How your cannabis brand is created and positioned in the marketplace is crucial. From the earliest stages of brand strategy development to monthly email campaigns, the cannabis marketing agency you choose can make or break your business.
In the modern cannabis industry, marketing strategies are becoming more sophisticated as customers become more informed. To stay ahead of the curve, cannabis marketers must create and manage professional brands across both digital and traditional channels.
Most Growers Marketing is keenly aware of the fact that not all cannabis marketing agencies are created equal. Different agencies have their areas of expertise, but some lack the cannabis industry expertise necessary for success.
What Stage Is Your Cannabis Business?
Consider your own business as a starting point for selecting a cannabis marketing agency. Understanding the phase of your cannabis business will enable you to quickly eliminate a large number of potential agency partners.
Marketing is a vast field; some agencies are better suited for certain tasks than others. Notably, cannabis startups require vastly different marketing skill sets than established cannabis businesses.
Entrepreneurial Companies & Creative Agencies
Startups in the cannabis industry begin as concepts. Creative marketing agencies focus primarily on this nascent phase of development, when new cannabis businesses are being established.
During the startup phase, businesses should partner with a cannabis branding-focused marketing agency. For effective branding, the best advertising agencies carefully balance a creative team with cannabis industry expertise. In addition, they will help you honour your original vision while guiding a practical market entry.
Startups in the cannabis industry should prioritise marketing firms with expertise in the following areas:
Brand aesthetics and disposition
Design & graphics for logos (color and font)
Purpose statement and brand history
Competitive environment and firm tenor Consumer personas and brand attributes
Existing Businesses & Digital Agencies
Marketing requirements for established cannabis businesses differ from those of startups. In general, once a cannabis business is operational, its marketing efforts shift from conceptual branding to direct campaign management.
Cannabis companies frequently form monthly subscription partnerships with digital marketing agencies. If you want to hire a digital marketing agency for ongoing campaign management, you should consider the following factors.
Search Engine Marketing (SEO)
Social Media Pay-Per-Click Email Marketing (PPC)
Blogs & Newsletters
Budget and Business Goals
After choosing between a creative agency and a digital agency, you must evaluate your operating budget and business objectives. Please note that well-established marketing firms with a variety of capabilities will almost always charge more than smaller firms. Yet, the fact that an agency charges premium rates and has a large clientele does not necessarily indicate that they are a good fit.
Your marketing budget should be directly proportional to your ultimate business objectives. Suppose you own a small accounting firm serving the cannabis industry. If your objective is to remain relevant and acquire a few new clients each quarter, then a small and reasonably priced marketing agency will likely suffice. If you wish to expand your business across the United States, you will likely need the resources and expertise of a more established company.
Expertise in Cannabis Marketing Agency
You should examine potential partners closely to determine their strengths and weaknesses. This idea is even more significant in the cannabis industry, where strong industry knowledge is required for brand positioning, competitive analysis, and compliant marketing, among other areas.
In addition to obvious concerns regarding industry expertise, you should examine the talent of the team in question. Please note that one of the advantages of working with an agency is that you gain the marketing expertise of an entire team. To capitalise, you should conduct some research to determine each group's individual strengths.
Reading team biographies on a marketing agency's website is a great way to learn more about the organisation. For instance, the agency may have created a brand for a cannabis company that you like. Likewise, they may employ a technical marketer who can help you navigate the complexities of Google Analytics. Reading about team members will help you better comprehend the individuals with whom you may work.
Agency Evaluation Procedure
After determining your marketing requirements and researching available agencies, you should evaluate a marketing firm before forming a partnership. Fortunately, the Internet makes it relatively simple to locate information on virtually any business.
The marketing agency's website is a great starting point for evaluating it. If an agency's website appears unprofessional, you should probably avoid hiring them. In the fashion industry, it is difficult to gauge a designer's experience if there is no information on their client list or solid testimonials.
Online platforms such as Google My Business, Facebook, and LinkedIn reveal how a marketing agency treats its customers. On any of these sites, negative customer reviews should be considered red flags. Finally, you should take note of the agency's social media presence. If they have a small following for their own business, it is unlikely that they will be able to build a larger one for yours.
Final Reflections
As the cannabis industry matures, the importance of marketing activities such as brand differentiation and digital advertising will only increase. As the average cannabis consumer becomes more discerning, cannabis marketers must adapt in order to keep their brands relevant in an ever-changing market. With these obstacles in mind, it is more important than ever before to select the ideal marketing agency.
At Most Growers Marketing, we take pride in being cannabis marketing experts and excellent partners. While we are always focused on the goals of our clients, we also enjoy having fun and maintaining a positive attitude. In the end, we believe that the best business partnerships are based on strong working relationships and mutual respect.