Illustration: MJ Graphics / Shutterstock
Every category of brand marketing has its challenges, but cannabis brands may have the toughest road to success. Pharmaceutical ads in national print and broadcast media include a litany of disclaimers and fine print about its harmful, even potentially deadly, side effects, but the marketing of cannabis is detailed because of federal prohibition.
According to the federal drug schedule dating back to 1970, cannabis has a “high potential for abuse and the potential to create severe psychological and/or physical dependence.” This means that despite numerous studies showing that the plant is far less physically harmful than methamphetamine, cocaine, opioids or even alcohol, the marketing of cannabis products remains off limits. So while big pharmaceutical companies get millions of eyeballs in return for their marketing dollars, the cannabis brands available to the vast majority of the US population are forced to remain in the shadows.
The advertising dilemma
The real marketing challenges facing brands are extensive, but advertising is where the fight hits home. Until weed is completely deprogrammed by Congress and positioned like tobacco and alcohol, major platforms like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn will not take money from any brand deemed to be promoting “illegal drug use.” In 2021, Google’s ad revenue reached $209.5 billion, but cannabis brands did not contribute to that number. And while Twitter recently became the first social media platform to allow cannabis ads in the US, it remains to be seen how effective access to that platform will be.
This lack of access to the top tier of paid media means missing out on one of the most powerful advertising channels of our generation. With no paid search results, no video ads, no promoted social posts, and no display ads, the options for increasing content and increasing exposure to consumers are significantly diminished. Furthermore, the ability to better understand consumer and prospect preferences by creating a focused strategy based on user data simply does not exist.
Marketing campaigns are only as good as the information marketers use to make decisions, so modern marketers in our industry are essentially working with fewer tools than their traditional counterparts.
Brands also face the demoralizing prospect of shadowbans on social media. These bans are a type of censorship that prevents the public from viewing or interacting with a company’s content. Perhaps the worst aspect of the practice is that the networks usually give the brand in question no indication that the shadow ban is in place. The company will have no way of knowing that their platform has been blocked. At this point, brands scream into the void, sometimes permanently. Platforms are unsearchable and accounts are removed from major social media channels.
Social media is not a realistic marketing tool for brands in 2023, and that’s tough. After all, while social media advertising is a paid medium, it becomes a powerful media tool of its own when its potential is maximized. As it stands, cannabis brands are largely stuck on the outside looking in.
Overcoming barriers to market entry
Brands also struggle with other core marketing initiatives, such as coordinating product launches, determining packaging and aligning messages across multiple markets. They operate in a brutally competitive market with regulatory restrictions that vary greatly from state to state. How can you operate efficiently when local and regional guidelines prevent you from establishing a core strategy? It is legitimately one of the most demanding, challenging and cost-prohibitive arenas to market products and brands.
So how do modern brands successfully market and sell their products? And how does a brand offer a value proposition to its customers and gain a competitive advantage?
In my agency’s support of both plant-adjacent and industry-adjacent sectors such as legal, construction and product testing, two things have been demonstrated in light of today’s advertising barriers. First, PR is not optional. Businesses need the branding power, credibility and legitimacy that come with earned media success.
Second, a comprehensive content marketing strategy rooted in search engine optimization offers a clear path to increasing brand visibility and a position of respect and trust among consumers who are still finding their way in the that can be a confusing market.
Small steps at the federal level
Fortunately, the government is finally catching up with the growing social acceptance of the plant. President Joe Biden recently signed a groundbreaking research bill that will facilitate access to the plant for study and allow research into potential cannabis-derived medicines. He also asked Attorney General Merrick Garland and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to reevaluate how the drug is scheduled. This is obviously welcome news, but forgive me for worrying that developments will move at a snail’s pace.
The sad truth is that federal legality for this non-toxic plant is probably several years away.
While most of the industry expects the federal government to deschedule cannabis entirely, it’s important to note that national legalization will not be a silver bullet. It will be very difficult for small and established brands to compete once the larger multi-state and multinational operators come in for their share of the pie.
That’s why it’s imperative that brands dedicate a portion of their budgets to a marketing game that will benefit them now and in the long term: strategic communications that will elevate their brand above the competition and a solid content marketing program to make sure customers can find them. they where it matters most. Companies that build their brands now will be the strongest and best positioned in the federal legal market. This kind of forward thinking will allow brands to see around the corner and truly be more prepared than their competitors when the switch is flipped and the patchwork of legal markets is integrated into a federated network.
Ricardo Baca is founder and CEO of grasslands, a journalism-oriented cannabis marketing and PR agency. Named one of the “7 Most Powerful People in the Marijuana Industry in America” by Fortune, he is a twenty-five-year veteran journalist, Clio Award winner and juror, keynote speaker, two-time veteran of TEDx marketer of the year and drug policy futurist. .
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