CBD Advertising Agency

The CBD market is one of the booming markets in the global scene today. The reason for this is not far-fetched.

Several factors have influenced this geometric growth, as the demand for the products doesn’t seem to be on the decline.

The signs are promising for CBD’s market that many people in business have begun investing heavily in the industry.

In this piece, we’ll take you through everything you need to know about Cannabidiol – from its market opportunity to its growth on social media, potential, and trends over the last few decades.

Why is the market for CBD growing?

The CBD market is tipped to be worth $20 billion by 2024, and many experts feel this is an understatement.

When the products sold through dispensaries, pharmacies, smoke shops, cafes, and grocery stores are considered, it is easy to agree with the experts. But why is the market growing at a mind-blowing pace?

The most significant factor pushing the market to the top of the economic scene is that more people have started using the products.

As one of the non-psychoactive compounds found in cannabis, CBD is widely consumed because it is reported to provide health and therapeutic benefits to its users.

Studies have shown that it is useful in treating inflammatory illness, acne, anxiety, arthritis, depression, inflammatory pain, and sleep disorders. To add to this, more research has shown that it helps treat body pains.

However, a decent number of the 14% of Americans that use Cannabidiol take it for recreational purposes. Several shops and businesses have opened up to cater for this increase in the demand for CBD products.

Are regulatory bodies affecting the growth of the industry?

That the CBD industry is growing doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its fair share of challenges, and legalization has been a major concern.

In many states in developed countries like the US, it is legal to use CBD products following the Farm Bill of 2018 that paved the way for the substance’s market expansion.

The law puts CBD regulation into the hands of the Food and Drug Administration. But, the agency has restricted the market’s growth as there are no clearcut regulations on CBD’s use as a supplement or food additive.

With no guidance from the regulatory body, coupled with the fear of breaking the laws, many companies have restricted themselves to produce only CBD topicals.

But customers need more than just topicals when other product types like tinctures and edibles are available. Unmoved by the pressure, the FDA has stated that it is continuing its regulatory evaluation for CBD products.

The market potential of CBD

From one leading research body’s standpoint, CBD’s global market is expected to grow at the compound annual rate of 125.5% within the forecast period, which is the next five to six years. This projection has caused several people to examine the segments of the market to understand its potential.

Here are insights on some of the global market’s classifications:

1. Source Insights: The source segment highlights where CBD is gotten from. CBD accounts for one of the largest shares in the US, due to its legalization and acceptance of its products. One of the significant factors that have affected this large share is the efficacy of the substance that’s derived from marijuana. Although CBD products are available in pharmacies and stores, most products are sold from dispensaries. It has found applications in not only the health sector but also cosmetics, food and beverage, and personal care sectors. There are endless sources for CBD products, and that number is projected to increase by more than 21% in the coming years.
2. User Insights: As we mentioned earlier, most people use CBD products to treat and manage health conditions, which is fuelling the market’s growth.
3. Distribution Channel Insights: The CBD market is categorized into Business to Customer (B2C) and Business to Business (B2B) based on the distribution channels. The B2C segment accounts for the highest shares in the last two years and is projected that this growth will continue at a sporadic rate over the five-year forecast period. For many experts, as long as people keep adopting CBD tinctures and oils for medical and personal use, there are lots of barriers that can prevent this distribution channel from growing.
4. Regional Insights: From the 2018 and 2019 reports, North America has kept the leading position for CBD users in the market. The growth of the shares in this region is due to its legalization in states and acceptance for personal use among Americans. For Canada, the legalization of businesses to produce and sell medical CBD and THC products has been one of the most contributing factors.

Nevertheless, even with the booming CBD market in these regions, it is projected that the cannabis market in the Asia Pacific will witness the most significant growth in the coming years.

The justification for this prediction is that China is one of the largest cultivators of hemp in Asia, and the country exports over 90% of its products to Germany, Netherlands, Japan, and the US.

Therefore, the focus of CBD manufacturers and legalization in these countries are some of the significant factors that are driving the market’s growth.

CBD Market Opportunity from some of the Top Players in the Industry

BDS Analytics, Brightfield Group, and Cannacord Genuity are currently the key players in the global market.

Here’s a breakdown of the market opportunity they see for cannabis and its products:

BDS Analytics and ArcView Market Research on CBD Market Opportunity

In the summer of 2019, BDS Analytics and Arcview Market Research both released a market report on the opportunity of the CBD market.

From the seventh edition of the report, there was an increase in the global sales rate of CBD in 2018, and the value is projected to break at least $40 billion by 2024.

Taking a first step in the right direction, the annual report from these joint bodies covered the Total Cannabinoid Market (TCM) in the US. It surprisingly states that the double-digit increase in CBD sales would be hitting the roof onwards, and 2018 was the slowest year in terms of expansion since 2014.

Another inciteful piece of information from the report was the forecast and quantification of the TCM past 2024. It states that the regulations and tax rates enforced by the regulatory agencies are affecting the legal market from competing with the illicit market.

But on the bright side, there is hope that CBD use will be legal in all fifty states of the US, with twenty of these states allowing for adult-use sales by the period.

Brightfield Group Research on CBD Market Opportunity

Another key player in the CBD industry released its market opportunity and analysis in 2019.

The most inciteful information from the report is that Cannabidiol sales are expected to grow by $23.7 billion by 2023. This is one of the highest estimates for the CBD market as the figure amounts to a 107% compound annual increase from the time the report was made.

The report aligns with that of the leading researches that have tipped the market to grow by 706% yearly until it reaches the $5 billion target.

Canaccord Genuity Research on CBD Market Opportunity

This CBD company has high hopes for the CBD market, tipping it to grow by a compound annual rate of 45% from 2018 to 2024. This implies a growth of the market’s size from $1.9billion to $18.4 billion within the forecast period.

The company also showed from its report that the dispensary formulation’s share sales expanded from 2.5% in 2014 to over 11% at the time the report was made.

The new type of CBD user

CBD enthusiasts are quite different from any other cannabis fan you’ll find. They turn to the substance to help their cognitive functions, relax, and treat health conditions.

The flexibility of the substance has contributed to the crop of CBD users it is attracting, and they have found a wide of range of products to use, which include:

• Coffee-infused CBD: This is said to counter the side effects of caffeine on the body.
• CBD bath bombs: The product has gained much attention because it is said to cure muscular pains in the body.
• CBD for pets: The products are said to provide outstanding benefits to pets as they offer to human beings.

Apart from the new wave of products that are being introduced into the market to cater to the needs of customers, there are also suggestions that popular beverage companies could start making CBD beverages.

And one of the contributing factors to this growth is the attention cannabis is getting on social media platforms.

Read also: Cannabis Business Social Network: 7 Sites to Boost Your Cannabiz

CBD’s Growth on Social Media

The majority of CBD businesses use social media platforms to get their message across. Based on the research results from Google trends, there has been a substantial increase in CBD related queries in the last two years.

Based on the forecast of the next five years, searches relating to this substance will be on the high side. For example, Reddit has stated that its CBD community has 66 thousand subscribers where users ask for advice, deliver testimonies, and discuss CBD producers.

On Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, more of the same can be seen, with the platforms reporting that CBD products appeal to both genders and older users.

Tips for businesses looking to break into the expanding CBD Market from Recent Trends

Any exploding market, like CBD’s, is sure to attract a handful of entrepreneurs looking to enter and start making a profit from selling CBD products. However, with stiff competition at every corner one turns to, most startups fizzle out before they can even begin the race.

Here are a couple of tips to help businesses that have been impressed by the industry’s high growth rate and are willing to join the industry:

1) Find New Customers

According to studies, over 40% of people aged 21 years and above have indicated that they will try out CBD products. This astonishing number is said to increase with the total population, leading to expanded market size.

However, most companies have their eyes fixed on the same users when there are many others out there. For small startups that cannot fight their competitors, this is a common way to get out of business.

Therefore, CBD businesses must look for new customers by marketing and advertising in alternate digital channels and producing products that other companies and dispensaries do not provide.

