Cannabis Buyers: 9 Personas You’ll Encounter

Nikolay Stoyanov

December 31, 2021

Do you know what a cannabis buyers’ persona is? This article will teach you all about the 9 types of buyers your business will come across.

Cannabis and hemp businesses can be tough to execute. This is especially true if you decide to perform all the steps from growing to processing and ultimately sell the products.

First off, you will need a hefty initial investment just to start working within this field. While this might be circumvented by outsourcing cannabis and hemp oil extraction, you will still have a lot of expenses due to farm labor.

Out of all these potential problems, sales and marketing are often overlooked. Companies are so focused on growing and processing they often forget that these substances will eventually need to be sold. Instead, they believe it will find its way to the end-user as long as you have a good product.

While this might be true to an extent, for the most part, it is flawed thinking. There is a whole science revolving around sales and cannabis buyers’ persona. Not only do you need to sell the product, but you also need to sell it to the right people in the right way.

What is a cannabis buyers’ persona?

As you can tell from the name, cannabis buyers’ persona refers to the personality of an ideal buyer. While you can sell cannabis and hemp to basically anyone, it will be much more profitable if you find the right customer and market the substance properly so that this customer is more inclined to buy it.

By determining the ideal cannabis buyer persona, you can create a customized marketing campaign according to that person. In other words, this is your target demographics. Before that, you can never be sure whether your message will reach the right individual.

An essential thing about buyer persona is that there should be more than one ideal customer. There will be several different groups of people who can benefit from your cannabis products, and you will need a tailor-made message for all of them.

If we’re talking about digital marketing, finding the ideal customer can help you in many different ways. For example, you can target specific CBD SEO keywords based on what your cannabis buyers’ looking for. You can also use it to customize Google Ads and social media posts.

The list of main cannabis customers

All in all, there are 9 different cannabis buyer personas that you’ll encounter when selling cannabis. The categorization is based on customer preferences, buying habits, and their experience with cannabis products and companies.

We can place all these individuals into 3 special groups based on how much they consume the substances.

Here are all the groups:

Heavy consumers

  • Traditional lifestylers make for about 14% of all sales. Most of these individuals are young professionals or old millennials. Many of them are single, and they can be very different in terms of personal preferences. Most of them spend a lot of money on cannabis or otherwise, and they smoke almost every day.
  • Modern lifestylers account for 10% of sales. They are also young like traditional lifestylers, and they also have a decent income. They use the products for various reasons.
  • Functional dependents are the smallest of all groups accounting for only 5% of sales. Also young, they spend around $100 months on these substances.

Moderate consumers

  • As the name implies, weekend enthusiasts consume the items occasionally. Their market share is 11% of all the sales. They might smoke with their friends or during other social occasions. Commonly, they use the products to relax, but they don’t make a habit out of it.
  • Discreet unwinders account for 8% of the market. Most of these users are very cautious with their purchases and use. Many of them are mothers of adult children, and they have been using for quite a while. They are especially interested in CBD and its wellness potential.
  • Medical purists make 12% of all sales. Based on their name, you can easily deduct that they’re most interested in the medical properties of hemp and marijuana plants. They are frequent users and usually consume the products daily. Like with discreet unwinders, most of these buyers are women. They might utilize the items for stress, sleep, and other issues. They usually buy products from dispensaries, unlike discreet unwinders, but they are open to buying them online as well.

Light consumers

  • Social opportunists are the largest group, with 17%. They usually consume it on social occasions, using it together with friends.
  • Infrequent conservatives make for 9% of users. Most of them are older, and like social opportunists, they will use the substances several times a year. Usually, they will take cannabis and hemp for stress and relaxation. Infrequent conservatives are retired, married, and politically conservative. They are also traditional in terms of their cannabis needs; they prefer joints and are unlikely to try new products on the market.
  • Silver dabblers account for 14% of users. The users are single, divorced men who are alone. Like all other light consumers, they will utilize cannabis several times a year. They are also social consumers and might use the substance with friends. Furthermore, a lot of them are long-time smokers.

Utilizing the cannabis buyers data for your CBD and cannabis business

With these examples, you can easily place the ideal consumers in subgroups based on their age, sex, and habits. But, of course, you don’t necessarily build a marketing strategy around all these individuals. Instead, make sure to use several of them.

The general idea is to create a strategy for men and women. However, you can be more precise and focus on specific traits. For example, you can also categorize users based on their income and the amount of cannabis they consume.

When you create a thorough marketing plan, you can start executing. Nowadays, most marketing companies rely on SEO as the optimal promotional channel.

The majority of platforms provide somewhat limited access for cannabis businesses, so it is much better to avoid them. However, if you’re resourceful enough, you might be able to utilize social media to an extent.

Frequently Asked Questions