The lack of federal legalization in the cannabis industry is causing fragmented laws across the country and potential pitfalls for marketers if they do not stay up on regulations. Hiring a cannabis-experienced marketing agency will help you avoid these pitfalls.

Studio 420 starts with properly examining a company’s competitive landscape, target market, and current sales and marketing tactics to determine what has worked and what has not. A sound audit recommends a plan of action to uplift the company’s performance. 

It Starts With Market Research

Before developing a marketing strategy, you need to think deeply about the industry as a whole, the target market you are serving, your competition, and how to position your brand in the marketplace.

Industry Research

Understanding the cannabis industry as a whole is essential. Knowing the trends and economics shaping the market and its growth trajectory will help you compete effectively. For example, if federal legalization truly is on the horizon, your marketing strategy should have your company positioned to compete at the national level.

Target Market

Identify and describe your target customer. A clearly defined customer persona will determine where to lean in on specific marketing tactics and channels. Who are you trying to reach? Soccer moms? Sports enthusiasts? Health nuts? B2B customers? What is your brand’s message? Hip? Stoner? Craft?

Here are some factors to consider when outlining your customer persona:

  1. Age range
  2. Gender
  3. Location
  4. Shopping habits
  5. Income
  6. What technology do they favor?
  7. Their values, beliefs, or opinions

Learn From The Competition

What do your competitors charge for their product or service? What are their key features? How do they stand out? Flaws? Profitability? Customer base? What is their marketing strategy? 

Dig deep into learning about your competition for industry insight and ideas on how to market your business. 

How does your product or service stand out from the competition? This information will set you apart and should be conveyed in your marketing materials.

Brand and Strategic Position

What is your brand’s image? Luxury, mass market, low-end, fun, serious, educational, craft? Is it competitively priced? Knowing this will help identify your target customer, the look and tone of your brand, and it’s messaging. It will also determine what someone will pay for your product or service.

Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy

Businesses that rely on a few marketing channels are leaving sales on the table. A marketing strategy works best when it includes a multi-channel approach to create a synergistic effect that builds your brand, enhances customer experience, and generates sales in multiple ways. A multi-channel strategy will give your brand the ultimate exposure and chance to reach buyers and consumers everywhere they are. 

Marketing tactics may include:

SEO Optimized Website

SEO Stands For Search Engine Optimization. The first thing a marketing agency should do is a website audit. By conducting a website audit, they will be able to identify any missed SEO opportunities and remedy any misguided or poorly executed SEO pitfalls (e.g. keyword stuffing, exact match anchor text links, etc.) throughout the content of your website. This will safeguard you from constantly chasing changes to search ranking algorithms, meaning you won’t be applying misguided practices just to show up at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Local SEO

If you have a retail business, you need local SEO marketing tactics to reach the locals and let them know about your business, such as Google My Business.

SEO Content Marketing

A qualified marketing agency should evaluate your content for SEO and think about it from your target audience’s perspective. Did this information leave me satisfied? Did it answer all of my questions? Does it give me all the resources relevant to this topic? Do I know what to do next?

Social Media Marketing

Social media is a way to highlight a company’s culture, expertise, products, and services. However, it is limiting since they are pay-to-play platforms, and cannabis brands are not allowed to participate in paid advertising. As a result, this reduces audience reach and the ability to target a specific demographic.

With this said, a social media presence is expected of every professional business and can also be used as a pre-launch tool to build brand awareness in preparation for when cannabis is legal on a national level, and advertising rules are lifted.

Email and Mobile Marketing (SMS)

Most people sign up for company emails or SMS to receive promotions or deals. It’s a direct route to the subscriber who has expressed interest in learning more about your company.

SMS marketing is the closest and most direct way to reach someone on their phone. It averages a 98% open rate vs. a 20% open rate for email marketing. 

Sponsored Posts

The revitalization of the cannabis industry is attracting newcomers and entrepreneurs looking to start businesses in this lucrative and burgeoning industry. And they are hungry to learn, network, and meet suppliers and services to launch their ventures. 

Sponsored posts in trade publications effectively showcase a company’s expertise as a thought leader. 

Podcast Guest

Like trade publications, entrepreneurs listen to podcasts to hear from leaders in the industry and stay on top of the latest trends. As podcast guests, a company can meet their intended audience where they are.

Affiliate Marketing

Implementing an affiliate marketing program is inexpensive to build brand awareness, generate sales, and increase SEO backlinks.

Paid Advertising

Google, Facebook, and Instagram cannabis advertising are prohibited, but digital ads placed on independent publisher’s websites are not. And there are tons of publishers allowing cannabis advertising on their well-trafficked websites.

As you can see, there are many nuances to each marketing tactic that need careful thought and deployment that an experienced marketing agency like Studio 420 is qualified to achieve.

Are You Ready For Studio 420 To Take Your Business To The Next Level? 

Article by Pam Chmiel.

#######

Studio 420 is a cannabis and psychedelics creative agency specializing in branding, UX/UI design, web development, ecommerce, and digital marketing solutions. We offer a variety of services to ELEVATE your online web presence.

Contact our Denver, Colorado office for a no-obligation, project cost analysis at 303-653-9855.