For example, not many businesses in the US produce CBD creams for users. Given the latest trends in the market, a business can capitalize on this demand, thereby finding new customers in the process.

2) Make your brand unique

One thing businesses haven’t fully grasped from the happenings in the industry and market is that CBD users often mistake similar brands.

One too many companies use the marijuana image on their product, and for CBD users that only care about the product and not the brand, the brand name is of little importance.

Therefore, just like the key players in the CBD market today, businesses must find ways to stand out and differentiate themselves from others.

One way to do this is to create educative videos and content that will keep CBD users informed.

Read also: Cannabis Branding: 4 Essential Steps for Every CBD Company

3) Retain customers

With time, CBD customers become loyal to a brand. For example, one in seven Americans who say they use CBD products claim that they stick to one or two brands.

So, you must retain your customers because they are the sustaining component for businesses in the competitive CBD market.

Apart from creating profits for businesses, CBD users that are loyal to a brand help to attract more customers to it.

In the US, about 30% of the people aged 21 and above who claim to use CBD products report that they were introduced to the recreation, health, or therapeutic use by a friend or family.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. Do the reports from various researches and analyses imply that there are no negatives to the CBD Market?

There are many positives to take from the reports on the market potential and opportunities of the cannabis market. However, it has some negatives in both its retail and medical markets.

As we mentioned earlier, the FDA has only approved one CBD drug because there are still a lot of things that remain unknown about the substance. It has listed diarrhea, drowsiness, mood fluctuations, and liver injury as some of the adverse effects of CBD consumption.

Q2. Does the FDA’s refusal to approve CBD-related products mean it is an illegal market?

No. It is not illegal to sell or buy CBD products. However, there’s a way to go about it that will imply a business has broken the law.

According to the FDA, how the product is used, labeled, and marketed will depend if it is legal to sell the products on the market or not. For example, it clearly states that CBD products should not be sold as dietary supplements because it does not fit the definition for one.

All the reports and figures in this article are based on the legal CBD market standpoint.

Q3. Does the FDA affect stocks in the CBD Market?

In 2019, when the FDA sent warning letters to 15 companies for marketing CBD drugs, selling the substance as dietary supplements, and adding CBD to food, the stocks of those companies fell by 0.3% to 4.5 USD within hours. This shows that many users and investors take the statements of the agency seriously.

Eric Assaraf of Cowen and Co’s Research Group said that “Members of Congress, CBD companies and consumer groups have become frustrated with the FDA’s lack of guidance.

It is even more alarming that even with laws making marijuana legal, cannabis products must still be sent for approval before companies can get involved in interstate selling.”

To sum it all up

CBD’s rise has given a lot of brands plenty to think of like activated charcoal.

In the last decade, the benefits of activated charcoal as a cleansing agent had been so impressive that many businesses entered its market.

Apart from its cleaning features, more users and businesses began finding new ways to use the product to treat weight loss, chronic kidney diseases, and stomach bugs.

But when CBD products came along as the new substance for wellness and recreation, the surge and buzz affected the popularity of activated charcoal.

The fate of CBD’s market is projected to differ from that of activated charcoal. The reason for this is that there is currently no better substance that redefines the concepts about marijuana while providing health benefits like Cannabidiol. So, it is not too late for any business to get into the market as there are loads of lucrative opportunities in it.

In this article, we’ve highlighted several reports about the potential, growth rate, and opportunities in the CBD market. This information should help any business owner, or investor make a better decision on whether or not to get into the market.

Do you want to sell CBD online? If yes, this article is just for you!

Medical cannabis is one of the hottest products on the US market today. The best yet is that we have just started to learn about its therapeutic features.

Don’t be surprised if, in the near future, people start using CBD for various symptoms and conditions such as pain, inflammation, muscle spasms, etc.

You can buy CBD items almost anywhere. Numerous prominent companies in the US are offering various products to their users.

Medical marijuana has become a major online hit, and companies are doing their best to start selling CBD as soon as possible. The number of products increases every day, and you can see marijuana-infused edibles all over the place.

Unfortunately, there are still some significant issues that are preventing entrepreneurs from selling CBD on the internet.

You can’t simply create a site and start making money; various legal and marketing matters need to be addressed beforehand.

If you wish to sell CBD online, you will need to make all the necessary preparations.

So, what do you need to know? How can you reduce potential risks? Read this article to find out!

What is CBD cannabis? 

Proactive entrepreneurs are often willing to start a new business while having limited knowledge of the market or the product. This can be really troublesome if you wish to sell CBD online.

As you well know, anything related to weed will have a hard time reaching the market. Although there are fewer legal barriers nowadays, some states still prevent cannabis sales.

Although your regular psychedelic marijuana is still a taboo, more and more states are willing to consider medical marijuana or CBD.

How does CBD differ from your regular cannabis?

CBD stands for cannabidiol, which is one of the two main active substances of the cannabis plant. The other one THC or psychedelic substance.

Cannabis consists of various cannabinoids, among other, cannabidiol. It is a substance that may improve your health by addressing multiple mental and physical symptoms.

Most people know about pain relief, but did you know that CBD marijuana may also help with depression, anxiety, PTSD, muscle spasms, insomnia? There is a wide array of conditions that cannabis may treat, and we are just starting to scratch the surface.

Why did marijuana become so popular suddenly? Shouldn’t we be worried about THC and its impact on the brain?

The product known as “CBD marijuana” doesn’t have THC, which was previously the main issue. Now, you can use this plant for various medical conditions without having to worry about the psychedelic effect.

According to our current knowledge, and based on extensive studies, CBD marijuana doesn’t cause any side effects. You can use it without worrying; for a shorter or longer period of time.

However, there are still numerous countries and states that haven’t legalized the plant. 

The expansion of the CBD market

The United States CBD market is literally booming right now.

More and more companies open their doors each day. A lot of them are web-based businesses that can ship their merchandise all across their home state.

The demand for these products is rather high, and at this point, there is no indication that it will stop any time soon. Some people are afraid of this; it seems that the market is quickly becoming saturated.

Indeed, this can cause some issues, given the limited CBD marketing opportunities (we will talk about this a bit later, so make sure to stick around!)

But, even though the competition seems scary, there is a lot of room to branch out and build your brand. Here are some things that you need to know about the US cannabis market.

1) The CBD market is worth billions of dollars

There is a good reason why everyone is rushing to the CBD industry: the potential profits are enormous! According to some financial projections, this market will be worth around $20 billion in the next few years.

The best thing yet is that this item can be used for various chronic conditions and symptoms. In other words, most customers will buy the product over and over again as long as you don’t make any significant changes to it.

2) The agricultural stimuli 

But, there is another reason why this market is increasing so rapidly. The secret lies in 2018 Farm Bills that make hemp production legal all over the US.

The hemp plant has much more CBD and is usually grown for CBD marijuana. As long as you monitor THC content, there shouldn’t be any trouble growing this plant

3) Legal improvements 

The main reason why CBD marijuana is not used in every state is that we have limited studies to back medical claims.

However, as time goes by, and we gather more data, it’s becoming clearer that we can benefit from the plant in numerous ways. Still, weed remains a controversial subject, partially due to our preconceived notions about the plant.

On a federal level, you need to make sure that every cannabis product has less than 0.3% THC. Only then can you grow it, resell it, and use it. FDA keeps a close eye on cannabis companies, and there were a few cases where they completely shut down marijuana growers’ projects.

Marijuana laws vary from state to state. In some states, you can use pot in any form. In others, you can use only CBD marijuana, while some states prevent the use of cannabis in any shape or form.

There are also some variations when it comes to transport and possession. It is best to get acquainted with all these laws before you decide to sell CBD online.

How to sell CBD online?

Now that you got legal stuff out of the way, it is time to set up the stop.

Creating your own cannabis store isn’t that hard; all you need to do is follow a few simple rules. You will also need an actionable plan that will guide you throughout.

