The importance of branding extends to all industries. However, due to regulations and subsequent limitations, the importance applies that much more to cannabis and its emerging market. With marijuana, a nascent space awaits its brand leaders to emerge. From dispensaries to extractors to shipping and security, each sector is maturing and in need of top names.
To do so, a cannabis brand should focus on an array of aspects. This includes the company’s imagery and message. Meanwhile, it must never forget the importance of delivering reliable, compliant, and ideally, sustainable products to the market.
Establishing Your Brand in Cannabis Through Marketing
Building a cannabis brand today is a rather difficult task. Virtually every venture in the space is attempting to do the same. Aside from the few major players and household brands, most companies are looking to find a way to become the Nike, Coca Cola or what have you of the space.
It wasn’t that long ago that a brand could stand out by slapping a pot leaf on its logo. Or, maybe it’d cover its imagery in head-to-toe green with a cheeky pot pun. Today that isn’t the case for most.
Some have also gone the route of using a parody of notable brands and well-known names to stand out. However, that often ends in lawsuits that are difficult to beat as the original brand has all the evidence they need just by looking at the mimicking venture.
In today’s hypercompetitive cannabis business environment, brand names, imagery and intent are all part of establishing a brand as any other sector would. The days of hokey imagery and puns are reduced to a subsection of the market, where top names do little business. Instead, brands aim to be creative, informative, unique and/or easy to remember.
With the name serving as the introduction for the consumer, the brand can be further established by creating a dynamic strategy that gets the word out. This approach is sure to vary depending on the company and its goals in the cannabis space. In some cases, local efforts may be most effective. Whereas, other brands may find their goals more likely to be satisfied through traditional online means.
In the case of the latter, a brand has to keep in mind the pitfalls of social media advertising. Due to federal laws, little to no cannabis-related content can be promoted on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and other accessible means. If a business’ plan doesn’t carefully plan out the type of content and marketing it does on such platforms, it could find their accounts locked out or deleted.
That said, brands that do navigate the terms of each platform’s services correctly can reach scores of consumers and fans, often even before reaching specific markets. Along the way, the company can establish itself as either a lifestyle brand, where its imagery is equal to the product. Or, it can become an effects brand, which focuses less on getting the brand’s image out as it does the effect the product provides.
The same rules apply to a company’s website as it does its social media. While it won’t get shut down by Google, a cannabis venture is unlikely to be able to use popular marketing tools like Google Ads for advertising. Instead, they will need to turn to other means to establish the type of brand it is.
Secondary ad networks are an option, with some tailored specifically to the cannabis space. In other cases, brands have found success through effective public relations campaigns and media placements. Depending on the publication’s rules, the company may get a backlink from participating in the article. At worst, the company will receive a mention online that should help its online search results to some degree.
Establishing Your Brand in Cannabis Through Compliance
That said, none of it matters if the product behind the branding isn’t effective, safe and compliant. Product efficacy is essential, as consumers want a product with an adequate onset time that provides the effects that match the source material’s plant profile. If a product or brand has proprietary means of delivering those effects, then the company is presented with another opportunity to establish its name in a unique way. In some cases, this includes products in recent years that have aimed to shorten onset times in products that traditionally take longer to take effect.
However, those elements mean nothing if the company is not operating within the scope of regulations. While the cannabis community has long been accustomed to the outlaw culture of the illicit market, those days are changing. So too has the cannabis community, with its near ever-expanding base of consumers.
What once was tolerated now isn’t in a legal market. Today, contaminants from rainwater to chemicals are not tolerated. This is especially true after the EVALI lung injury crisis of 2019. While primarily spurred on by the illicit market, the effects of EVALI caused consumers to turn away from vapes and consider products like flower and tinctures instead.
Consider the case of CannTrust Holdings Inc. as well. The Canadian cultivator had a hellish 2019 brought on by its array of infractions, which included operating out of unlicensed spaces. Since the June revelations, the company has seen, among other consequences, a class-action lawsuit, stocks plummet and a market become suspicious of a once-prominent brand in the nascent space.
In short, keep your company’s nose clean. Especially if you have a brand with a reassuring word like “Trust” in the name.
Establishing Your Brand in Cannabis Through Causes
It’s no secret that cannabis regulations are causing conflicts. Laws meant to protect children and deter product tampering are essential and needed. However, the current rules often call for additional packaging, adding to the industry’s already large environmental footprint.
A company could find its footing while doing good for the planet by framing itself as a champion of environmental causes. Examples can include using sustainable practices and packaging, including relying on hemp-based solutions in some cases. Other examples can consist of donating portions of sales or similar fundraising measures.
It is important to remember that the core of the cannabis community is often steeped in the community. By making genuine, good faith efforts, companies can earn the trust of consumers by giving more than just compliant, reliable products.
