The CBD marketplace is enjoying explosive growth right now, leading many entrepreneurs and marketing professionals to realize that this is the perfect moment to launch their own CBD brand. While CBD products are flying off the shelves, however, many consumers are being saturated with too many advertisements and don’t know how to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to determining the right products for them.
If your CBD brand is to succeed, it must be able to differentiate itself from the competition. To do that, you’ll need an excellent digital advertising strategy to rely upon.
Be Bold and Different
The CBD market’s enduring success has led so many brands to foray into this space that it can now be difficult to determine who’s who. That’s why the first and most important element of any CBD marketing campaign should be differentiating yourself from the competition. It can be incredibly difficult to separate yourself from your competitors when users barely know who you are, however, so part of your differentiation strategy will be centered around bolstering your brand recognition and getting your message out to key audience members who are likely to buy into your image and brand.
This means collecting data, and lots of it. Data is the lifeblood of the modern economy, and your inability to vacuum up user information so that it can be put to use later on will tank your CBD brand faster than anything else. Don’t take this as an indication that you need to scoop up as much data as possible from every possible source, however, as you’ll need to gather your information in an ethical fashion if you hope to endure for long enough to use it. After all, violating data privacy rules and giving the public the impression that your company is snooping around can do huge amounts of damage to your brand.
That’s why CBD entrepreneurs who want to foray into the world of online advertising need to set some time aside to read up on the best practices for the ethical collection of data. Relying on shady third party vendors may seem attractive because of how much money it will save you, for instance, but it will end up costing you your integrity and reputation when a data breach strikes.
You’ll also want to determine if you can partner up with distributors or get your brand featured on popular CBD marketplaces. Take the example of three CBD companies with exceptionally strong marketing strategies: 1. CBDMedic for instance has a beautifully designed website, strong distribution agreements with pharmacy CVS, and has also partnered with NFL legend Rob Gronkowski to promote its products. 2. Charlotte’s Web also has functional and well-designed website with a huge array of available products, they also partner with many brands to increase their online presence 3. Lord Jones’ CBD products’ branding focuses on in-store placements – they partnered with immensely popular fitness outlet Soul Cycle to help peddle their products.
Following these types of strategies can seriously help roll-out your product and lift your bottom line.
Don’t Misread Your Audience
One common mistake that CBD entrepreneurs need to keep in mind is that many CBD brands and cannabis companies in general misread their audience and make fools of themselves. Not everybody who’s interested in cannabis is a stoner, and not everybody who may end up buying your CBD products has experience with similar products. This means that you need to treat your audience respectfully and avoid stereotypes while still retaining the ability to make cultural connections with them that will humanize your brand and make your company more relatable and engageable.
You should also be aware that “influencer marketing” can backfire. These days, companies across the world are racing to find notable “influencers” who possess large social media followings so that they can pay these influencers to be brand ambassadors. By hawking your merchandise, so the story goes, these influencers will drive their fans to your brand and ensure your profits shoot upwards. In reality, however, the efficacy of influencers is incredibly dubious, and relatively few brands have benefited from them in a demonstrable fashion.
You should thus always be skeptical whenever you’re perusing CBD advertising tips and encounter advice encouraging you to bolster your social media spending by hiring social media influencers. This isn’t to say that social media platforms are worthless, however; they can be an ideal way for your brand to reach out to prospective customers. Popular social media platforms can also be used to solicit consumer feedback which can help you better your products or services as time goes on.
One avenue of advertising that few CBD brands are making good use of is podcasts; while CBD users vary in age and background, many of them are younger consumers who love to listen to popular podcasts. By sponsoring advertisements on these relatively youthful mediums, then, your CBD brand can reach out to the type of consumer who is driving the CBD industry as a whole forward at a breakneck pace. By collecting ample data on your target audience in an ethical manner before directly marketing to them in ways they’re familiar with, your CBD brand will be achieving success in no time.
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