Brand and Promotion for Cannabis
One of the most difficult parts about owning a business is learning the ins and outs of it. Every industry has its own challenges. For example, the finance industry is constantly changing everyday and you need to know new changes in banking everyday. Cannabis has its own challenges that business owners face. This is obviously pertaining to the legal market.
Cannabis definitely has banking issues. If you’ve ever gone to a dispensary, you would know exactly what I’m talking about. If you pull out your debit or credit card, people will look at you like you’re an alien. Cash is the only method of payment or even cryptocurrencies. Marketing is the biggest challenge for dispensaries and other cannabis businesses. You cannot put up ads on social media which is where growth and scale comes from for the most part. This makes you think outside the box in order to improvise and stay relevant in the market.
Even big time companies that trade openly on the public stock market have trouble with ads. For example, Acreage cannabis had anad that was rejected for the Super Bowl by CBS. Three was public backlash against CBS for not letting it run, even though alcohol has more commercials during the Super Bowl than any other industry.
What is Branding and Promotion?
Branding is more than just a logo. The idea behind branding is consumers knowing who you are. This can be through a logo, a slogan or the overall culture you represent. If you see a red can, you know that’s a coca cola because of the branding behind. In order to get there you need to expose yourself to the industry consumers and that will take a lot to do.
There are many ways to establish yourself. In the marijuana market, we know that most traditional advertising cannot be done. Every traditional marketing like print or digital on social media will need to be done to make sure you maximize your approach.
If you’re one of these companies that cannot advertise or market properly, below are some creative ways you can get the name of your business out.
Different Ways to Market
Before you find out how you want to advertise, it’s best to find the best approach. Some are more cost effective than others.
Custom Items for Giveaways and Freebies
Custom items are very popular, whether you want to order custom rolling trays or even custom rolling papers, these are great. If you do trade shows, passing these out or even selling these for a low price to get your company name out to consumers is the ideal scenario.
Another item that works great during trade shows are goodie swag bags that have straps to wear as a bag. This will make sure everyone has a bag to carry items in and they will be walking around with that in their hands.
Celebrity or Artist Sponsorship
One of the more expensive ways to market your company is to have a celebrity or artist sponsor your company. This helps a lot when the person you sponsor is already in the same industry. For example, RAW and Wiz Khalifa did a collaboration on rolling trays and papers. This will keep paying the company back even years after the sponsorship is going because the trays and papers will still be around.
Shoutouts on Social Media
A shoutout on social media is one of the best ways to keep your company name in front of people’s eyes. It can be cost effective to the point where you’re always showing up in people’s feeds long after you stopped paying for shoutouts or features on social media because so many people re-share.
Infleuncer marketing can be very lucrative. Finding the right influencers is what matters. Whether you want to go after micro-influencers who have up to 20,000 followers or bigger influencers with 100s of thousands of followers.
Tradeshows and Conventions
Although email and the internet are the new age networking, there is nothing like old school face to face meetings. Going to a trade show where everyone is there for the same reasons really helps. Everyone is there to either find new sellers or find new buyers. Meeting anyone at a convention or trade show is a mutual beneficial experience.
