When looking to advertise your cannabis business, the first thing you have to do is create a cannabis marketing game plan. This means defining where you are, where you want to be, and how you plan to get there.
You need to be able to adjust to changes in the market while having an overall roadmap guiding you to where you want to be.
Here are some great tips to get you started:
1. Know your business inside and out
Clarity is key when it comes to marketing a cannabis business successfully.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What three words best describe your business?
- What makes your brand different from the rest?
- What type of experience does your product or service provide
2. Define your target audience
Whenever your business is getting ready to run a promotion, you should reference your target markets and cater to your advertising to meet their needs.
By getting specific on who you’re trying to reach, your marketing messages are going to have a bigger impact, thereby building brand awareness and increasing sales.
3. Evaluate your competition
When you understand your competition and the other options your customers have, you can better position your business as the go-to source in the market.
A few important questions to consider:
- Who are your top three competitors and why?
- What are their products and services?
- Where are they advertising their business?
- What are their biggest strengths and weaknesses?
- Who are their most important customers and why?
Knowing this will give you a competitive edge and help your marketing efforts more effective.
4. Set your top marketing goals
Rather than just saying you want to make more sales, you have to create smart goals:
- S – Specific: what are you trying to achieve?
- M – Measurable: how are you going to measure your progress?
- A – Achievable: are the goals you’re setting possible?
- R – Relevant: how does this goal support your businesses’ higher purpose?
- T – Timely: what deadline are you setting?
You should identify exactly what you want to achieve to grow your business.
5. Select your promotional strategies
Today there are a wide variety of outlets that you can advertise on and the more places that you’re promoting your business the better – this means there’s a greater number of people that are going to come into contact with your company.
However, there’s only so many hours in a day and only so many advertising dollars to spend, so be selective when it comes to deciding which channels to invest your time and energy in. For this reason, you should make sure to consider your target audience. By advertising on the platforms they frequent, and avoiding the ones they don’t use, you will be able to save yourself time and money. As we’ll discuss later, measuring your results is a great way to figure out which platforms provide value, and which ones don’t.
6. Establish an advertising budget
Advertising is a must for every business, but you must be clear on your advertising budget to help you make the best use of your funds. By tracking where your money is being spent, you will be able to find which campaigns are providing the most value.
Your budget can also give you an indication of which resources you can use. For example, for larger campaigns, you might want to conduct market research, finding out more about your audience.
7. Design your ads
Once all the preliminary work has been completed, you can start designing your ads. When doing this, use the information you’ve gathered so far to make sure that your ads are as appealing as possible. For example, you should think about the type of images or messages that will resonate with your target audience.
You should also make sure that your ads will get people’s attention. For example, you might want to use bright colors to help you stand out. You should also consider the way your competitors have designed their ads. This will ensure that the customer won’t end up confusing your messages.
Another key area to consider is the platform that you are using. Often, different platforms will have a different type of user base. What appeals to one type of audience might not work with another.
While you won’t have to create multiple sets of unique designs, it’s important to tweak each one to make it appealing to the audience. By doing this step successfully, people will be attracted to your ads, delivering excellent results.
8. Measure your results
You should make sure that you have a way of measuring your results. This will make it easier for you to tell which platforms are delivering results, so you can spend your money more effectively.
The type of measurements that you choose to use will often depend on the type of campaign that you are running. For example, if you want to improve brand awareness, you might want to do a survey before and after the campaign. This will let you know if there have been any changes in the way that your brand is perceived.
Alternatively, you might want to try tracking where your traffic is coming from. This will tell you which sites are delivering results, and which ones you are wasting your money on.
9. Adjust your plan
As you run each campaign, you will gain new insights. For example, you might notice that you’ve overspent on an advertising platform that delivers poor results. Alternatively, you might spot that, while you have increased traffic, your sales haven’t improved.
To make sure that you get the most out of each campaign, you should make sure that you are adjusting your approach. This means that you will be able to avoid these mistakes in the future. In addition, by making the necessary changes while the campaign is underway, you will be able to instantly see whether they’ve been effective.
10. Put your game plan into action
Until you take action, nothing will happen – taking purposeful initiative separates the best from the rest. It takes day in, day out effort; though it’s cliché, success does not happen overnight! You have to really put in the work to bring your vision to reality. So, use this simple plan to improve your sales.