It’s been nearly a decade since the first two states in the United States legalized marijuana for recreational use. Ever since then, the conversation around marijuana has changed dramatically, and the cannabis industry has grown to become a multi-billion-dollar business. Now is the ideal time to start your own cannabusiness and rake in some of the profits before marijuana becomes legal at the federal level and industry becomes too saturated for new companies to make an instant impact.
You may be of the persuasion that if your product is good enough that it will sell itself, and if you are, you may have watched one too many Seth Rogen movies. The cannabusiness is serious business, and you have to market like your entire operation is riding on it. You must develop a mission or directive for your brand, promulgate your message, and showcase your products in a way that connects with consumers and converts them to customers. Continue reading to learn some of the best practices for marketing your cannabusiness.
Image is everything.
One of the most important elements of your marketing campaign is constructing your brand’s image. This includes everything from creating a logo to showcasing your products. The way you showcase your product will be what either draws or repels consumers, so you must put great care into this phase.
One of the great things about the rise of social media as a digital marketing platform is that it has made marketing much easier and more affordable for small business owners. With the right equipment and skills, you can produce your own high-quality product videos and product photos. However, when it comes to constructing the image for your cannabis enterprise, it’s better to leave the artwork to the professionals.
The professional photographers and videographers at COLDEA productions have years of experience in product photography and videos. With their state-of-the-art equipment and proven expertise, you can increase your brand visibility on social media and other digital platforms.
It takes a lot to put together a proper photoshoot for products. Artificial light, cones, green screens, white backgrounds, and more. Not to mention you have to learn how to work natural light and angles to your advantage. As the saying goes, “A picture can say a thousand words,” so what do you want your product photos to say about your cannabis brand and inventory? You should concentrate on growing and dispensing and let the professionals shoot the product photos.
Custom packaging is one of the best ways to embed your brand in the subconscious of consumers.
Have you ever been to a convenience store and bought a particular snack or beverage simply because the packaging looked cool? One of the best things about packaging your own products is you have full artistic control over your labeling and the ability to further your brand with every sale you make.
If you intend to sell pre-roll items like joints or blunts, you could increase your brand visibility by selling your own line of pre-rolls in your own customer pre-roll tubes. Pre roll packaging is more than a storing solution—it’s an opportunity to increase brand awareness and visibility.
Modify and reuse marketing content that’s had success.
The best thing about digital marketing for people who don’t eat and sleep marketing is that you can modify and reuse your old equipment—even the pros do it. The key is to keep all of your digital content stored on a physical device to which you can dictate access such as a My Cloud Home cloud storage system.
The My Cloud Home cloud storage system is like hosted cloud storage with one major exception—you’re the owner of this physical cloud storage device, unlike Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, and other vendor-managed cloud storage systems.
It’s also the best cloud storage for photographers and videographers who are likely to have tons of photos of your product and other content. With My Cloud, you can rest assured that your product photos and other digital content that’s in your photo library is safe and accessible from your mobile device as long as you have an internet connection.
Furthermore, you can store numerous file types and also have the ability to create folders for different users to which you can control access. Additionally, you can upload the content on your cloud storage external drive to social media and share it with whoever you want.
Clearly define your target audience.
Being that the legal recreational cannabis industry is still in its fledgling stages and recreational weed is still illegal in most states, you have to be intentional about identifying your target audience from day one. We’ve seen how the tobacco and vaping industries were hurt by marketing campaigns that were perceived as targeting underage consumers. Both industries paid dearly for their lack of discretion in their marketing practices.
The best thing you can do for your cannabis brand is clearly defining your adult audience and not allowing any ambiguity about whose attention you’re trying to attract. If you’re thought to be targeting minors, it could ruin your brand and product image.
