One of the biggest challenges in marketing cannabis is that it is still illegal in many countries. This means that cannabis companies have to deal with restrictions and regulations if they want to bring the products to the end consumer online.
Despite these challenges, there are some ways to do just that .
As a general rule, you should never concentrate and rely exclusively on one channel. This is even more crucial for the cannabis industry than for others.
Multichannel online marketing for cannabis brands
Let’s imagine that your company or your website/online store is a ship. You want to move forward as quickly as possible and reach as many people as possible. To do this, you have a variety of propulsion options, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages.
If available, we have a figurehead or influencer at the bow of the ship. These can be very expensive, but are extremely impressive and rarely fail to make an impact.
We have email and social media marketing at the oars. This should be as large as possible and constant input is necessary. But we are making very good progress.
At the rear, we have a very effective engine that symbolizes SEA or Google Ads. Expensive to purchase and use, but absolutely reliable and very powerful.
The two main sails are SEO and content. There is also a small sail for the affiliates. They are very costly to produce and maintain. In addition, the drive only works when there is wind or search volume. However, if the wind is favorable, you can reach your goal almost by yourself without any further effort.
Channels to market cannabis online
For the cannabis industry, it is important to note that many channels (or drive options) can only be used with severe restrictions or, in some cases, cannot be used at all. We categorize them as follows:
Restricted
Social media marketing
Let’s start with social media marketing. By using social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, you can promote your brand and engage directly with potential customers.
However, in countries where cannabis is legal, there are still restrictions on the placement of cannabis advertisements on social media. The platforms usually have their own guidelines and regulations that determine what kind of cannabis advertising is allowed and what is not.
For example, Facebook prohibits advertising for cannabis products intended for consumption. Instagram also prohibits advertising for cannabis products intended for consumption, but allows advertising for cannabis-related services and products that are not intended for consumption.
It’s important to be aware of the legal aspects of advertising cannabis on social media. You need a very well-developed strategy, otherwise you will burn your ad accounts faster than you can say “cannabis”.
Contact person for social media
It is therefore worth contacting the marketing experts at 420MKT to ensure that you are taking the right steps.
Käthe Fischer is the Managing Director of büroblond and our first point of contact on the subject of social media.
Contact us at
hi@420mkt.com
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing can be very closely linked to social media marketing. Many potential influencers have built up a broad following on various social platforms and therefore an enormous reach.
Cannabis companies can use influencers to promote their brand and products and increase the reach of their marketing efforts. The big advantage is that this can be done very quickly and with little effort. The purpose is often fulfilled with an improvised story post after just a few seconds.
Disadvantages of influencers
The image of the brand stands and falls with the reputation of the influencer, especially in the case of longer collaborations. If a scandal suddenly becomes public, this can have a direct impact on your own brand.
As the guidelines of the individual platforms are very strict, it can quickly happen that accounts are blocked for a longer period of time or even deleted. Influencers must therefore act very seriously and be reliable. Not a matter of course in the cannabis industry.
The right choice
There are therefore some important things that cannabis companies should consider when doing influencer marketing:
- Choose influencers who have a strong presence in the cannabis community and whose values align with those of your company.
- Ensure that influencers comply with applicable laws and regulations regarding the promotion of cannabis products
- Provide influencers with clear guidelines and policies on how they should promote your brand and products and make sure they adhere to them.
- If you are working directly with the influencer, make sure everything is contractually agreed.
The influencers themselves are of course very careful and also choose their partners with great care. Their capacities are also limited, as the channels should not mutate into sales programs and they do not want to appear at the opening of a CBD store every week.
At 420MKT, we have an excellent social media agency and are in contact with the best influencers. If your target group is on social media, we will reach them.
SEA
When advertising cannabis products through search engine advertising (SEA), the same legal aspects generally apply as when advertising on social media. This means that you are very limited in the placement of your campaigns and can only achieve results with a few tricks. We have taken a closer look at what these can look like in the following article.
Google Ads should not be ruled out completely, but should at most be included as a supplement when planning the marketing strategy.
Since legalization is unlikely to bring any change here, it is better to consider the next marketing channel.
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SEO
One of the unlimited possibilities of online advertising is the use of SEO (search engine optimization). By ensuring that your website is in excellent technical condition and can be found easily for relevant keywords, you can generate more traffic and therefore more sales.
