Any industry needs publicity to get noticed, but the cannabis industry faces obstacles beyond belief.

Advertising restrictions prevent cannabis companies from promoting their businesses like any other industry. So how and where can you advertise a cannabis business?

Well, we’ll get into this in more detail later, but the good news is that although there are many cannabis advertising restrictions, there are just as many ways we can advertise cannabis brands.

All is not lost. You can leverage several powerful marketing strategies to promote your cannabis business and grow your customer base legally and organically. Spoiler alert: having an experienced team on your side is a plus that will make the job much easier.

Words: The words you use when promoting cannabis products are very relevant, and there are certain words you should avoid using.

Herb’s Tip: It is not advisable to use claims that your products can treat or alleviate certain medical conditions or disorders.

Target Audience: The purpose of advertising is to make your brand known and to get people interested enough to follow your brand and buy your products.

When dealing with cannabis products, the messages may not be as direct. You have to attract the potential consumer’s attention to generate a bond and then use other channels that are not so restrictive to share relevant information that potentially ends in a purchase or follow-up.

Legality: Before advertising your products or brand anywhere, make sure you comply with local regulations. The last thing you want is legal problems.

Never forget to keep up to date with the latest federal and local restrictions and requirements. Sometimes they change drastically and quickly.

Strategy: Placement and timing are everything. You must be strategic about where your ads are placed and when they are published.

Promotions and events: Consider creative ways to get customers in the door, such as hosting networking events or other events that resonate with your target audience.

Never make claims or promise results: Stick to saying you have the best products, prices, and services. Leave the claims to the customers, and let your products speak for themselves.

Let’s not lie to ourselves. The most used advertising method nowadays is digital. Digital platforms have been responsible for prohibiting or limiting advertising for cannabis, which drastically impacts the cannabis industry in terms of advertising cannabis products and brands on the best platforms.

That said, other and more traditional advertising media are still quite useful, especially in promoting cannabis products and brands.

While advertising, in general, presents many obstacles for cannabis businesses, there are still some legal and available ways for cannabis businesses to promote themselves and their products.

Here are just a few of the best advertising alternatives for cannabis businesses:

Organic Marketing 

Restrictions are placed on paid social media advertising, but if you have an unpaid organic social media marketing strategy, you will see results.

For this, it’s essential to consider several points: The first is to identify the target audience of the brand and products and, from there, determine the appropriate social network, as well as the language and brand voice.

Sharing content that is visually appealing, interesting, and informative and doing so consistently is key to generating organic engagement. This is directly related to generating valuable traffic.

Overall it’s about making your social media page:

• Engaging
• Consistent
• Trendy
• Inclusive
• Welcoming

Herb’s tip: Including user-generated content is a very successful way to attract customers and show the reality of the products. Using images, photos, and text created by those who use your products makes your brand more trustworthy and authentic.

Influencers or brand ambassadors are also part of the organic marketing strategy. For this, the best option is to make alliances or collaborations with people who identify with the brand and represent its voice.

Cannabis Marketing

For cannabis marketing, you must consider different factors, such as the type of product, the target audience, SEO, legal restrictions, and more.

Having a marketing team specialized in cannabis can be of great help when it comes to cannabis advertising. It’s a complex subject with different variables and legal requirements, so you’ll want the best people on your side.

Cannabis SEO

Since it’s not feasible to use Google ads, the website must be well-positioned to get rankings organically.

SEO marketing pushes your content higher in Google organic searches. You will need to optimize your site for cannabis-related keywords as well as your location keywords. Some of the things to consider for cannabis SEO on your website are

• Keyword research
• Competitor research
• Content creation
• Meta tags
• Product images
• Site architecture

Valuable Content

Creating valuable content is part of SEO and can help your website rank better. This is related to organic marketing. If your content is of value and generates users’ intention to share it, you will organically grow your cannabis community and reach more people.

The purpose of your content should be to provide value to your customers, not just promote your products. Some ways to create valuable content are through:

• Infographics
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Blogs
• News

Billboards

Billboards are one of the top cannabis marketing options in many legal states. They provide a simple, straightforward way to get your brand in front of people in your local area.

Billboards can be a great way to get people’s attention and make them aware of your business, and they are legal in many states.

Cross-Promote With Vendors And Brands

One way to leverage your audience and increase your reach is to partner with other brands in your industry for cross-promotional opportunities.

Joining efforts with other brands allows you to reach more people and lower advertising costs. It’s an excellent strategy to make yourself known, but make sure you have a strong and consolidated brand.

Digital Ad Buying

Since none of the major digital advertising platforms allow you to run ads on cannabis, it may be a better idea to contact publications directly for ad space. 

Cannabis Industry Conventions And Events

Cannabis industry events are the best time and place to get products in front of your target audience.

Participating in events will allow you to increase your network, connect with customers and raise awareness of your brand. These are advertising opportunities that you should not miss.

Cannabis & Google

Google is a powerful tool for businesses, and achieving top rankings is a goal of many. Google does not allow ads that promote consumption, sale, or even provide informational content about cannabis. It doesn’t matter if the ad is about medical or recreational cannabis.

In theory, there are three things you need to submit an ad to Google:

• The ad text
• A landing page
• A list of keywords to bid on

The trick to getting your ads approved is bidding on cannabis-related keywords, but avoid using them in the ad text and landing page. It can be confusing; we know.

Here are some examples of trigger words:

• Cannabis
• Weed
• Hemp
• CBD
• Dispensary

This usually means you can’t rank organically with SEO and run Google Ads at the same time because the two mediums contradict each other. We know it can be confusing, so having a weed-expert marketing team can be very helpful in this area.

Are there alternatives? Yes, one option is to do the ad directly with the websites or a third-party publisher. It’s also possible to use organic means such as email, SEO, and public relations to drive traffic to your website.

When it comes to marketing cannabis, companies must consider all the restrictions and limitations they will encounter along the way. This includes federal regulations, state regulations, and the policies of the world’s largest advertising networks.

But, not to be discouraged, it is possible to advertise cannabis and profit from it. With a little resourcefulness and creativity, cannabis brands can make a place for themselves in the advertising world.