Marijuana legalization has created once in a lifetime opportunities for people trying to create generational wealth through cannabis. As soon as it was possible to create a cannabis company, people have been racing to create the most competitive businesses possible in medical and recreational states.
The cannabis industry is a multi-billion dollar market that is growing every year. Not only is the industry recession proof, it only grew as profits soared throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Without a doubt, the hemp and marijuana industry pose fantastic opportunities to create a business that can last a lifetime while generating revenues that surpass countless other industries. If you are reading this, you are probably somewhere along the fence of beginning your cannabis venture.
Since you are here, we want to provide you an experienced guide to creating your own cannabis brand business model, and place yourself in a position where your business can compete with the big players.
Top 15 Steps to Start Your Cannabis Brand
Like any lucrative industry, countless people will swarm the internet to research and forge businesses to participate in the hype. Although this may be daunting, finding your slice of the profits is mostly a matter of timing and finding that corner of the market you can capitalize on.
1. Conduct Thorough Research
In any industry you want to invest in, you must conduct as must research as possible. Find out everything about who the major companies are in the space, as well as the history of your prospective industry.
In the cannabis industry, it is also important to understand the legalities at play. Knowing which states are legal and illegal for marijuana, as well as other cannabinoids like delta-8 THC, are important to know especially if you are looking to conduct your business in multiples states.
2. Consider Your Target Audience
Competing in the greater cannabis industry against household names may seem futile, but by considering which section of the industry you want to focus on, you can find foundational success.
Knowing exactly who you are selling your products to is one of the most important steps in ensuring that you will remain competitive in the industry. The people you sell to should symbolize an embodiment of your brand in physical form. Your customers should want to identify with your brand, which is why your brand must first identify with your customers.
Considering the demographic that your brand will serve is quintessential. Knowing your target audience, including their spending habits and consumer behavior will allow you to maximize your sales. Understanding and developing your audience’s profile is known as the customer segment, which is the primary group of people you want to sell your product or service to.
Within all the types of customers in the cannabis market, you must find a problem you can solve. Knowing which neighborhoods can benefit off of your dispensary, which shops need a wider variety of products for your distribution, and which towns are lacking cultivators are all potential problems you can provide a solution for in establishing your cannabis brand.
Other variables are important especially if you are trying to create a long lasting brand. Creating an identity for your brand must align with the identity of your customer. That includes:
- Who are your customers and what are their needs?
- What do they do for a living?
- What age groups are you serving?
- What are their interests?
By considering all of these factors, and solving a problem for your targeted audience, you will find success such as long as you can deliver your business to your intended customers in an effective way.
3. Identify What Makes Your Dispensary/Business Unique
Now that you have identified your customer segment, as well as understanding what their needs and problems are, you can now hone in on your primary product or service that will provide a solution to your targeted customers. The key product or service being provided is known as the value proposition, and is the main focus of your business to perpetuate sales and growth. This value proposition should be able to provide an advantage over other competing companies in the space, and allow you to build your brand’s identity as a result.
If for example you identify that there are younger adult customers who want to consume cannabis at a fair price in their area, and you find that the only cannabis available are premium brands, there may be an opportunity here to solve a problem. By establishing a budget friendly dispensary for local customers looking to consume marijuana for the low, you are fulfilling an unsolved need. Since your advantage for your value proposition is providing a better price than the competition, you are able to build your brand around being a dispensary people can depend on to get what they need at a reasonable price.
Having a cheaper price is just one part of what your value proposition can entail. Other factors, like having a better packaging method, higher quality service, or unique experience may be the icing on the cake that propels your value proposition from being replicated by any other business. You can have as many different types of products on your shelves as you’d like, but if you don’t know what your value proposition is for your intended customer segment, all of those products may be completely disconnected from your primary buyers’ wants and needs.
4. Emphasize the Importance of Cannabis Consumer Education
Since legal cannabis is still relatively new, your intended customer segment may also include novice cannabis consumers. Like many recreational activities, there may be a slight learning curve, and it is our job as cannabis businesses to educate the public about hemp and marijuana products to provide them the understanding of how to have their best experience possible when using cannabis.
