Creative Marketing Strategies: How to Market a Cannabis Company

Creative Marketing Strategies: How to Market a Cannabis Company

Creative Marketing Strategies: How to Market a Cannabis Company
There are various limitations in marketing for companies in industries with stringent regulatory considerations. An example of such an industry is the cannabis industry. The first of these limitations are national concerns. Cannabis remains federally illegal even though the recreational use of cannabis is legal in 11 American states and medical use of cannabis is legal in 33 states. This creates numerous problems for cannabis brands. Familiarizing oneself with the laws of the different states is crucial before conducting business. Another limitation is that many marketing platforms and programs, especially those that serve advertisements nationally, have banned cannabis-related advertisements.
Cannabis companies struggle to attract new customers due to regulatory concerns and the lack of partnership with many advertising platforms. Therefore, a certain level of ingenuity is required to come up with innovative ways of getting cannabis brands in front of target audiences.

Partnering With Complimentary Industry Brands
For companies operating within the cannabis industry, a partnership could be beneficial to both parties whereby each party faces similar marketing restriction problems. Such a partnership provides a superb way of growing brand awareness by utilizing the existing customer base of the partner. An example of an advantageous cannabis-industry partnership is that between Greenlane Holdings, a cannabis dispensary distributor, and Canopy Growth, a company that produces cannabis products. The partnership benefits both brands.

Leverage Current Audiences With Sponsorships
The ultimate objective of any company is to build its own customer base and audience. Companies operating in industries that are highly regulated can build their own audience by exposing their advertisements to existing customer bases through sponsorships. Sponsorships are attained through direct negotiation with the media-hosting company or the company that runs the event to be sponsored.

The following are different types of media and events that cannabis companies can sponsor:
1. 32% of the American population listen to podcasts at least once a month. There are also over 850,000 active podcasts, thousands of which focus specifically on cannabis. Therefore, podcasts are exceptional sponsorship options for legitimate cannabis companies.
2. Cannabis events and trade shows. Such events help to bring cannabis brands in front of loyal audiences and industry peers. This could secure new opportunities.
3. YouTube Channels. These are deals negotiated with YouTube content creators. The cost depends on the channel industry and the total number of channel subscribers.

Investing in Local Billboards
Different recreational-legal states and cities have different regulations and laws on how to market stores within city limits. However, billboards offer a simple and clear way of exposing a cannabis brand to local customers in most legal states.

The shock factor made billboards particularly effective in the earlier periods of legalization in legal states and remains an effective marketing channel for local stores. It is important to note that billboard owners and individual cities have their own policies or laws regarding cannabis-related advertisements.

Planning Your Own Events
Planning a local event ensures that the cannabis brand of the company is at the forefront of the event. A simple barbeque or meetup can be an excellent way of improving the standing of a cannabis business in the local community. Larger national brands can consider hosting small conferences on their own. These provide better networking opportunities as well as deeper relationships with those in attendance.

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