The marijuana entrepreneur will have to consider things such as product line, cannabis marketing, and e-commerce strategy. 

1) Get the necessary licenses

If you wish to sell CBD and medical marijuana in the US, you will need to required licenses.

First, start with the simplest one: the business license. We recommend that you get an LLC. It is the most common type for small businesses, which also includes web marijuana stores. You can learn more about it on your local government’s website.

If you wish to resell marijuana, you will need another license. They are also done on a state level, so you will have to be acquainted with your state’s rules.

Generally speaking, it shouldn’t be too hard. The process has become simplified through the years which will allow you to set up shop rather quickly

2) You will need the right supplier

Nowadays, there are a lot of weed growers in the US. As the plant becomes more mainstream, people are starting to grow it themselves. Nevertheless, most cannabis entrepreneurs still purchase their weed from a supplier.

You will need to make sure that your CBD supplier is the real deal. First of all, we suggest that you buy cannabis from reputable stores. You can easily do research by simply browsing the web.

After that, you will need to see if the person has all the necessary certificates for marijuana. It is also good to buy from a supplier who has a vast product line. That way, if you wish to increase your assortment, you won’t have to hassle by contacting another cannabis store.

You should also establish the quality of a company’s marijuana. There are lots of laboratories that are testing cannabis so you shouldn’t have trouble finding an impartial tester

3) Create a powerful website

The website is a modern business card. Most people make the first contact with a cannabis company through their site.

First, you should start by finding the right domain name. This might sound easy, but you need to find a name that will resonate with your clients and still be able to rank in Google.

It is also imperative that you find the right provider. Although this might sound unimportant, it becomes crucial as your company begins to grow. Keep in mind that any issues with a hosting provider will lead to a loss of profits.

You will also need to find the right e-commerce platform. Having good e-commerce will also save you a lot of trouble down the line. A good platform should be clean, responsive, and intuitive; you shouldn’t waste any time on rudimentary things.

When creating a website, you need to implement proper practices that will help you with marijuana SEO (search engine optimization). Otherwise, you will never be able to rank in Google and other search engines.

Lastly, make sure to find a reliable credit card processing, and to create a list of policies that a user can easily find

4) Create a good marketing strategy

Online marketing is the thing that makes or breaks a website. You are able to get away with almost anything else, but if you don’t have the ability to generate leads, you will quickly go out of business.

The cannabis business is probably one of the trickiest industries when it comes to advertising. Even though some states allow the use of weed (both medically and recreationally), the federal law is still against the plant.

Also read: Cannabis Business Social Network: 7 Sites to Boost Your Cannabiz

Even if you try to promote CBD cannabis, you can get in trouble. So much so that the main advertising platforms and services (such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads) prohibit any promotional activity that involves the plant. So, your best bet is to either try SEO or, to a smaller extent, SMM.

There are no limits when it comes to search engine optimization. If you hire a reputable cannabis marketing company, you can do wonders with your site.

Keep in mind that this industry is still not saturated, which gives you a lot of space to position your brand. In fact, it is much harder to optimize a site in some more traditional industries than it is in the cannabis industry.

The other alternative is to start building your social media accounts slowly. But, keep in mind that this will be a rocky road as there are certain limitations.

Like with social media ads, you shouldn’t post anything on your social media accounts that is remotely promotional

5) Finalizing the orders

Lastly, you will have to find the right way to tie all of this together. If you cannot process the orders and ship the merchandise, you will fail at the last step of the way.

You will need a warehousing system for CBD cannabis. You will also need the right software and infrastructure that will allow you to store and manage marijuana inventory.

There are lots of things that you need to consider here, but it is much easier if you’re a reseller. All you need to do is to order from a supplier and send the product to the end-user.

It gets more difficult if you’re a grower. At one point, depending on how well you’re doing, you might have to consider leasing storage.

Fulfillment technology is the key as you will need software that works well with your e-commerce platform, payment, and other software

Still want to sell CBD online? Be prepared for these issues

Even if you managed to set up everything, you would have to deal with numerous daily challenges.

Although this industry is massive, it is still not that well regulated, which can cause problems to new entrepreneurs.

Here are some of the things that can be tricky down the road:

1) Getting a piece of the market

• Are you able to outrank competitors for some of the most popular CBD keywords?
• Can you create content that ranks in Google?
• Do you have a good SEO cannabis marketing team?
• Are your products competitive enough?
• What are your competitive advantages?

2) Managing regulations 

Managing regulations can be really hard, especially in the US.

Not only do you have to consider the federal legislation, but also the state laws. In the last decade or so, these laws have changed quite often.

Although things are getting better for cannabis companies, that doesn’t mean they will remain the same. Entrepreneurs need to stay on top of things.

It is also important to create company policies that will reflect those laws.

3) Fulfilling orders 

The last major challenge for cannabis companies is fulfilling orders.

It can be tough to implement a proper system. This is especially true for volatile or unregulated industries where things change every month.

In fact, based on the current state of affairs, there is a good chance you will change several suppliers during your company’s life cycle.

Conclusion 

Selling CBD cannabis online can be really rewarding and tiresome at the same time.

Medical marijuana is definitely on the rise, and proactive entrepreneurs have already recognized this opportunity. If you want to compete in the market, you will need proper planning.

If you follow our definitive guide on “How to sell CBD online” and implement all the suggested processes, you will have a major head start.

Keep in mind that you will also need the support of a good cannabis marketing team. With them in your corner, your business will quickly flourish!

The website is supposed to be the centerpiece of your CBD advertising campaign. It creates the contact point with the potential clients.

Thus, if you have a lousy cannabis website design, you won’t be able to persuade people to buy from you.

Although everyone knows about how important web design is, there is only a handful of CBD companies that managed to implement proper solutions.

Even if you have the best marijuana marketing expert on board, there are lots of things that can go awry. Small mistakes can be costly, and even worse, it might take months until you realize there is something wrong.

Creating a cannabis website from scratch can be quite tedious and time-consuming. However, one of the things that can help you out is creating a shortlist with all the main points that you need to consider. 

Here are some of the main things you need to consider when planning a cannabis website design.

Consider user experience and SEO

When we mention website design, most entrepreneurs will think of colors, patterns, and other visual aids that we use to increase sales. But, if you ask a cannabis marketing expert, it all has to start with user experience and search engine optimization.

We mention these two in the same breath because they are closely connected. Without a good user experience, you will have trouble optimizing the site later on.

Your website will require good architecture; you should be able to reach any page on the site in 2-3 clicks.

You will also have to emphasize on responsive web design and site speed. There are some indications that search engines have started measuring users’ interaction with sites.

The amount of time your visitors spend on your website, the total number of clicks, and page views have an effect on your overall site’s SEO performance.

All of this plays a significant part in optimizing your website and attaining better rankings on Google.

Products should be your focal point

The future of the cannabis business is bright.

Even if your state prohibits its use, there is a reason to believe that most states in the United States will allow it in the next few decades. Furthermore, there is a good chance that marijuana will become the first legal psychedelic drug in the whole USA.

So, you have to ask yourself:

“Are you going with CBD marijuana, or will you also offer the regular THC cannabis?“

This decision can be major for your website. You will have to consider this from the start.

For example, imagine registering a CBD-related domain name just to change your product assortment. Such a decision will also affect your cannabis web design, categories and the general outlook of your business. Don’t forget that it will also affect the content on your site.

If you decide to go from CBD to CBD/THC overnight, you might look like a pharmaceutical company that has gone all-in on psychedelic drugs. And trust us when we say that this is not a good look!

Although you can change certain things on the go (you can even revamp the whole site), it is much better to do this before you make any major investment in your cannabis business. 

Is it an online store or a blog?

Nowadays, most sites that sell products also and have a blog section. It has become a widespread practice.

But, keep in mind some sites only have an online shop. As a cannabis entrepreneur, you need to consider how your site will look like.

• Will you try to combine a blog and an online store?
• What do you want to put on your homepage? Blog posts or bestselling products?
• Or maybe you wish to place your focus on marijuana news?

