Since 2018 when the Farm Bill legalised the production of hemp for the first time since 1937, cannabidiol (also known as CBD) has become incredibly popular in the wellness world. From oils to topicals, the CBD industry reached $1.9 billion in the U.S. alone last year, according to Statista.
However, the stigma around cannabis is still here. So there is another question – how has CBD become so popular even if users first feared using these products, worrying about getting high? The answer is a proper marketing strategy. While promoting CBD products was a challenging task for most businesses a few years ago, now all the doors are open, people are ready to hear more about these products and tend to purchase them to boost wellness.
Even though some marketing issues are here, thanks to some laws and regulations, modern CBD businesses can significantly benefit from promoting their products. Here you can explore the best strategies you can consider to attract more customers to your brand and grow awareness.
How to Overcome Cannabis Marketing Challenges
As we mentioned, there are still some challenges related to promoting CBD products. For example, major social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram and the newest ones like Snapchat and TikTok do not allow CBD companies to run paid ads, making creating valuable content the only way to attract users.
But that’s not bad. Organic traffic is much better when users like what you deliver, and they are usually warm, leading to purchases. Some CBD brands attract users by providing educational content, helping the industry move forward and get rid of the stigma.
Luckily, social media platforms are not your critical options in 2023. This world is highly digital, allowing you to enter any point and attract users from all across the world. For example, you can also seek help from a cannabis SEO expert to make the process much easier. However, you need to find what strategy works best for you. Below you will find some most effective and learn how you can promote your CBD brand today:
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is one of the favourite options for CBD brands and other one’s today. This means that you need to find celebrities who will post about your products on social media or somewhere else, showing the audience that they use your products and why. Even though popular celebrities work best, you can also use the help of less-known figures.
If you are going to promote your CBD products this way, try to find famous people that really like CBD. These could be professional athletes who use CBD products for better concentration and speed up recovery, so you will attract the same target audience. Or it could be a popular yoga teacher – a fan of wellness. It is also worth noting that influencers with smaller, niche audiences can bring better results than influencers with broader audiences but less engagement.
Affiliate Marketing
In most cases, CBD brands are promoted quickly. That is because the industry continues to settle into clearly defined niches. The good news is that CBD space highly supports affiliate marketing, allowing publishers to generate great traffic to your website and improve your chances of being at the top of the search.
Since affiliate fees are based only on performance, this type of marketing offers your brand a low-risk way to get quality traffic. It is crucial to ensure that your conversion and retention strategies are in place since customers that come from this marketing usually present the highest potential customer lifetime value.
Native Advertising
If other options don’t work for you for some reason, you can consider promoting your products directly at places where CBD fans are gathered. Native advertising refers to one of the marketing strategies usually within a digital publication, where placements look for relevant content. By putting your products and showing them to customers in these places, you can get millions of active readers of all ages and shapes. While it may not lead to increased sales, this will definitely help you grow brand awareness for long-term success.
Content Syndication
Content syndication is also an excellent marketing strategy to boost your brand awareness. For example, you can consider platforms like FieldTest that can be used to republish your content on relevant third-party sites. This allows you to put the proper and relative content-based advertisements below or near other articles. Being relevant is the key to success, and it is also vital to work with a syndicator who knows the industry and the content you offer.
Out-of-Home
While it may sound outdated, you can still use billboards. While this traditional marketing strategy has long been considered ineffective, the latest reports show that it might be a great solution for any CBD brands that want to promote business yet can’t do so online. However, here you can also face some challenges since not every country and state in the U.S. legalise CBD consumption. You can become viral if you use interesting formulations when promoting your CBD products this way. Make sure you learn all local laws and regulations to stay on the safe side and not get obligations later.
Podcast Ads
The Last but also highly effective way to advertise your CBD brand in 2022 is creating podcasts. There are so many people looking for wellness tips since they are now more aware of their health. Creating valuable podcasts for this audience can help you generate traffic to the website, gain revenue directly from podcasts (on later strategies) and also increase sales. Even though some think that podcasts are boring, the truth is that modern people are obsessed with them, so make sure you include this step in your successful marketing strategy.
Wrapping Up
The CBD industry is flourishing, allowing new CBD brands to enter the space and become popular among millions of customers. In addition, people now take care of their health more than ever and look for natural solutions for their wellness. However, the market is competitive and challenging in marketing. Knowing some most effective strategies can help you overcome issues and gain revenue with no stress.