Topical Authority
The aim here should be to cover all topics relating to your own services or products with high-quality content and to describe them in detail. You should become a kind of wiki and the first port of call for the niche.
For every search query that is in any way relevant to your business, your website should appear high up in the Google search results and generate organic traffic.
At 420MKT, we research the most relevant keywords, cluster them into topic blocks and then divide them up into individual subpages and articles and also create them.
Long-term investment
At first glance, the creation of such content seems very time-consuming and expensive. However, if you look at it over a longer period of time and consider that these pages and posts rank high and generate organic traffic on a permanent basis, the opposite is actually the case. This graphic illustrates this.
In contrast to SEA, you do not have to restrict yourself and can describe all topics and content as you wish.
Only the analysis options are somewhat limited by Google.
Every company should therefore place a major focus on this area and create the basis for further undertakings with a high-quality website.
Contact person for SEO
Ingo Lembke is an online marketing consultant with a focus on search engine optimization (SEO) and content management.
As a graphic and web designer with programming experience, he also advises on a technical and design level.
Contact
0157 37 58 57 35 // hi@420mkt.com
Email marketing
Email marketing tends to be perceived as spammy these days. But the same applies here: become the absolute authority in your niche and provide content that is so good that you won’t want to miss a thing.
One of the advantages is that here too (in relation to cannabis) there are no restrictions on presentation and content.
It is also very easy to test and analyze. The installation of a newsletter is also done quickly.
Content Management
The quality of email marketing and search engine optimization essentially depends on good content marketing. With a good strategy, you can communicate different content in different ways without necessarily having to create it from scratch.
We find creative and subtle ways to build an extensive address list over time and retain many customers.
This email marketing channel should therefore also be part of the standard setup of every cannabis company.
Affiliate marketing
Another important way to increase conversion in online stores is affiliate marketing. This involves paying other companies or people to advertise your own products and generate sales. This is a very good way to increase the visibility of your own brand and products.
We recommend using your own system for full control, lower costs and better advertising media. Alternatively, we can recommend Adcell.
Once the system has been installed, affiliates can register themselves and promote your products independently.
The big advantage is that commission is only paid when something is sold.
Influencers are given an additional incentive as they can, for example, permanently place a button to your store via their link trees.
Due to the low installation costs, a fully automated system and pay-per-sale billing, this marketing tool should also be part of the standard repertoire of every online store.
Content marketing
As already mentioned, nothing beats good content. This is indispensable for some marketing channels and is practically the tool for using them.
By creating relevant and useful content for your target group and publishing it on your website or other platforms, you can attract the attention of potential customers and arouse their interest in your products.
Content marketing can be used on various platforms, including:
- Company website for SEO: Your own website can serve as a central hub for all marketing activities, especially for publishing blog posts, e-books, whitepapers and other longer forms of content.
- Social media: Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest offer great opportunities to share content and interact with target groups.
- Video platforms: YouTube, Vimeo and other video platforms offer a great way to produce and share visually appealing content that can attract potential customers and encourage engagement.
- Email marketing: Email marketing can be an effective way to stay in touch with existing customers and prospects and keep them informed of news, offers and other important updates.
High-end content
We create content in every form. Starting with editorial texts optimized for search engines, through product and business photography, to elaborate video productions. Our team is made up of first-class and experienced content creators.
We plan sustainably and deploy our content in a targeted manner via the various channels.
Plus: Topnotch Developing
All the effort is pointless if there is no solid foundation in the form of a modern website or a functional online store. Whether it’s a completely new creation, optimization of WordPress and WooCommerce systems or the implementation of newsletters or an affiliate system. We have outstanding full-stack developers who take on and master all technical challenges.
Find your target group
In order to successfully market cannabis products online, it is important to focus on the needs and interests of the target group and cater to their needs. It is also important to stand out from the competition and establish a clear brand. By utilizing various marketing strategies and tools, cannabis companies can successfully market their products online and grow their business.
The perfect mix
To come back to the example with the ship mentioned at the beginning. We at 420MKT are the shipyard that not only provides you with the drives, but also with a complete ship. Plus a dry dock for maintenance work and a complete crew.
We look for the best course, make optimum use of the current and winds, develop ideas and strategies and find the best mix of all types of propulsion.