You will have to decide at one point; however, we suggest you do it as soon as possible.

Colors schemes

Every industry has its go-to color. We tend to neglect these color schemes as we are so used to them. But, there is a reason why the most prominent global businesses use certain themes.

For example, the most common color for marijuana shops is green. It is a color that signifies plants, life, environment, and health, so it makes sense for marijuana entrepreneurs to use it.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about the CBD industry is that you can experiment a lot. Cannabis is primarily regarded as a psychedelic drug, so it wouldn’t be too strange to use rainbow colors or a scheme with numerous color combinations.

Furthermore, we suggest that you explore these options instead of merely going for the green. Today, the market is saturated with green marijuana sites. If you were to create another similar website, you would be lost in a sea of monotony.

Finding the right cannabis logo

Marijuana shops are suffering from a similar issue when it comes to logos. There are simply too many leaves out there!

If you use a cannabis leaf for your site, you will lose your competitive advantage. Even worse, it will become harder for potential clients to memorize your brand.

So, we suggest that you go with something different and unique. A good example is using capital letters of your brand or some other letter combination. You can use some other symbol from nature or agriculture.

The companies that are selling CBD marijuana can go with a health logo. As for its colors, make sure they go well with the other colors that you wish to implement on-site.

Implement vision and mission

Never forget that your cannabis website design is a representation of your brand.

When people visit the site, they want to know more about your products, but they also want to learn about your policies, responsibility, ethical practices, mission, and vision. You should add all of these on a prominent spot so that everyone can see them.

For example, you can either place it on the homepage or create a new tab for this kind of information. Cannabis companies need to be responsible, especially when we’re talking about CBD marijuana.

Conclusion

You shouldn’t neglect the importance of a professional cannabis website design. A lot of brands sell their CBD products by creating a buzz on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

However, given that cannabis companies are limited in that regard, you will have to focus on the website as the first point of contact with potential clients. It needs to be clean, creative, quick, and to represent everything that your company stands for.

If you need professional assistance in creating a site, make sure to contact our cannabis marketing company today!

If you’re a marijuana grower, you’ve probably considered various channels of advertising cannabis on Google and Bing.

As you well know, most companies are focusing their efforts online as the quickest and simplest way of selling marijuana.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of the product, we have limited options at our disposal.

What’s the issue between cannabis brands and search engines?

The popular social platforms and search engines are unwilling to cooperate with the cannabis industry even though these products are slowly regarded as medicines.

The main issue is the lack of global recognition and a unified system that would help us categorize the item.

The growers usually consider advertising cannabis on Google and Bing. But, there are certain issues with that.

Read this article to learn more about these search engines and how you can work around them.

What is the problem with Google and Bing?

The main issue with cannabis is the way we perceive them. For example, the term marijuana can refer to both psychedelic substances as well as the medicine known as CBD cannabis. That poses a major issue in itself.

Although there are more countries embracing medical marijuana, it is still hard to make a distinction because of different legal frameworks in different countries.

For example, there are states and countries where cannabis is totally legal. So, even if you advertise CBD, you can drive traffic to your site that would sell regular marijuana.

It also makes it hard to advertise on search engines, as well as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms as they are social in nature. The only way to work around it is if everyone accepted marijuana as a product.

In a nutshell, Google and Bing don’t allow paid cannabis ads (otherwise known as PPC or pay-per-click)

Is there an alternative way of advertising cannabis on Google in Bing?

The answer is both yes and no.

You can’t pay an ad, but you are able to optimize your results. If you hire a reputable cannabis marketing company, you will be able to get the necessary results.

The way to go is through search engine optimization and content marketing.

Now, let’s check some pros and cons if you do decide to go with this marketing approach.

What is cannabis SEO?

The marijuana marketing experts refer to marijuana SEO as organic traffic.

Unlike Google or Bing PPC, SEO is a long-term project. It takes time to optimize your pages and get to the top of the biggest search engines.

However, once you’re on the top of Google, it will be really hard to fall down. Naturally, your site may lose its rankings in time, but it takes a lot of time to do so.

5 main features of cannabis SEO

• It is a time-consuming process unlike pay-per-click where you simply bid for an ad
• The benefits will outweigh those of PPC by far
• In a way, it will help you build your brand making the site more reputable
• SEO is amazing for cannabis as the industry is not that developed and smaller companies are able to penetrate the fast-growing market
• It is the optimal way of advertising a CBD company at the moment

SEO does have its flaws.

As mentioned, it takes time to kick in. Some companies will not have that time.

Keep in mind that most marijuana growers invest heavily in their business. They have debts to pay, and they simply cannot tap in place.

The regular ads would provide them with an optimal solution. Alas, the main advertisers are unwilling to promote cannabis through their platforms.

Should you hire a cannabis advertising company?

A lot of growers believe that it’s easy running their own ads, social media accounts, and site optimization.

This cannot be farther from the truth.

If you wish to seriously pursue these methods, it is necessary to hire a cannabis SEO company such as ours.

Here are five of the reasons why you should do it:

• If you don’t do it the right way, SEO can stifle your site and make things worse than they are
• Cannabis marketing experts are good at reputation management. Small mistakes can be costly especially if you don’t know how to properly behave on social networks
• You will have much better content on your marijuana website
• The sales will increase significantly as SEO traffic has high conversion rates if you target the right CBD keywords
• It will set up a good basis for all other marketing efforts

In a way, you have to consider not only the positives but also the negatives.

Cannabis growers who have limited experience with marketing can totally sink their brand by making some wrong moves.

That being said, no matter what you’re doing to promote a marijuana company, there are potential risks attached to it.

With a CBD marketing expert, you are able to mitigate those risks.

To wrap it all up

Now you know the most important aspects of advertising cannabis on Google and Bing search engines.

Although the traditional ads will not work on Google and Bing, there are other marketing methods you can implement.

Search engine optimization is definitely the best way to go about things. It is a long-term project that will put you on the top, and we definitely think you should consider it!

If you have a cannabis company, one of your first concerns is how to promote the business. Most marijuana brands are online-based, which makes it harder to spread the message and reach potential clients.

However, if you manage to do it, you can expect much higher profits compared to the traditional brick-and-mortar companies.

Cannabis is quite a peculiar product. It seems that almost every state has a different view of it.

Some perceive it as a recreational drug and have no legislative limits towards its use. Other states see it as a beneficial medicine while the rest doesn’t want anything to do with it.

This makes it really hard to create a federal framework that would streamline its use. For now, cannabis is mostly within the gray zone. The biggest issue is when you transport it across the state borders.

All these issues make it hard for advertisers. The popular social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook are generally shy when it comes to promoting the plant. This also includes Twitter.

So, without further ado, here is everything you need to know about cannabis advertising on Twitter.

Twitter is extremely restrictive towards cannabis

Although it is possible to slip a “forbidden” post on Twitter, moderators are pretty quick to respond.

The platform prevents the selling of products such as drugs and sex, which makes it really hard to promote marijuana and CBD. In fact, according to cannabis marketing experts, Twitter is one of the harder platforms to penetrate.

When we’re talking about cannabis advertising on Twitter, most people think of Twitter ads.

Like with any other social platform, most entrepreneurs focus on ads as something that can make quick returns on their investment.

Forget about cannabis advertising on Twitter. Try SEO instead!

Initially, marijuana companies don’t want to bother with things such as social media marketing and search engine optimization for cannabis brands. Instead, they try to start the selling cycle by investing heavily in platforms such as Twitter.

Alas, it is impossible to run Twitter ads for cannabis. If moderators catch you perform any promotional activity of this kind, you will likely be banned from the platform forever.

Does that mean you cannot advertise marijuana on Twitter?

Not exactly.

Using Twitter as a cannabis promotional tool

Even though you’re unable to run cannabis ads on Twitter, keep in mind that other competitors are in a similar pickle. The same goes for other social media channels.

So, even though you can increase your reach, your competitors will not be able to advertise as well.

