Trying to market cannabis? Tear a page from the world of B2B marketing

By Peter Vamos

In my last post, I discussed the challenges facing cannabis producers in what looks to be a very restrictive communications market. Now that the Trudeau government has officially passed Bill C-45, growers are frantically preparing for the launch of legal bud October 17. But questions around what they can and can’t do to promote their products remains as murky as old bongwater.

Recommendations for Canadian cannabis advertising will be strict. Legislation bans mass advertising. No billboards, magazine, radio or prime-time TV ads are allowed. Dried pot will be sold in plain bags, with Health Canada warnings on them. And whatever you do, don’t make it look like fun.

Some producers are tapping into influencers to get products endorsed by those with a strong social presence. Gene Simmons, Snoop Dogg and a litany of social media stars are lined up to puff their way into the hearts and minds of followers. However, these could be seen as pushing boundaries too far and be quickly slapped down.

Some growers already had to pull down branding after the feds came calling.

In the face of all this uncertainty, content marketing represents one of the strongest options available. Cannabis brands can utilize blogs, videos, case studies, whitepapers and infographics. They can make their web sites the centres of marketing activities and employ organic SEO and social traffic as drivers.

Most consumer brands already use such tactics to one degree or another. But how many have these wrapped in inbound marketing strategies? The tactical differences that make up inbound campaigns are subtle but meaningful, employing methods that in effect micro-manage the buyer’s journey.

Inbound has been a very powerful tool for B2B marketer for years, as well as for some in the B2C space. But inbound is not generally employed in the packaged goods space. In the case of the emerging marijuana market, it makes a lot of sense. That’s because consumers are heading into unexplored territory and will have a ton of questions.

Inbound marketing is a strategy focused on thought leadership, attracting customers through relevant and helpful content. With inbound, potential customers enter your sales funnel by finding you through channels like blogs, search engines, and social media. By creating content designed to address the problems and needs of ideal customers, cannabis brands can build trust and credibility.

In other words, as a consumer, I recognize that there is some information that I need, and search Google for the answer. What happens most of the time in the B2C world is the top searches take you to brand websites, usually a home page. But increasingly in B2B, your searches take you to studies, webinars, blog posts, or videos; directly to the content that answers specific questions.

The question being asked is probably not, “How awesome is Brand X’s pot?” More likely it is something along the lines of “What is an organic pot brand?” Or “How do I clean my bong?”

B2C Option

The business-to-consumer landscape has dramatically changed over the past 15 to 20 years. Traditional advertising methods have become non-effective or even obsolete for many niches of business.

Modern consumers educate themselves on what products they want and what companies they want to buy from. This is all done online, long before any contact is made to any company. The earlier you enter these curious consumers into your sales-funnel, the more likely it is that they are going to become customers.

There are so many new users in Canada learning about cannabis due to legalization rolling out, that this is the perfect time to position your organization as the source of valuable information to a curious public. You can gain devoted followers with every conversion. This is relationship-based marketing at its best, and completely consumer driven. And you can avoid the potential pitfalls around creating lifestyle-focused content that appears to be glamorizing marijuana consumption.

B2C Content Recommendations:

Nothing drives search engine traffic better than blogs and videos. Blogs should be focused on educating and informing, not selling. They need to be published regularly and consistently.

Content can’t be lifestyle focused, but you can discuss product attributes, health benefits and grow-op technologies. Perhaps create videos profiling your diverse employees to highlight your contribution to Canada’s social fabric. Or create something on sustainability practices. Or profile how you work with and support local indigenous groups.

Podcasts are another communication option, and a strong one when targeting millennials.

And always be thinking about how to use the available data. While paid marketing around specific search terms may be prohibited, you can still pull key phrases from data and include these words in video headlines and blog posts. The average monthly search volume for the top searched cannabis-related terms over the last two years are “marijuana” (301,000), “weed” (246,000), “vape/vape pen” (135,000) and “cannabis” (110,000).

By creating data-driven content that emphasizes searchable keywords, you can divert a search user’s attention to your website and products.

B2B Option

As noted above, there will be a lot of people coming into dispensaries with questions in the initial phase of legalization. So, increasing mindshare with dispensary employees could also produce significant benefits.

Since you are limited in how you can communicate to consumers, you may want to focus a content strategy that engages and builds trust with dispensaries and their employees, since they will be key advisors to curious consumers.

The same could be true with doctors and other medical practitioners.

B2B Content Recommendations

Write blogs to advance your organization’s thought leadership. Blog to educate and inform. Blog to explore rules and regulations.

Highlight issues and solutions in other jurisdictions. Create videos about your facilities, expertise and technologies. Publish infographics, whitepapers and case studies to help the professionals understand the current state of the industry.

A monthly webinar where you bring in experts to delve into key issues for dispensaries and medical practitioners is also a great way to advance your thought leadership. One benefit with webinars is you can restrict and track participants. This allows you to create two-way conversations with potential advocates of your products. You can then mine and recycle this content to create social videos, blog posts, whitepapers and case studies. You could do a year’s worth of webinars, blogs and videos for the cost of paying a couple of top influencers.

These are tactics used in so many sectors and will be a difference-maker to cannabis producers looking for an affordable, data-driven alternative to traditional marketing tactics.