It is our responsibility to set examples for the future to rely on, especially in a space that faces legal scrutiny. Public awareness is vital to not only provide customers a chance of coming back to you, but also give them the confidence necessary to make sound decisions in their purchases. As people become more educated in cannabis products, they will be able to hold brands up to higher standards, which will further legitimize the industry.
5. Pay Close Attention to Packaging
Whether you are trying to produce your own cannabis, or distributing someone else’s, the product’s packaging is the most important part of the product. A company growing the best weed on the planet may never receive the attention it deserves among all the other cannabis brands unless they are presented in proper packaging.
Picking the right package designs that best represent your company is an exciting process, but requires careful attention to detail. Anything containing cannabis in a legal setting must contain a grocery list of information including THC potency from third party lab tests, ingredients, warnings, weight, date of packaging, and don’t forget the company logo!
What needs to be included on the labeling also comes with a list of terminologies and images that cannot be used. Although subjective, all cannabis products cannot contain language or designs that may attract children’s attention. Additionally, any packaging containing cannabis may also require child proof seals.
6. Don’t Forget About Social Media Marketing
If you want to create a new business in any industry in today’s age, creating a social media presence for your brand is as important as registering your employee identification number. Once you finish selecting your packaging, it is now time to take product photos and develop a loaded archive of content waiting for you to post online. Make sure to start off your online marketing campaign swiftly and with as much content as possible. Fueling your social media platforms with posts as frequently as your competition is one of the best ways to launch your brand into your targeted audience’s attention. That being said, you may also want to look out for each platform’s terms and conditions to make sure you do not restrict your brand from reaching your customers.
Creating social media accounts may be daunting, but should be viewed as an exciting opportunity. Once you are familiarized with the platform and have an intuition about what you should post to best engage with your customer segment, it is now time to build your narrative and tell your brand’s story.
Every great business has their own history behind it. With social media, the best companies of tomorrow start by telling their story online today.
7. Build and Grow Your Organic Reach on Instagram
Building off of the previous step, knowing how to best utilize platforms like Instagram may also help your brand receive a better chance of sticking out from the crowd. Instagram is mostly used by adults ranging from 21 to 40 years old, making it an ideal place for cannabis companies to reach their customers.
Whether you are an individual or business entity, creating an organic Instagram with a dedicated following is the best way to engage with your audience and convert them into sales.
In order to grow your brand on social media organically, it is important to keep up with four areas on Instagram and many other platforms.
- Create posts and stories as often as your competition.
- Upload your posts on a consistent schedule.
- Research the most trending hashtags that are relevant to your posts to increase your chances of being discovered by your audience.
- Create impactful videos that capture the attention of your customers and give them a call to action.
Lastly, it is important to note that social media platforms like Instagram also have great potential for developing your customer service. Regardless on where your company lies on the cannabis supply chain, it is important to have a responsive customer service in the direct messages of your audience.
8. Build and Grow Your Organic Reach on Facebook
Facebook is a great way to supplement the traffic onto your website or other social media pages if you are trying to target audiences over the age of 45. There are several ways you can utilize Facebook to drive your brand’s popularity.
When you launch your brand, people on Facebook can provide reviews on your products and service which can help your business gain a lasting reputation such as long as you are providing a product and service that is true to your word. Then, you can gain trust from first time buyers while generating loyal customers.
Facebook is also a great tool for generating traffic onto your website blog posts. If you have any content worth sharing on your website, you can post them on the platform to further the SEO optimization of your site. If you are including content that educates your audiences, you can create a means of further legitimizing your business to gain more customer loyalty and trust.
Like Instagram, you must be informed of Facebook’s terms and conditions when utilizing their platform. Make sure you comply to their rules to make sure your hard work isn’t taken down.
9. Search Engine Optimization for Cannabis Brand Marketing
In a digital world where everything we can imagine can be found on a search bar, it is important to understand the significance behind search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a practice that once mastered, can help you put any company to the first page of its search.
In order to understand SEO, you must first know how that search engines rely on using relevant keywords to connect people to what they are searching for. In order for your business to show up on the top search pages, you need to generate blogs discussing the relevant topics in your industry. The more keywords you use, and the more other people use those keywords, the search engine will understand that the combination of keywords used by both websites makes those keywords relevant to each other.