The last thing you want to do is try and slip a promotional message through Twitter. Instead, you should try to develop your account organically.

6 Things to consider when promoting CBD products on Twitter

• Create a standard account that would focus on news
• Don’t try to sell or post prices
• You can, however, put a link to your site and other social profiles
• Try to add value and increase your network
• Be consistent with your brand message
• Try to connect this account to other accounts (also, link to Twitter from your site)

If you’re creating posts about marijuana, most followers will presume that you’re also selling cannabis. So, it doesn’t matter if you’re selling directly or if you’re simply driving traffic to the site from your Twitter account.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that one day, social media platforms such as Twitter will allow cannabis promotion. When that happens, you will have a very developed account with thousands of loyal followers ready to buy your cannabis products like crazy.

This might seem like a hefty investment in terms of time and money, but you have limited options as it is. It is much better for a cannabis entrepreneur to set things in motion than to sit idly.

Twitter does provide an alternative, and we are confident this is a cannabis marketing strategy you should pursue in 2020 and beyond.

Last thoughts

The main three pillars of marijuana marketing are PPC (pay-per-click), SMM (social media marketing), and SEO (search engine optimization).

Although cannabis companies have limited options in terms of PPC, we are still able to optimize our site for Google and to create amazing social media accounts.

As already mentioned, you shouldn’t be discouraged by the current advertising situation. Most of these platforms will change their rules on time.

Nowadays, people have a more favorable opinion on cannabis, and it is only a matter of time until it becomes legal everywhere.

Until then, make sure to develop your network and channels. When the changes come, you will experience a sudden rise in profits.

The cannabis industry is relatively new. The sensitive nature of marijuana makes it hard for growers to perform their day-to-day activities. This is best seen when it comes to advertising.

Unlike your traditional products, most advertisers will not promote cannabis. Even if it’s allowed by law, the companies are usually shy when it comes to this plant. In a way, it makes sense.

Nowadays, marijuana is often referred to as medicine, but still, the majority of people think of it as a psychedelic substance. The stigma remains, and until it is lifted, we will need to wait patiently.

Very limited advertising options are a problem

Given the limited marketing opportunities, cannabis companies usually focus on search engine optimization. It is possible to optimize your website pages, so they are more visible to search engines.

Unfortunately, cannabis SEO takes time, which is why a lot of entrepreneurs try their luck with ads and, in particular, pay-per-click.

Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Twitter, and Instagram all have their specific rules when it comes to cannabis. Some of them (like Twitter) are prepared to ban accounts that mention cannabis in any way. Google, for example, doesn’t allow cannabis ads. Although this sucks, there are workarounds.

In this article, we will focus on cannabis advertising on Instagram. What are your limits as a cannabis brand? How far can you go?

Keep reading to find out!

Don’t even think about paid ads

As already mentioned, Instagram is pretty restrictive when it comes to paid ads. If the moderators catch you positing ads about marijuana or ads that are related to the plant, you can get in lots of trouble. It is much better to avoid it.

Otherwise, you will endanger your account and might even get a ban. Instead, you should focus on developing your own network by increasing the number of followers

Linking to a commercial cannabis site is a no-go

Any indication that you have a commercial intent can pose issues for your account. The company has done everything in its power to make cannabis advertising on Instagram, a choir.

For example, if you directly link to your site, there is a chance they will ban you for life. So, you can’t use ads, and you can’t link to the site. How do you approach the issue? It’s simple! Link to one of your other profiles.

There are various platforms that you can utilize for this. Keep in mind that other social media platforms can also be problematic so think hard how you’re going to connect all of this.

Place focus on long-term

New cannabis growers are often stretched too thin when it comes to marketing. Most of them had to invest heavily in the project. They need a quick return on investment to stay in business.

Unfortunately, it is hard to promote a new cannabis company. As a result, some people may get stranded not being able to find a proper market. No matter what, you need to focus on long-term success.

Although Instagram may not provide a quick return, it is the future you should be focusing on. As more states legalize marijuana, social platforms will adopt a more lenient stance.

When that happens, you will already have a fully developed network. All you will need to do is to place a link to your site and start selling like crazy.

Create educational content

Due to the nature of the issue, you will have to avoid creating commercial posts. Instead, it is best if you focus on creating images and videos that can be regarded as educational.

Remember that there is always something to talk about when it comes to cannabis. You can compare strains, give tips on how to get higher yields, talk about CBD benefits, etc. Some growers will think that this is unnecessary; that this will not increase the sales.

However, given the limited marketing opportunities, this is perhaps the best way to drive traffic to your profiles. One way or another, people will realize that you’re actually selling cannabis.

Connect with cannabis influencers

Like with any other product or service, it is very important to connect with influencers. They can promote your company from the outside, without ever endangering your Instagram profile.

Keep in mind there are a lot of people who use marijuana in one way or another. Whether we’re talking about CBD marijuana or just plain old psychedelic weed, there are people who will be interested in buying it. So, it’s not as if you’re wasting your money going to an influencer who is not specialized in the product.

Of course, you will get much better results if you connect with the real cannabis influencers, but other people with significant followership can also do the trick.

Conclusion

It seems that Instagram is a bit more lenient when it comes to cannabis. But that doesn’t mean you should relax.

If you truly want to do cannabis advertising on Instagram, you need to be smart about it. Make sure to avoid commercial messages and, instead, try to provide value to people following your account.

If you do everything right, your channel will slowly start growing, and ultimately, you will be able to drive much more targeted traffic to your website. 

The cannabis industry has had its fair share of regulatory restrictions in the last two decades. Although governments over the world have placed barriers to inhibit its growth, the legal market for cannabis has found ways to survive.

Even with the legalization of medical marijuana, digital media sites, like Facebook, have made it difficult for cannabis dispensaries to advertise their products on the platform.

This is in line with the policy that prevents users from promoting not only recreational and prescription drugs, but also drug-related products.

Nevertheless, there’s a way to market medical cannabis on Facebook.

This article will help business owners understand how to market their marijuana dispensaries and products on the social media platform.

Why is Social Media Marketing Important for a Cannabis Dispensary?

Social media is one of the effective interactive platforms available to any business. They are also vital advertising tools for dispensaries.

Here are five solid reasons why social media platforms are crucial to cannabis dispensaries:

1. Broader Reach

About 1.66 billion people log on to Facebook daily. This implies that if you advertise your business on social media, you could spread the word about it to a large number of daily users. Unlike traditional advertising, digital marketing on such sites is measurable, and you can keep tabs of the number of people that visit your site, your bounce rate, and even your leads.

2. Increased website traffic

CBD advertising on Facebook is an excellent way to direct people to your website. This, in turn, will lead to increased traffic.

3. Better customer relationship

If you own or manage a cannabis dispensary, you’ll know that you need to double the effort you put in marketing your products because of the criticism they’ll initially get. This is where digital marketing strategies come into play. Apart from broadening your reach, social media marketing helps dispensaries to build a relationship with their customers. On these platforms like Facebook, that customers use for many reasons, you can find out more about your users, increase engagement with them, and get their preferences.

4. Better User Experience

In this digital age, conventional ways of getting information about a product or service are dying. Instead, social media platforms are where people go to when they hear about a business for the first time. A marijuana dispensary that does not have a social media account nor optimize its users’ experience will likely not be gaining many customers.

5. Online visibility

Digital marketing is essential to dispensaries because it helps them to be noticeable. If information about a company or business is not available on social media or any of the search engines, then there’s a high probability that people will lose interest before they get to find out what your business is about.

Can cannabis business owners advertise on Facebook?

To answer the question simply, cannabis dispensaries can advertise on Facebook. However, there is a way to go about it without being penalized by the social media platform.

Challenges of advertising cannabis on Facebook

Here are some of the obstacles you may face when advertising your cannabis business on Facebook:

1. Your advert will get disapproved if you use words like marijuana or cannabis: Facebook allows only pre-approved drug companies to run adverts. Therefore, like alcohol sales, online gambling, and hate speech adverts, using controversial words that do not align with the social media platform’s privacy policy is not permitted.

