Welcome to Cannabis Marketing Live. All Puff. No Fluff.
I’m Kendra Losee, the host of this all-new Facebook show, where we bring you the brightest, boldest, and badass people, ideas and technologies in the cannabis industry!
This is Episode #001, Becoming Known. Marketing Your Cannabis Company
Thanks for joining me for Episode 1! I have been wanting to launch this for months, and finally decided that it’s better to launch than to be perfect. Who wants to be perfect? Let’s do this!
And if you’re watching the replay, I’m happy you’re here!
Please jump into the comments and let me know where you’re watching from. Knowing what state (or country – yeah Canada!) you’re coming from will help me know which states to focus on as we go forward.
Speaking of comments – chime in with your likes, your hearts, your comments, and questions! This is more fun when it’s interactive! There is nothing worse than when I’m teaching (online or in a classroom, or video) and am talking to the sound of crickets. I want to hear from you.
Today we’re going to be talking about:
- The challenges in marketing cannabis.
- Five things you need to know to create a winning marketing strategy
- Understanding how to start finding the Why in your business.
Cannabis regulation feels like it changes daily. In California, there are deadlines for retailers coming up on July 1. From the marketing side, in March, the National Cannabis Association proposed advertising standards to create consistency and to start self-regulating the industry’s advertising. The state requirements differ greatly. In California, it states that “Any advertising or marketing placed in broadcast, cable, radio, print, and digital communications shall only be displayed where at least 71.6 percent of the audience is reasonably expected to be 21 years of age or older, as determined by reliable, up-to-date audience composition data.”
71.6% That is a ridiculous number.
And the thing is, not of that is consistent from state to state, or with the Federal Regulations.
If you’re in another country where it is legal (Canada! Uruguay!), then I’d love to hear how those regulations are being handled.
Most of you are aware, but it’s fun to set the state:
Because of the federal regulations, most digital marketing activities are unavailable to us.
Let’s step back and look at one way digital marketers often think about online advertising, is using three pillars:
- Paid Media – this is defined as the area where you are purchasing ad space, from paid search, to display ads, to sponsorship ads, all of that is considered paid media.
- Earned – this is primarily defined as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and content marketing (or, a “inbound marketing”)
- Owned – these are channels that you own and have control over, like your website, or your email marketing. No one can tell you to shut down your website.
Social media is blurred across all three areas.
But in Cannabis, paid media as digital marketers traditionally think about it, is primarily unavailable.
What do you do when you can’t use one of the pillars?
What do you do if you can use social media, but not reliably, and not without the awareness that it could be shut down? For no real reason, like YouTube started doing a few months ago.
What can marketers and businesses do to become KNOWN if many of the channels are no longer available?
Well, that’s what we cover in this video. Over the coming episodes, we will be exploring what works for brands that are doing it well, what tools are available, people who are killing it, dispensaries kicking ass, and the tools we can use to make it happen.
Five things you need to know to create a winning marketing strategy
- Have Specific Goals for your business, and for your marketing
- Create SMART Business Goals (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Timely)
- Understand your business goals that relate to marketing
- Use them to keep you focused on your priorities
- Identify and Understand Your Target Audience
- Who they are
- Where they’re hanging out
- Where they’re getting their information?
- What motivates them? What are their hopes and dreams
Understanding your audience helps you know who you are talking to, and how you can reach them as efficiently as possible.
- Your Mission/Vision – KNOW YOUR WHY
- Understanding the reason and purpose of your business will help you move from being a commodity to a lifestyle brand, like Harley Davidson, or Apple.
- Use what you learned from your audience to understand how you can transform their pain points.
- Be Different!
- Know how your product/service differs from your competitors, and emphasize those areas of differentiation.
- As Sally Hogshead of howtofascinate.com said, “Being different is better than being better.”
- Market Like You’re Back to the Future!
- Go back to the past. Be creative and look at traditional, offline options. Events, print, radio, in-dispensary networks, etc. The way the laws and regulations are right now, it’s a time to be creative and focus beyond just digital.
- But you don’t want to forget about digital entirely. Come back! Come back to the future! Look at digital options that make sense, because they do exist.
- Examples available include: SEO, Content marketing, social media, ad networks, cannabis networking platforms, some paid media
Clones are great for cannabis plants, but not for businesses. Do you want to be like everyone else, or do you want your business to stand out?
You want to stand out.
If this is the case, shoot me an email at [email protected] and let’s book some time to talk about the right marketing for your business!
Tune in to Cannabis Marketing Live, next Thursday at 2pm PST, where we’ll be talking social media. That’s right, we’re going straight there. Because while DeLoreans are cool, this isn’t 1985.
Resources
Book: Known
Ted Talk: It Starts With Why
Sally Hogshead, howtofascinate.com
About the host:
Cannabis Marketing Live is hosted by Kendra Losee, CEO of Mota Marketing.
Kendra lives and breaths marketing. In addition to working with clients to determine their marketing strategies, she recently launched a course teaching social media to cannabis entrepreneurs. From social media to traditional marketing, Kendra’s 20 years of marketing experience helps her lead the way in cannabis marketing. And she couldn’t be happier about it.
You can find Kendra at:
LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/klosee
Twitter: twitter.com/klosee
Email: [email protected]