Aside from creating your own posts on your website, you can also generate traffic by guest writing for other marijuana media outlets, and have a link going to your website at the end of the article. Additionally, you can have other websites talk about your company in their articles, which will further generate traffic to your website and boost your ranking on search pages.
10. Market Your Cannabis Brand on Industry-Related Websites & Blogs
Regardless on if your business sells to customers or other businesses, increasing your online relevancy by having your brand linked to your targeted keywords is important to further traffic onto your website. With so many people on the internet, it is not a bad idea to promote your brand on another cannabis website, as you may never know who may come up to you and take your business even further.
Choosing to market your business on other websites may not only improve your sales, but also help you cut costs. Opening yourself up to connecting with other businesses may help you find better sources for supplies and materials to decrease your operating costs, which in turn will also make you generate more profits.
11. Integrate SMS Messaging into Your Marketing
Sending a text message to your customers is a sure way of getting your customers’ attention. If you are already using other communication apps and email newsletters, consider getting your business into sending out text messages directly to your customers’ phones.
With over 75% of people checking their text messages within a few minutes, there is other way to effectively streamline marketing campaigns to your audience.
Since the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), people can now choose to opt in or out of SMS marketing. It is important to remain within the law and work with SMS marketing services that best suit your needs and keep you within regulations. That being said, as long as are able to generate loyal customers, you will be able to retain their attention through SMS messaging.
12. Build a Community
If you have managed to build your online presence and create a brand identity that resonates with your customers, you are well on your way to building a community with your company. As you build an influence not only over your clients, but also your business partners, you can further your understanding of the greater market beyond your original targeted audience, and make greater business decisions for your company as you grow further.
Your network and customers are the foundation of your community. Creating a reliable brand that people can trust, while building meaningful business relationships with your suppliers, will solidify your position in the cannabis market.
13. Conduct and Host Events
There is no better way to validate your newfound community by mobilizing an event. Whether you host a session at your dispensary, or begin an online challenge on social media for your cannabis products, generating an experience for your audience that goes beyond your product or service is a great way to further your customer loyalty.
This is the beginning of creating a brand that is bigger than its value proposition. At that point, you may have a brand that can afford and benefit from expanding into other products and services, as your company may achieve a level of popularity where you can generate more profits by catering to an even wider customer segment than before.
14. Hire a Cannabis Marketing Agency
Understandably, creating your own business in any industry is a ton of work, and making the appropriate marketing campaign to take it from point A to B may be just as much if not more work. That is why there are also cannabis marketing agencies that you can work with to help you propel your brand beyond what you may be able to do on your own.
Companies of all sizes consult marketing agencies to aid in their campaigns. Even if you decide to go with a specialized cannabis marketing firm, feel free to use these steps as a general guide to make sure your business efforts are going in the right direction.
15. Check out the Top 5 Cannabis Brands
Knowing a thing or two about the leading brands in any industry you participate in will not only give you a better understanding of the framework for taking your business to the top, but also a sense of how you can better improve where these leading businesses may have left off.
According to Business Decision Data Service Analytics (BDSA), here are the leading cannabis brands in 2021 sales volume in the United States:
- Rhythm:
Located in four states, and is the largest cannabis brand in Massachusetts and Green Thumb Industries, Rhythm has managed to generate over $430 million in sales, in which vapes accounted for half of their transactions.
- Cresco Cannabis:
Cresco is found in six states, and has taken in $425 million in sales over the past year.
- Stiiizy
Stiiizy is currently the fastest growing cannabis company with roots stemming from southern California. Now in four states, Stiiizy has generated $250 million in sales over the course of 2021.
- Select
In nine states across the country, Curaleaf subsidiary Select is one of the leading marijuana vape brands in the market with $235 million in sales.
- Wyld
Based out in Oregon, Wyld has become one of if not the leading cannabis edible company in the United States. Through edibles, Wyld has brought in $190 million from six states.
We hope this guide has given you a greater sense of confidence in considering if a cannabis venture is in your future. We have given you as much information as we possibly could to begin a successful hemp and marijuana brand. Of course, there are many more details we can provide, but we want to give you the most important pieces of advice that may often be missed by new brands. Remain authentic, and your company will resonate with your customers.