2. Adverts that contain standalone images of cannabis or marijuana may get disapproved: Another challenge to advertising cannabis or marijuana on Facebook is that the platform does not allow pictures that depict the products.

3. Continuously disapproved adverts on your page could affect your trustworthiness score: Facebook launched its trustworthiness rating as one of the tools to stop misinformation on its platform. When people report stories as false, Facebook’s tech team checks the facts of the story. However, since it is tasking to keep tabs of every story, trust ratings came into play. If you continuously break the two privacy policy rules that we’ve explained above, your trustworthiness rating will likely be low. This implies that users will scroll through your adverts because they think it is fake, or the platform could reduce your online visibility altogether.

4. Your account may get banned for breaking any of the rules above: In severe cases, your account may get banned, and it’ll likely take a lot of effort and time to get it working again.

Tips to advertizing your marijuana Business on Facebook

Facebook has been rigid with its policies for some time. Therefore, marketers have to develop tactics to avoid their trustworthiness score from dropping and getting banned.

Here are a couple of ways you can bypass Facebook’s strict guidelines and start advertising your cannabis business on the platform:

1. Mind your language: Any marketer you meet will tell you that the words you use to promote your product or business matters. So, if you want to run an advert for your cannabis dispensary on Facebook without getting disapproved, you have to watch the words you use. But how can you run an advert for a marijuana business without using ‘marijuana’ or ‘cannabis’?

One useful tip you can use when thinking of the words to use in advertising is to add hyphens. For example, while ‘medical cannabis’ will get flagged by Facebook, adverts that use ‘medical-cannabis’ will be approved.

This is because the social media site registers the word ‘medical-cannabis’ as one, whereas it is optimized to flag either of the two separate words; ‘medical’ and ‘cannabis.’ You can use this tip for all other terms that you are sure Facebook will flag.

2. Create a conversion funnel

Once virtually none of your advert is getting disapproved by Facebook’s algorithm, we recommend you create a conversion funnel.

A conversion funnel is a tool that helps digital marketers understand how potential customers visit a site and take action. By creating one, you can get insights into the form and type of adverts that worked on some customers. Using this funnel helps dispensaries to determine what to tweak, or continue doing to increase customers, impressions, and traffic on your site.

The four main steps to follow are:

A. Ensure customers are aware of your marijuana dispensary and product: This includes any tactic that allows your brand to get to your target audience. There are several ways to make this happen like

• PPC campaigns: This will enable you to target ads to potential customers that search for your service or product.
• Organic search: This allows you to get across to users, usually at a lower cost

B. Make your customers interested in your product or service.

C. Show your leads why they need your cannabis products

D. Lastly, take action.

3. Use watermarked pictures: Here is a solution to the problem of Facebook disapproving your adverts because it has marijuana imagery. By branding the picture with watermarks and adding some text to it, Facebook Ad manager will approve your adverts, even if it depicts marijuana or cannabis. This is because the machine learning algorithm is set to only flag unbranded pictures of cannabis or marijuana.

Tips to marketing your dispensary on Facebook without advertising 

Advertising and marketing are two words that are easy to mix up and used interchangeably. However, marketing encompasses advertising.

Let’s find out ways to market your cannabis dispensary on Facebook without using adverts

1. Post Relevant content to boost SEO

Social media platforms like Facebook can also help to boost the SEO of your cannabis website. Here are a couple of ways to go about increasing traffic on your site with social media platforms:

• Reshare or repurpose engaging content: Resharing your post or content is an excellent way to direct new customers to your website. Therefore, we recommend that after evaluating the performance of your posts each month, you reshare the most engaging ones to increase traffic and online visibility. For example, if you write an article on the difference between hemp and marijuana, resharing it or repurposing the piece into a video is sure to generate a new set of potential customers for you.

• Make your page a go-to source for cannabis and marijuana news on Facebook: The cannabis industry is ever-changing, with new states in the US legalizing the use of medical cannabis every now and then. You can increase your online visibility and drive people to your website by posting regular updates of what is happening in the industry, and occasionally giving opinions.

2. Use hashtags like SEO keywords

Hashtags increase the online visibility of pages on social media sites. However, using them carelessly will not be of use to the marijuana dispensary. Therefore, try to use them strategically instead of randomly through your adverts.

Guidelines to follow when using hashtags:

• Ensure your hashtags are relevant to the content you are putting out.
• Do not repeat hashtags from different posts and try to come up with different ones each time you make a post.
• Don’t clutter your posts with hashtags. Having two or three is good enough. However, when the number starts to get to double digits, then you are not using them correctly.
• Try to include your hashtags in your post rather than at the end.

3. Use Facebook’s Chatbots to drive traffic

Getting a competitive edge in the cannabis industry is hard work, and it is even more complicated when it comes to marketing a cannabis dispensary on Facebook. However, there’s an aspect that hasn’t fully been explored, and that’s the customer service platform.

Reports show that customers want answers to their social media requests within the first four hours of posting questions. But we know that keeping up with this timeline can be draining, and you’ll probably be losing customers if you can’t resolve their issues on time.

Therefore, a useful tip is to consider using Facebook Messenger’s chatbots to market your cannabis dispensary and reply to customers. Quick replies imply good public relations, which means increased sales for your business.

4. Host Live Q&A Show

Another way to market your dispensary without advertising is to create a live question and answer show on Facebook. As a strategic way to catch the attention of viewers, this will be helpful to potential customers that need clarification on some aspects of cannabis and marijuana.

5. Drive engagement through daily offers and deals

Everyone loves deals and special offers. So, here’s another way to market your marijuana dispensary without having to advertise. You could use Facebook Messenger to send daily deals to followers.

The future of cannabis industry

With the industry showing lots of potentials, a lot of questions about its future have been asked. In answering these questions, several experts have voiced their opinions about where they think the industry is going, and the trends that should be expected in the future.

Allison Margolin, a medical marijuana advocate, thinks that industrial hemp will become not only an environmental force but also an international one to be reckoned with in years to come.

This supports the opinion of William McFetridge that broad legalization will lead to an increase in scientific research into other uses of cannabis. He adds that ‘stock in publicly-traded cannabis companies will become common-place in investment portfolios.

Craig McLane, the Owner of Vaped.com, agrees with these two experts, and he says, ‘marijuana will become legal in Europe and North America in the next ten years.’

He also predicts that in a few years, the business dominance of cannabis will push for a change in the existing cannabis culture.’

Read also: CBD Industry Predictions For 2020

FAQs about Marketing and Advertising Dispensaries on Facebook

Q1. Can I promote my cannabis dispensary or product on Facebook?

Promoting cannabis products is frowned upon by the Federal Drug Administration( FDA). This is because the body does not back the claims from such promotions. Therefore, you should avoid promoting your services or products on social media pages like Facebook.

Q2. Should I use an influencer for marketing my marijuana dispensary on Facebook?

You may decide to use a social media influencer for marketing your cannabis dispensary on Facebook since they know a great deal about your target audience. By partnering with an influencer, you’ll broaden your reach to include the members of your influencer. Here are tips to follow when choosing a social media influencer to market your cannabis product for you:

Don’t rush to get the big names or celebrities: Having large followership on social media is a criterion you should look out for in an influencer. However, it isn’t the only thing to focus on. Instead of these big names that have millions of followers, look for influencers that already have a target audience that already uses cannabis products.

Target influencers that understand the guidelines to follow when publishing content on social media. 

Q3. What do I do if my marketing or advertising strategy is not working?

There’s no hard and fast rule to marketing or advertising your cannabis dispensary on Facebook. So, you cannot rule out the possibility that your strategies will fail or not work as you want them to. But before it gets to this point, always make sure you test, monitor, and improve your marketing and advertising strategies regularly.

Q4. I have never advertised on Facebook before. Can I still go ahead in promoting my dispensary?

