digital marketing strategy. Sponsored content, affiliate marketing, pay-per-click campaigns, influencer placements and event marketing are just a few ways you can promote your cannabusiness through paid channels. 

Paid media shouldn’t be the foundation of your digital marketing strategy—that would get expensive quickly. But strategic campaigns can help your earned and owned media go even further in raising brand awareness, as well as getting you out in front of other brands during competitive seasons like the 4/20 holiday or crowded local and regional markets.

6) Meet Your Target Audience With Market Research

To build trust and get your well-defined brand out there, you first have to reach your target audience. This is a two-fold process.

Meeting your customers where they’re at means dialing in on who exactly fits into your brand’s target audience. These insights happen through quality market research.

It also means knowing where your customers go online and off, so you can make sure your cannabis brand is in the right place at the right time. Cannabis marketing agencies like Grasslands can help you identify and reach your target audiences through earned and owned media channels, advertising and event marketing.

7) Stay Informed on Cannabis Marketing Rules

Because cannabis is such a highly regulated industry, it’s important to ensure the content strategy you’re executing on earned, owned and paid media channels is in line with current state and federal cannabis marketing laws and adheres to marketing policies set forth by private advertising platforms. Cannabis businesses face all sorts of marketing obstacles  that companies in other fields do not—from restrictions on financial transactions to stringent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) advertising rules to social media network policies on the promotion of drugs. Don’t waste your time and budget on advertising strategies that you won’t be able to legally execute on or that could lead to the need for crisis management services.

8) Leverage Local and Regional Marketing Opportunities

Dreaming big is important—after all, what business owner doesn’t want their brand to take the biggest market share possible, growing to national or even global proportions? It’s equally important to dream small, though. And by that, we mean that it’s critical for most cannabis businesses to leverage and secure their local markets before attempting to grow on a broader scale.

Because cannabis is still illegal at the federal level, many cannabusinesses focus first on developing their business strategy and market presence in a single post-prohibition state. That can look like using geo-targeted ads and social media posts, locally-focused SEO keywords, and leveraging regional networks and partnerships.

The power of a solid local and regional presence is another reason to partner with a cannabis marketing agency that has deep ties in your target market and is already well connected with local journalists, media outlets and other cannabusinesses that can help you reach your target audiences.

9) Cultivate Community Through Event Marketing

Digital marketing is integral to any cannabis marketing strategy. But don’t discount the importance of real, live events to bring people together, including potential customers. Whether you're hosting a mixer or reception at a larger conference like the NoCo Hemp Expo or MjBizCon or a happy hour in your own backyard, event marketing is a great fit for cannabis companies for several reasons.

For one, cannabis products are inherently fun to enjoy with other people. And even if people can’t consume at your event, you know your guests will vibe over their shared interest.

For another, there’s nothing like getting people together in person to generate buzz and word of mouth—a key product of any marketing strategy that is worth its weight in gold (or green). Events are also a great way to build a sense of community. That’s invaluable in and of itself, but particularly so in an industry that is working to change decades of bad press and drug war stigma. Chances are your target audience wants to feel like they’re a part of something. Event marketing is a way for your brand to make that wish come true.

10) Don’t Get Lost in the Weeds

It’s an easy pun to make but an important lesson to remember. You’re bound to find yourself getting deep down in the details of building your business—especially in an industry that’s changing as fast and growing as big as cannabis. But while you’re building your brand’s digital market presence and getting face time with your neighbors offline, don’t forget to have fun.

At the end of the day, marketing cannabis products and services is all about helping people feel their best and connect with one another. Even if your brand tends toward a no-nonsense voice with more buttoned-up messaging,  it’s important to stay in touch with the positive, driving spirit at the heart of the cannabis industry. Maybe that’s just easy for us to say because at Grasslands, we really love what we do. But it will help you stay in touch with the core needs of your customers, too.

Want to learn more? Read our first post in this two part series: Five Key Strategies for Marketing Your Cannabusiness.

Got a marketing question? Reach out to the Grasslands team anytime.

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