As cannabis attains a wide acceptance in the sociological and legal framework, its usage is gaining traction. In the United States alone, cannabis has been legalized in 11 states for adult recreational use and in 33 states for medicinal use. This is giving rise to a more significant number of business ventures that wish to capitalize on the growing demand for cannabis and its related products. This surge of competing business environments between cannabis entrepreneurs has its share of pros and cons.
It has brought about greater openness in cannabis consumption and for the cannabis-based products in the industry. On the other hand, the hypercompetitive environment fails to capitalize on the product’s branding and reputation. New cannabis-based marketing strategies are being restricted to weed puns and leaflets though there is scope for experimentation. Some errors impede progress for those trying to take more considerable strides and expand their cannabis marketing goals. Thus before your cannabis branding comes into play, you must tote the following errors for significant results.
1. Avoid Restricting Your Consumer Base
Companies are committing the principal mistake because they are focusing on the product and consumption as niche areas. While it is true that a specific section has been open to cannabis-use from the start, it is also true that weed is going mainstream.
Recent data suggests that more people, including senior citizens, are buying weed and allied products. This suggests a somewhat healthy and open trend towards cannabis products. The best way to stop this is by boosting the search results of your products with specific keywords. Cannabis SEO in 2020 is the best way to ensure that your product gains traction and attention across channels through proper optimization.
2. Don’t be Run of the Mill in Your Approach.
With every other product, the marketing gamut’s fundamental rule is different, and cannabis is no different. This distinctive branding and image building strategy applies in all respect and marketing channels, be it direct, conventional, social media, etc. It is important to understand that marijuana products are laced with new competition from an outlaw’s earlier position.
Entrepreneurs can utilize their marketing channels and capitalize on this trend to build up sales volumes. Standardizing your marketing approaches can only lead to stagnation and eventual disinterest from even loyal customers. Therefore, the need for the hour is for newer entrepreneurs to innovate and find more modernized marketing strategies.
3. Avoid Outdated Websites
On the other hand, the biggest mistake would be to market along others’ lines in a tried and tested format. An unconventional product like cannabis needs to be marketed not as part of the herd but with its distinctive imagery. You need to ditch the outdated websites and opt for a more modern one to achieve that rare distinction in brand reputation. In today’s hyperconnected world, a website serves more purpose than mere information dissemination.
A good website must be a landing page for curious searches and a jump-off point to direct social media traffic via backlinks. Additionally, modern websites must inculcate the inclination towards good content-based marketing and blog posts. This helps to bolster your image as opposed to the cliches of age-old website-driven information disbursal.
4. Degrading Visual Appeal
Products like cannabis must use target-bait promotions, which means that you need to incentivize the buyer’s action. The best way to do that is to make it visually more appealing, be it on social media, website, YouTube videos, or in-store displays. If you creatively make the videos and shoot compelling images, it can raise the bar for promotional standards and give you a competitive edge.
Standardizing your marketing approaches can only lead to stagnation and eventual disinterest from even loyal customers. The need for the hour is for newer entrepreneurs to innovate and find more modernized marketing strategies.
5. Restricting to Specialized Platforms
Once an entrepreneur has found his voice, it is essential not to focus on singular platforms for the promotion. It is necessary to sustain your product’s style, substance, and perspective across platforms both in the online and offline modes. Brands need to create an easily identifiable space for themselves in the minds of prospective customers.
Cohesive designs and strong graphics can be real game-changers for the brands seeking to up their brand recall factor significantly. These designs, images, and graphics can help your brand stand out, especially where parcels cannot be opened before purchase.
6. Avoiding Click Bait Adverts
Original posts and creative blog content, YouTube videos, and social media posts are some excellent ways to attract customers to your business. Businesses need to focus on quality over quantity when deciding on content-based marketing strategies.
Clickbait advertisements are off-putting and eventually end up in the spam folder. Spamming your customers is equivalent to driving them away. Instead, the focus should be on organic ways to ensure that customer interests are piqued on seeing your product promotion or content.
Conclusion
Though you have learned that the average customer expects a stronger connection with the brand, many brands are not living up to it. In such a scenario, entrepreneurs and brands need to realize that the idea of promotion must coexist with the customer’s expectations and not otherwise.