There’s no pre-requisite to advertising on Facebook. However, since you don’t have a target audience yet, you’ll have to fight off your competitors to get the loyal ones. Having an effective strategy helps.

Q5. Can I use affiliate marketing to market my dispensary on Facebook?

One of the effective ways to market cannabis products or cannabis dispensaries on Facebook is through affiliate marketing.

Q6. Should I create a Facebook Group to market my product or use my business page?

Both methods work fine. However, you may not get the organic reach you want only from your business page. Therefore, you can create a group on Facebook and populate it with relevant and quality content.

Q7. How many people will view my dispensary on Facebook?

The number of people that’ll view your cannabis dispensary depends on how efficient and effective your marketing efforts are. This number is referred to as the organic reach.

A Facebook post, on an average, has an organic reach of about 6.4% of the total likes on the page.

In conclusion

There are lots of mysteries to unravel about the cannabis industry. Although more businesses are springing up every year, the problem of reaching the target audience and making converts still lingers.

Social media pages have become the place for these businesses to broaden their reach, and Facebook has topped the list of the starting point. However, the platform has strict rules on marketing and advertising cannabis on its site. 

Facebook’s privacy policy on cannabis and marijuana is only a bump on the road, as there are ways to advertise and market marijuana dispensaries without advertising on the platform.

In this article, we’ve highlighted reasons digital marketing on Facebook is essential, as well as tips that’ll help you spread the word about your cannabis dispensary and cannabis products on the platform. This should be all you need to increase the popularity of your brand on Facebook.

The cannabis industry is on a major rise. As more states allow the use of the drug, the number of clients and companies will steadily increase. 

At this point, most companies are trying to maximize their online visibility and increase profits.

In doing so, a lot of entrepreneurs skip steps. They will focus their efforts on short-term returns, totally neglecting long-term brand development.

Also read: CBD Business Opportunities: How to Start A CBD Oil Business

Now’s the right time to think about cannabis branding

As the industry continues to mature in the US, the weaker players will slowly get eliminated. The competition will increase in time, which is why only the best companies will remain active. Micromanagement will become more important.

Also read: CBD Industry Predictions For 2020

If you don’t address your cannabis branding, there is a chance you will go under with other, weaker brands. Perhaps you were able to skip this step by now, but in time, it will catch up to you.

In order to help you out, we have created this short article point, which includes some major tricks that will propel your cannabis branding to the next level.

1) Start by creating a brand identity

Creating a set of values is the first step you need to take. You cannot simply present yourself as a cannabis company that sells CBD products online. No, you need to showcase your uniqueness.

The main reason why you need a set of values is to show people that you’re doing things the right way. It is much better if they are a reflection of your personal beliefs and moral code. This will make it easier to implement.

These values can be packaged in numerous ways, but they usually come down to a similar thing: your willingness to improve the world for the better.

Implementing brand identity will also help people differentiate your company from all the others. It is generally better if you have a different message from all other competitors within the industry.

However, you still need a set of values that the people will appreciate. Having brand identity for the sake of it will not give the proper results. You need to believe in what you’re preaching.

Once you create the right brand identity, you need to share it, showcase it on every opportunity, and stick with it through better or worse. This way, the customers and other stakeholders will take your message to heart and are more likely to remember it.

2) Think about social media channels

It is essential to create a brand identity that can spread throughout various platforms.

Among others, you will have to find an image and design that you can share on various social media profiles.

Why is this important, and why do we need to emphasize this?

At this point, cannabis is pretty limited when it comes to CBD advertising options. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all prohibit cannabis activity in one way or another.

These networks don’t allow cannabis ads, and even a mention of marijuana products can get you in trouble. Because of that, our hands are tied when it comes to social media marketing as well as pay-per-click advertising.

In the near future, all of this might change. Some of the social platforms may adopt a more lenient attitude towards cannabis. But until then, we have to wait patiently.

When that day comes, it is crucial to have a brand that can be adopted on any network. Think about color schemes, design, logo, images, videos, etc.

Although most social media are flexible, you will still have to find a way to spread the same message throughout. This is especially true if you wish to be active on several platforms at the same time.

3) Place focus on your cannabis logo

This might seem like oversimplifying things, but the logo plays a major role in spreading your brand message.

The logo is a small image that can be used virtually anywhere. Whether we’re talking about social media, websites, videos, images, products, you can insert it almost anywhere. If the stakeholders are already acquainted with your cannabis policies, it will be easy to establish a relationship through a log.

In the cannabis niche, green is the most common color for the logo (as well as other design elements). It is a color that signifies plants, ecology, and health. It is also the color of the plant itself, so everything comes nicely together. Most companies opt to go with this color, but you can also consider other ones.

The great thing about cannabis is that people usually relate it to happiness. It is a psychedelic plant, so that makes sense. This gives you the option of combining various colors and shapes.

Nothing would seem out of place when it comes to marijuana. It is also great that cannabis companies are perceived as “loose,” so no one would hold it against you if you try something crazy. 

4) Hire a cannabis marketing company

Hiring a cannabis marketing company can go a long way.

Most marijuana entrepreneurs are young people compared to some other industries in niches.

According to marketing reports, these guys have limited knowledge of agriculture (although this is not a rule) and a lot of enthusiasm. Unfortunately, this lack of experience can cause problems in certain areas of business.

For example, as you start focusing on the agricultural and financial side of the job, you might start making branding mistakes. Given the importance of cannabis branding, this is something you should avoid at all costs.

A company can always go back and rebrand their cannabis business. But, we would suggest against it, especially if you gained some traction. So, it is much better to have a good head start and implement all the necessary cannabis branding principles from the get-go.

This is where a cannabis marketing company can help. As you focus on things that matter, a team of experts will take charge of your SEO and content marketing efforts.

To sum it up

With these amazing tips, you will be able to brand cannabis business without any issues.

Keep in mind that the most important thing is to be proactive. It is much better to create a brand image at the very start than to wait for a while.

This will save you a lot of trouble in the future. Get in touch with us today and get your FREE quote and consultation!

As of January 1st, 2020, adults over twenty-one years old are allowed to buy and use cannabis for recreation. This law isn’t the first of its kind. Of the fifty states in the USA, 11 of them have entirely decriminalized the possession and use of cannabis.

Thirty-three states have legalized the use of medical marijuana for patients with chronic illnesses. We have a long way to go before we can emulate our Dutch brothers, but we’re on the way.

With all this progress, comes opportunity. Selling cannabis (legitimately) and cannabis-related items have become more popular. In 2017, there were over twenty thousand cannabis-related businesses in the US.

Now, in 2020, that number is expected to have at least doubled. There’s a lot of competition in the cannabis industry these days. To succeed in the business, you need some serious marijuana SEO and content marketing.

However, cannabis is still illegal or restricted in most countries, which limits how much cannabusiness owners can advertise. Most businesses in other industries have to deal with certain advertising and marketing restrictions while using mainstream media. Still, they can always use social media for advertising, make sales, and build brand loyalty.

Businesses in the cannabis industry, on the other hand, don’t have that luxury. Let us give you a breakdown of what’s going on as regards marketing and advertising cannabis products on social media.

Advertising and Marketing Cannabis on Social Media: The Real Deal

Sure, cannabusinesses can still set up accounts on the leading social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Snapchat. But they have to be extremely careful about what they post.

These social media platforms all have policies regarding CBD advertising and marketing of cannabis. Even businesses remotely related to marijuana, that don’t have anything to do with weed, are restricted in marketing.

If a social media platform determines that you have content on your account that might promote the use or sale of cannabis, your account might be permanently deactivated without notice. If you’ve set up an ad that is deemed to be promoting the use of marijuana, your ad will be taken down without warning. It might not even be approved in the first place.

This is becoming a regular occurrence, and it’s demoralizing for a lot of established cannabis brands, not to talk of the new business owners. Competing cannabusinesses can even report another brand’s post or account as being contradictory to the policies of that platform.

