Since the US Farm Bill 2018 was passed and industrial hemp became legal, the cannabis industry has expanded. Consumers are learning about its benefits more every day and the industry is expected to reach $23.7 billion by 2023. So, many entrepreneurs are attempting to open a business in this industry by launching innovative CBD products.
The CBDistillery products can be in the form of tinctures to gummies to pet food or toothpaste. The consumers of this industry belong to all age groups, countries, and even species. This competitive landscape has many brands, big and small, fighting to make a mark in this industry. So, to beat the competition, you need a marketing strategy that differentiates your brand from your competitors.
These strategies will help you grab the attention of prospective customers and hence convert them into loyal customers.
Research about your Consumers & Competitors
You should first research your target audience- are they men, women, people of certain age groups? Understand their needs, expectations, and what kind of product will fulfill those.
- Audience Research-
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), in their Cross-Sectional Study of Cannabidiol Users, found that nearly 62% of CBD users consumed it to treat a medical condition. The medical conditions mainly include pain, anxiety, and depression. So you can focus on marketing oil that will specifically help customers in these areas.
Also, that study says that 68% of people use oils, followed by vape and ingestible products. Consider other factors as well like what laws apply where they live? Market research may take time but will give clear directions to your marketing campaign.
- Competitor Research-
Take insights into the marketing strategies of your competitors. Find out about their customers, how effective their marketing is, their strength and weaknesses, and their selling point.
Create a Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
Your UVP states your specialty, what sets you apart from your competitors, why should people buy from you. But how will you set your UVP? Create it thinking about all your brand’s positives in mind, think about the consumer’s pain points, and how your brand can solve it. When you connect this value to the consumer’s problems, you‘ll get a clear proposition.
A good UVP must be unique, believable, concise, meaningful, and easy to understand. A clear proposition will make it easier for you to define your marketing strategy and communicate with consumers. In addition, you can build messaging that reinforces your brand and UVP, it can be through social media, email newsletters, or blog posts.
While making UVP, keep these points in mind:
- Are your manufacturing or sourcing processes a step ahead of others?
- Do you use proprietary technology when farming the product or preparing the soil?
- Do you provide better customer service than others?
You must do A/B testing to choose the best UVP.
Build an engaging Website
Your website’s content, visuals, and offers should be engaging and speak to your audience. As it is a pretty new industry, people have queries about the usage, benefits, and side effects of your CBD products. Therefore, create a FAQ page to answer common questions & also provide them with a “Contact Us” option to attend to their queries.
Moreover, you can add product reviews to your website to attract customers to believe in your products. Design messages keeping the consumers’ pain points in mind think from their perspective that will engage them. Also, the “About Us” page should be understandable, easy to learn about your team, your brand, and what you do.
You should have chatbots and live customer service 24/7 to reply to customer queries and problems. Design your website attractively, do content marketing, content titles, and articles should tempt visitors to read more.
Link Building
Link building is the process of gaining a link from one website to yours. Off-site SEO is mainly based on link building. That means your brand’s ranking will be affected by the quantity and quality of the websites that link back to you. Backlinks are important for your business growth as Google uses this as a signal of strength & quality of your website. Remember not all backlinks are equal, those from well-known, trusted sources are more powerful that’s why you should hire a reputed cannabis link building agency to build high-quality links for your website.
The CBD industry is expected to expand more, thus more players will join the fray. The competition will be stiffer, so having a robust marketing strategy will provide your business with longevity and scalability.
