15 Tips: Marketing Cannabis Products Online
Although the cannabis industry has changed significantly over the last couple of years, according to the subject matter experts over at runrex.com, marketing of cannabis products remains a huge stumbling block, mostly due to industry regulation and legalization. This article, through the following 15 tips, will look to highlight the common challenges of marketing cannabis products online, as well as tips for successful marketing of cannabis products online.
Challenges faced when looking to market cannabis online
If you are to market cannabis products online successfully, then it is important to understand some of the challenges associated with doing so, something that is going to be addressed by the following tips.
- Major E-commerce brands stay out of the cannabis industry
As is outlined in detail over at guttulus.com, the fact that major e-commerce brands choose to stay away from the cannabis industry is one of the biggest stumbling blocks of marketing cannabis products online. The fact that most e-commerce companies are not willing to cooperate with cannabis companies is one of the major marketing challenges faced in the industry.
- Increasing constraints on demand and distribution
One of the main issues many cannabis companies face, as per the gurus over at runrex.com, are issues with inventory. With increasing demand and distribution constraints, it is difficult to effectively market cannabis products, which is not helped by the fact that a lack of clear distribution channels makes it difficult to facilitate door-to-door deliveries or for companies to keep up with demand.
- Strict regulations
As covered in detail over at guttulus.com, the cannabis industry is highly regulated, particularly on social media. On Facebook, for example, one can’t show images of the plant or paraphernalia used for cannabis products. Such restrictions make it difficult to effectively marketing cannabis products online.
- Competition from illicit dealers
As the gurus over at runrex.com point out, a significant number of potential customers prefer to buy cannabis products on the streets, as buying in the streets is cheaper than purchasing in a store. These illicit dealers damage business for legitimate companies, leading to cash flow issues that make it difficult to market cannabis products online.
- Difficulties in verifying customer identities
It is required that you confirm and verify the age of your customers before selling cannabis products online. However, this means that cannabis companies have to rely on the information given by the customer. Given that some customers alter important documents during the purchase process, this exposes merchants of cannabis products to legal risks, which is another challenge when it comes to marketing cannabis products online.
Tips for the successful marketing of cannabis products
Even as you consider the above challenges of marketing cannabis products online, the following are tips that should help you succeed in your marketing efforts.
- Make the most of social media platforms
As already mentioned earlier on, and covered in detail over at guttulus.com, most social platforms have got ad policies forbidding people from posting cannabis-related content. However, you can still leverage these platforms if you are careful enough about how you go about things. If you can abide by the rules while still marketing your products, you can see tremendous success from your efforts.
- Don’t forget about SEO
To increase the visibility of your company, you need to make sure that you optimize your web content, as this is how you will be able to increase SEO rankings. Having said that, according to discussions on the same over at runrex.com, some of the industry’s big hitters already rank for most relevant and high-value keywords. Therefore, you might want to consider optimizing for local search, through claiming and updating your GMB account, soliciting quality reviews, including local keywords in your content, and so forth.
- Incentivize customers to join your email lists
As per the subject matter experts over at guttulus.com, email marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies out there. However, if you want to be successful with your email marketing, you should incentivize your customers to join your email lists, either through calls-to-action or after they have made a purchase. The more people you have on your email list, the more successful you will be with it.
- Try out SMS marketing
Given that people usually have their phones with them all the time, SMS marketing can be extremely effective in increasing awareness of your cannabis products and driving traffic to your website. Make sure you don’t fall foul of the law, as covered over at runrex.com, and you can send personalized text messages to your audience, keeping them engaged, allowing you to market your products.
- Advertise on popular cannabis websites
There are several cannabis websites out there that are extremely popular among the cannabis community. These websites are regularly visited by the community, and you can identify which of these websites your potential customers visit, and see if you can advertise your products over there.
- Affiliate marketing
You should look to partner with companies that sell products that complement the ones you are selling, such as e-cigarettes among others as discussed over at guttulus.com. This way, you will be able to access markets that you would otherwise not have been able to access, increasing your chances of success as far as your efforts are concerned.
- Influencer marketing
On a related note, the cannabis industry has got several influential and popular personalities whom you can leverage and partner with to market your cannabis products online. As is outlined over at runrex.com, influencer marketing is becoming more and more effective, and it is something you ought to consider leveraging as part of your marketing strategies.
- Publish useful content
Remember, when publishing content, be it on social media or your blog, go for content that aims to educate your audience or provide them with useful and relevant content, as per the subject matter experts over at guttulus.com. Rather than putting up content that is over-promotional, share facts, statistics, current news, and answer common questions from customers.
- High-quality blog posts
From discussions on the same over at runrex.com, many companies that sell cannabis products use blogs to increase consumer engagement. Writing high-quality blog posts can help you market your products online, even though blogs don’t promote. The fact that blog posts can be shared on social media is another positive as far as they are concerned.
- Podcasting
Podcasts have become very popular nowadays, as they are not only engaging, entertaining, and informative, they are also easy to consume as all you have to do is listen. You can also invite industry experts and personalities and even answer questions and address common industry misconceptions. If you want to market your cannabis products online, you might want to consider podcasting.
While marketing cannabis products can be challenging, the highly-rated runrex.com and guttulus.com have got you covered if you need expert help from a top-rated marketing agency.