Deactivation of a brand’s social media account is a serious issue. All the resources invested in developing the brand’s presence on the social platform, building a loyal customer base, and creating an image, personality, and voice to fit the brand would all go to waste. This risk is the reason why many cannabusiness owners now choose to promote their business on social networks that are exclusively for potheads.

There are cannabis social networks for everything. These platforms have many functions. You can find dispensaries, business partners, excellent strains, and even love.

However, since we’re focused on cannabusinesses today, here are seven top cannabis business social networks for promoting your cannabiz.

Cannabis Business Social Network: 7 Platforms to Promote Your Cannabiz

1) MJLink

Compared to other cannabis-friendly social media platforms, MJLink is pretty young. It was established by Kenneth Tapp, Tripp Keber, and Leslie Bocksor in 2013. The platform is a cannabis business social network very similar to LinkedIn. In fact, it is more or less the LinkedIn for professionals in the cannabis industry. This social media network also serves as a directory for weed dispensaries.

MJLink just passed the two million users mark, and its community of cannabis users, sellers, growers, manufacturers, marketers, advertisers, testers, etc., is continuously growing. If you’re a professional in the cannabis industry, MJLink is a great place to network and connect with like-minded people.

MJLink attracts millions of views each month and can serve as a great place to advertise your brand to a receptive audience.

2) Leaf Wire

Leaf Wire is another cannabis business social network made specifically for professionals in the cannabis industry. It exists to help cannabis business professionals find their feet. If you’re planning on starting a cannabis business or you already work with one, you should probably register for an account on Leaf Wire.

Not only can you network with many professionals, but you can also find investors for your business. And as you grow your business and account, a Leaf Wire member might even decide to invest in your brand. Also, professionals looking for work within the industry can find an opening on Leaf Wire.

3) WeedLife

WeedLife is owned by the creator of MJLink and caters to the needs of consumers, manufacturers, and professionals. It has a website, as well as user-friendly mobile apps. The apps are a rather recent development, so they’re still a little glitchy, but they’re constantly being updated. However, millions of users bear with these faults because of the many advantages this platform has.

WeedLife offers lots of cannabis-based information within its news feed. They show videos about weed, cannabis education, information, news on legalization, etc. Cannabis business owners can also use their accounts to communicate directly with their customers. Customers can post on a brand’s page, ask questions, leave reviews, and generally interact.

If you own a dispensary, you can get your dispensary listed on WeedLife’s map. You can also post any promotions or deals alongside your product. WeedLife is one of the first cannabis social media platforms to exist, so it has a lot of potential for business.

4) WeedCircles

WeedCircles is a cannabis business social network that’s an offshoot of the WeedLife Network, so you might find that the two platforms are a bit alike. You’ll find a lot of professionals on this website, but you’ll also find an equal number of buyers. You can easily set up your brand and begin selling as a marijuana vendor. There are loads of established vendors on this site, though, so you’ll see lots of competition. But, enough people are browsing for pot on WeedCircles to make a tidy sum.

You can also connect with your customers, make new friends or connect with old ones, and make contacts with the cannabis industry. You can even create a marijuana group, grow its membership, and promote your product. If you want to market and sell your product to thousands of users, WeedCircle is a great way to accomplish that.

5) CannaSOS

CannaSOS has a truly unique feature that sets it apart from the rest of the cannabis-based social media platforms. This cannabis business social network has an extensive database of product reviews for various marijuana brands and products. There’s also detailed information on many cannabis strains, its THC ratio, and effects, which isn’t information you’ll see on other cannabis business social networks.

CannaSOS is wholly consumer-based. Most of the contents on the site are user-generated. There are loads of groups where you can join, ask questions, and get answers from cannabis manufacturers, sellers, growers, testers, etc.

People on CannaSOS actively try to connect to others, and, as all kinds of questions concerning weed are asked freely, it can be used as a way to communicate with customers and prospective customers. You can also promote your business to hundreds of thousands of people that visit CannaSOS every month.

6) Weedable

Weedable is another all-in-one app that has services for both consumers and professionals. This platform has lots of users despite not having an app. They do have an app in development to make their platform more user-friendly. The app will allow customers to interact with profiles and content while in transit, keep up with their notifications, and other activities without having to wait on their browsers.

As a professional or business owner in the cannabis industry, you can sell your products on Weedable. You can also advertise them and connect to other professionals in the industry. After you create your profile on Weedable, you can connect with other users and make friends, while still promoting your products and keeping your customers up-to-date with information about your brand.

An excellent profile is a way to get more followers, and with more followers come potential customers and connections.

7) Duby

If you smoke, eat, manufacture, sell, or love weed, you need to be on Duby. Duby might just be the official social media app for potheads. It has apps available on both Android and iOS so that you can find it on the Google Play Store and Apple Store. It also has a website, but you can only open a new account on the apps. You can still log in and access all the features, though.

Duby is a network of anonymous users. This is done to protect the identity of users from those who might know them and not support their love for all things weed. There are hundreds of thousands of users on this app.

This makes it a fantastic platform to market your product. You can promote your cannabis product on the app, just the way you would on Twitter and Instagram without all the restrictions. You can also make friends and connections with fellow potheads and cannapreneurs.

If you’re looking for a mate who’s as much of a cannabis lover as you are, you can find dates easily. Duby even has stories like Instagram, where you can look up people through their photos. If you like a profile, you “pass” it, and if you don’t, you “put it out.” The app and website are still developing, so we expect Duby to get even better.

Can you advertise cannabis products on regular social media platforms?

Although there are fantastic cannabis-based sites and apps to promote your brand on, you might still want to improve your cannabis business on regular social networks. Mainstream social media and networks have so many rules when it comes to posting content about “drugs,” that it’s hard to keep track of what kind of content is actually acceptable on these apps, especially when you’re new to the business.

Having your content deleted is painful, and having your account deactivated is even worse. Here are a few tips on how to avoid both while still promoting your cannabis business on mainstream social networks.

1) Your content has to be educational

When advertising a cannabis product on mainstream social media, your message can’t actually read like you’re advertising your product at all. It sounds confusing, doesn’t it? We’ll explain.

The restrictions on many social networks do not allow the promotion of cannabis or products related to it. Sometimes, depending on how much interaction service has with cannabis, such a service cannot be promoted, either. It’s all seen as content that’ll propagate the use of marijuana.

However, providing information about cannabis is not under any such restriction. If you can find a way to provide information about cannabis, while promoting your business covertly, your advertisement may be allowed.

2) Make your content shareable

When you’re marketing, there’s nothing better than having good organic reach. Organic reach or earned reach means your content is reaching an audience that you didn’t pay for. This phenomenon can only happen when your content is shared or reposted. It can be shared on different sites, blogs, forums, or even on cannabis business social networks.

Your content can only be shared if its good or serves some purpose. You should emphasize on producing excellent content that resonates with your readers. With this, your content and message and product will reach your target audience, without you lifting a finger or spending a cent on marketing.

3) Get a Cannabis Influencer

A social media influencer can help a lot when it comes to promoting your content. However, not all influencers are qualified to promote cannabis-related content. There are a few requirements that must be met before the deal is sealed.

First off, the influencer has to already have your target audience as followers or friends. If they don’t, they’ll be promoting your content to an audience that might not be able to afford it, or simply don’t need it.

Secondly, your influencer has to know the social media platform’s policy on cannabis-related content. This is because your influencer can create promotional material all they want, but if it gets removed, it won’t make a difference.

Finally, your influencer must know the rules concerning the publishing of content for businesses. More importantly, they must comprehend laws on disclosing material connections. This law says if an influencer is paid for publishing any content for a company, then the material connection must be disclosed in the content posted. You can read further on it here.

In conclusion

Marketing is vital to any business. The restrictions on cannabusinesses make it challenging to harness the power of social media to beat the competition. Thankfully, there are other means and platforms to do so, the best of which we’ve listed here.

There are ways to use mainstream social media, as well, but it’s a harder means. Whatever method you choose, you can always enhance your cannabis business with social networks.

Make sure to try every cannabis business social network on our list and share your experience in the comments below.