While the traditional B2B mindset is rooted in established marketing strategies, there are some worth looking into that will help your cannabis business. Investors and entrepreneurs know this, and they’re constantly seeking the way to convert marketing into sales.
We’re going to explore five proven marketing strategies for we’ve B2B cannabis businesses.
1. Stop Selling And Start Teaching
This may feel somewhat counterintuitive, but it’s a strategy for the long term. You see, when you focus exclusively on sales, you cannibalize your long term growth. A cannabis brand or service that only worries about the bottom line is one that will not grow.
When your cannabis business invests in reaching out and educating your customers, you create a trickle down effect. You will create advocated for your brand that will in turn serve as ambassadors for others. When you educate, you become the expert in the room. This keeps you relevant in the industry and in your customer’s lives!
2. Feedback
The cannabis marketplace is a highly competitive and volatile space. Ignore it at your own peril.
In order to thrive in the cannabis industry, your business needs to not only be competitive, it needs to be flexible. The regulations in this space can change on a moment’s notice. Dispensaries and new products can appear almost overnight.
Feedback is your greatest asset. As a cannabis entrepreneur, you need to be proactive instead of reactive. Through soliciting advice and opinions of your customers, industry leaders, influencers and the media, you will stay abreast of challenges and opportunities!
3. Reach Your Audience
The greatest product or business is nothing without an audience. As a cannabis entrepreneur, you should never expect them to come looking for you. Instead, deploy strategies that will help you find your ideal market.
It all starts and ends with Google. Your customers are looking for you and you need to make sure they can find you. An organic search strategy will help you increase traffic to your website and dispensary. This implies using keywords and meta tags to pop up in your customer’s searches. As well, your business name, address, and phone number will ensure that search engines will find you.
4. Use LinkedIn
This is a traditional marketing strategy that is sorely underutilized by cannabis entrepreneurs. LinkedIn represents a unique opportunity to target cannabis related business.
For example, it’s an amazing resource for local marketing. Linkedin will give you an overview of how many people live in states where cannabis is legal. You can also easily find other cannabis companies by using their drop down menu. Finally, you should look for groups or associations related to cannabis. This will give you a large database of business that you can potentially reach out to.
5. SMS & Email
Email and SMS marketing is alive and well! Email and SMS campaigns are a proven method to drive traffic and sales.
They are simply amazing tools that allows you to find your customers. The fact is that most cannabis brands and business don’t take advantage of these resources. Did you know that 90% of email is delivered to your recipient’s inbox; as opposed to Facebook, where only 2% of your Facebook fans will see your posts? (Source: Forrester Research).
In fact, email is a great way to keep your subscribers updated and it has amazing reach. The vast majority of people (over 70% according to research from Marketing Sherpa) prefer to receive promotional content through email. And according to Shop.org Report, over 60% of US INternet users have printed a coupon from an email!
SMS marketing is a distinct approach to marketing that can help increase your sales. This is because of how direct and personal it can be for your target audience. For example, over 90% of customers open texts within minutes of being received. This represents an ideal opportunity to interact with your customers!
Conclusion
We know there is constant upheaval in the cannabis industry. However, these marketing strategies from traditional markets still apply for your cannabis business marketing.. Did you find any of these strategies useful? Is there one that you would like us to cover?
Let us know in the comments! Oh, and don’t keep this information to yourself. Be sure to share this with your family and friends.
I am happy to have found this information on this blog. Thank you for sharing valuable info about cannabis businesses.
I agree with the SMS/Email marketing, but make you select a vendor that can guide and set you up properly with the proper CTIA & MMA requirements.