Marketing a cannabis business is a difficult task. We've listed 5 ways to get around it.
Written by: Niko San Pedro
How to market your products in the cannabis industry:
Working in the cannabis industry has a steep entry curve, something a lot of people don't realize. Although the industry has its fair share of difficulties, I would be lying to you if I said we aren't in the green rush. The amount of potential growth for emerging companies
is huge but overcoming some of the day-to-day obstacles that the average cannabis entrepreneur faces will be imperative to building a sustainable and long-lasting company.
In this blog we will discuss 5 ways to properly market your product in the cannabis & CBD industry. I run a company called biokemp.net where we are the leading manufacturer of custom filter tips in the US and have been directly involved in the cannabis market for over 5 years. In that time of involvement, I have found a few valuable assets covered in a haystack of pins that have catapulted my business that I want to share with you.
Since the inception of Biokemp, the biggest & hardest question I have ever had to combat was, "How do I market my Cannabis company?" That's a very valid question considering in the cannabis industry, social media advertisements are completely out of the picture since cannabis is still federally illegal. I have delt with many deleted accounts, advertisements that costed a lot of capital that were taken down and shadow bans on every single IG page I have created. This has made it extremely difficult to get our products out to the public. In the midst of all these obstacles, I have finally discovered a few different ways to carefully work around barriers that keep us from being able to run ad campaigns on social platforms.
1: RUNNING ADS AS A CANNABIS COMPANY
This one is tricky since almost every social platform has specific guidelines to work around and it is not an option to post anything that contains cannabis or weed leaves. (I have seen people get away with this for a short time but usually at some point they get deleted or shadow banned)
OPTION 1: Create a separate apparel page & website. Make sure that page does not showcase cannabis or CBD products. A great example is what Cookies Enterprise
has done with Cookies Clothing. Their apparel is worn by almost every single person who consumes cannabis. This gets your brand out there and drives traffic to your site without going against the platforms set regulations.
OPITION 2: Create a separate event page. This strategy knocks two birds out with one stone. The event space is the most popular way cannabis companies are currently advertising. We've always said here at Biokemp that "Cannabis fuels passions, creativity & human connection" and something about bringing the people together at events really embodies what the cannabis industry is about. Create a separate social platform for your events. Refrain from using the words CANNABIS & CBD and the likeliness of you being approved for ads increases tenfold.
2: DIGITAL ASSETS IN THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY
Blogs & SEO's is a great way to start generating additional revenue streams for your business. In my experience of being involved in this space one of
the things companies have forgotten about is the amount of organic traffic a singular optimized blog & website can bring to you. I've been writing blogs now for over a year. Some of the blogs I've released have generated over 2,000 website clicks a month. That may not seem like too much, but its free, its informational, and its easy! I have seen several extremely popular cannabis brands miss out on the doors google opens for companies. Many of these popular companies don't have functional websites or SEO's & keywords on their pages. A popular misconception is you have to pay for things like this. I highly recommend watching free YouTube videos by Neil Patel & Brian Dean. In a few weeks your website can be generating thousands of clicks just by taken a little bit of their advice.
Check out this video by Neil Patel on Blogs & SEO's:
3: CANNABIS NETWORKING EVENTS
Over the past half decade, many of the most popular companies you see today have built names for themselves by 'showing face' at these events thrown by other companies. One thing people may not be comfortable with is putting the label of working in the cannabis industry. I think it's great, and it's coming up, and fast! Be proud to be a part of the movement and get out there and talk about your product. There was even a time that I felt like keeping Biokemp (a filter tip company) and myself separated but the more involved I got in this space the more I started to realize how important it is for there to have face to your company. During 420 of 2022, I decided to take a trip to NYC an attended an event thrown by
Astor Club. A popular lounging space in the heart of NYC. The event was 3 days long & the number of companies that attended from around the world was astonishing to me. It was so great to finally put a face too many of the companies we had worked with in the past and I'm sure these companies felt the same. It makes your brand feel more personal.
4: Collaboration
The cannabis industry is quite small & Collaboration will bring your company more success. In war, it's not the strongest countries that win but the ones with the most allies. Business should be treated the same. There's enough room in this industry for everyone to succeed and working to push your products into new target demographics is essential for growth. The reason our company is where it is today is due to some of the strategic partnerships we've had. And people I have met along the way.
5: Business to Business
Having a direct sales pipeline with companies who will acquire large volume of your product is the quickest way of making capital fast. Every business owner dream of having a brand like Nike or Gucci, which is possible but in order to get your brand the recognition it needs you have to be working with right people. 80% of our current business comes directly from B2B clients. Through working with these business's, they've put us in rooms we could've never imagined being in.
Summary on 5 Ways to Market Cannabis in 2022: Building a company in this space is a great way to build lifelong relationships. Cannabis fuels passion, creativity & human connection. When it comes down to marketing in this space there is no exact blueprint. But there are short guides you can follow to accelerate your company's growth. Learning how to run ads in the industry will generate you a large amount of income if done correctly, compiling digital assets that push your company out helps tremendously, attending cannabis networking events to meet like-minded individuals, collaborating with individuals, and making products available for wholesalers.
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