Ordering the Right Content

Marketing cannabis is a unique challenge. This product has been illegal for so long that it does not have a history of marketing to draw on, and yet there is already a sort of culture surrounding it. Since you can't really learn from past cannabis marketing endeavors, it's good to look at another similar industry and what it has done to expand and find new customers. The craft beer industry, in particular, shares a lot of similarities with the cannabis industry, and there is a lot to learn from the way sellers have marketed craft beer.

The weirder, the better.

If there was one word that could be used to describe the entirety of craft beer marketing, it would be "diverse." Breweries have used cartoon characters, rock stars, and nature to market their beer. They've gone with any and every idea rather than feeling intimidated or letting the general perception of beer hold them back. The cannabis industry would do well to take a similar approach. Just as beer appeals to a wide audience, so does cannabis. The weirder and more diverse the marketing campaigns are, the more people they are going to reach.

Draw people in from outside.

In order to really grow your cannabis business, you will need to draw people in who are not already using the product. The way the craft beer industry did this was to focus on drawing in people who were already drinkers, but not of craft beer. They made beers that had qualities found in wine to draw in wine drinkers, and bourbon barrel-aged brews to appeal to whiskey lovers.

Think about how you could draw in people who are already using CBD with strains that are high in CBD but also contain a little THC. And think of how you can draw in people who are currently using alcohol into using cannabis. (Perhaps you could market a certain strain as having rum-like qualities or a tequila flavor.)

Make it modern.

The craft beer industry really modernized beer. Instead of sticking with the old trope of drinking a beer in the backyard with friends, they promoted beer as a drink to have with a classy dinner, one to enjoy while looking at art, and so forth. Seek to modernize cannabis in the same way. Don't focus on the old stereotypes associated with stoners and the super-artistic. Frame it as something for the everyday.

There may not be a long history of cannabis marketing to draw inspiration from, but there's a lot you can learn from the rise in craft beer over the past few years. 

For more ideas, contact a cannabis branding agency.