Digital marketing is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but what does it really mean? And how does it apply to the cannabis industry? Today's blog post will be answering those questions, and offering tips and advice on how you cannabis company can get the most out of it's digital marketing.
Digital marketing is defined as any marketing method that is undertaken and disseminated via digital devices, whether it's a computer, mobile phone, or augmented reality. Internet marketing wholly falls under this umbrella, as do websites, search engines, social media, email, text messages, video, or photography. So really there's no magical meaning behind digital marketing, but rather it's just a broad way of categorizing a variety of different modern marketing techniques.
But what is important to realize is that if you want your cannabis business to succeed at digital marketing, you have to approach it with a very detail-oriented and in-it-to-win-it mentality. If you have a haphazard or unorganized mentality to your marketing, you are setting your company up for failure, not to mention you'll be wasting a lot of money in the process. All of the following techniques are fully capable of growing your business and attracting new customers to your brand, but you have to commit. That's why finding the right marketing agency to partner with is so important.
Cannabis Social Media Marketing
In this day and age, there's no excuse not to leverage the potential of social mediate marketing to its fullest. This is especially true in the cannabis industry, where so many other traditional methods of advertising are off limits to your business. But we here from businesses all the time that are afraid of investing in their social presence because they are scared the account will be taken away from them. While we fully understand the sentiment, and agree that it's no fun to get your account banned, wouldn't you rather reap the benefits of a strong social game and then lose it, then to completely ignore the vast potential from the outset?
Yes, social media is challenging when you are a cannabis business. But so is every other form of marketing. And there are a number of best practices that you can follow that will help you avoid the dreaded shutdown. And even if the unfortunate day comes when you lose access to your account, believe me when I say it will be much easier to grow your following back the second time than it was to build it in the first place.
Learn more about marketing for your cannabis business on social media here.
Cannabis Video Marketing
The next big thing in cannabis marketing is video. This is absolutely true. The reasons for this are manifold. Plenty of data confirms that users are more likely to remember information in video form, and more likely to associate that content with your brand, when compared to print media. Moreover, with phones forever getting faster, more and more video content is being consumed every day, which is why YouTube is now the second largest search engine in the world. Perhaps most important of all, all of the major social media platforms are emphasizing video in a major way, meaning your video posts will be more likely to be promoted and seen.
In order for you to capitalize on this trend, you need to formulate a well-crafted content strategy that places the priority on creating videos that are considered high value by your customers. This means focusing more on educational, informative, lifestyle, and entertaining content rather than on hard sell tactics that might actually turn your potential customers away. Remember, you are not the customer, and if you want your followers to engage with and share your video content, it needs to of interest to them.
Learn more about our video marketing services here.
Cannabis SEO
There's a reason that cannabis business owners often overlook SEO as part of their marketing strategy: it's not sexy. It's actually kind of boring. It's also really hard to do well. But when done correctly, it's one of the most effective ways to generate authentic, organic traffic for your website, the kinds of visitors that actually convert into customers. Best of all, there's a lot of untapped potential in the cannabis space when it comes to SEO, and that's where your company comes in, but only if you seize the opportunity.
The secret to cannabis SEO isn't that complicated. You need to create original, high value content, including blogs, white papers, videos, photographs, product catalogs, and more, on a regular basis. The more content you produce, and the more relevant it is to your customers, the more traffic you'll get. It's really that easy. You just need to be willing to make the investment.
Learn more about creating great SEO content here.
Cannabis Email Marketing
Email marketing is not appropriate for every business. In fact, it may actually turn off your customers if not used in the right instances. We normally recommend email marketing, when you acquire a targeted list of cannabis businesses or customers, and send out mass marketing emails, to B2B cannabis businesses. Email marketing is likely to be less effective for dispensaries, growers, or CBD companies directly targeting consumers, and you might be better off investing in SEO, video marketing, or SEO.
But another option for cannabis companies that falls under the email marketing category is starting an email newsletter. Rather than purchasing or cultivating an email list in order to directly sell products and services, an email newsletter is a way to share recent news and updates, provide informational content, and build a connection with your subscribers. Services like Mailchimp and Substack make it easy for companies to maintain email lists, add followers, and even to monetize your newsletter. Of course, this is all based upon the premise that you are providing something of value via your newsletter.
PPC Marketing
Pay-per-click advertising is often considered the pinnacle of digital marketing. Unfortunately, for most cannabis businesses, it is completely off limits. PPC is when you run ads on Google or other search engines and social media platforms next to particular search terms, and you pay based on the cost of the search query and only when someone clicks on your ad and visits your website. Growers and dispensaries won't be able to use PPC because Google (and most of the social media platforms) have policies against running ads for cannabis content and businesses.
For instance, if you search for "Where To Buy CBD" on Google, not a single ad will show up next to the search returns, whereas if you search for "Where To Buy Supplements," plenty of sponsored links are returned. Depending on the product or service you're offering, you might be able to get around it, but for now, most of us are left on the outside looking in when it comes to PPC marketing. The main exception would be service providers that cater to the cannabis industry. Examples include LED manufacturers, CRM software providers, and similar third party solutions.
There are other types of digital marketing as well, including SMS marketing, geofencing, cannabis blog writing, live webinairs, and so on. To learn more about these various options and decide which ones are best for your cannabis business, your best bet is to consult with a cannabis marketing agency.
Partner With The Professional Digital Marketers From The Hood Collective
When it comes to digital marketing, the best way to get the most for your money is by partnering with a professional digital marketing agency. The Hood Collective not only specializes in the kinds of content marketing tactics that are most likely to succeed in 2022, but they also focus exclusively on the cannabis industry, meaning we have particular insights into the unique challenges that your business faces on a daily basis.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.