In an industry where marketing and advertising opportunities are limited cannabis brands have to find creative ways to spark brand recognition, increase sales, and propel organic growth. The marketing challenges that brands face come from the fact that cannabis is still illegal at the federal level.
Facebook and Instagram repeatedly remove businesses that are licensed and legal in their states. Likewise, Google’s advertising network isn’t technically open to cannabis businesses, however they are seemingly alright with CBD companies. Youtube has also repeatedly removed certain types of cannabis content and accounts.
In this interview with Respect My Region’s Chief Operations Officer Joey Brabo, you’ll learn how Youtube reviews can help grow cannabis businesses and how a single review earned one cannabis company a $15,000 first-time order.
According to Brabo, The trick is to develop a strategy that connects cannabis to regular world, non-cannabis culture; and doing so in a way that isn’t “in your face” or blatantly obvious. This means utilizing social media and search engine optimization paired with various hyper local content strategies.
Joey is a fan of two entrepreneurs who have built media companies and whom also built portions of their brands off the strength of reviews. Gary Vaynerchuk used to sit at a dinner table and review wine that was available for sale online and Dave Portnoy from Barstool Sports still reviews pizza at all kinds of East Coast pizza restaurants.
What is the importance of leveraging Search Engine Optimization(SEO) through platforms like Google and YouTube?
Joey Brabo: “In a day and age where people are quite literally Google searching every business or product before they buy, it becomes more and more important to make sure that companies can be discovered by people who are searching for products your business offers.
If you know your top 20 selling products, you should be creating blog articles and Youtube videos that share information about products, pricing, and availability. There is serious power in crafting educational articles or videos teaching your community about specific products or educational elements of cannabis.
There is even more power in pairing that article with a video, and making sure that both pieces of content are SEO-optimized. These articles and Youtube videos collectively published on your site will help your brand get found by customers when they’re searching online.”
What are some alternative ways cannabis brands are creating opportunity for marketing?
Joey Brabo: “There are a variety of companies out there that create web pages, landing pages, blog articles, and ads to help cannabis and CBD companies. These tools are generally utilized to help cannabis companies rank higher on Google for specific cities, states, products, topics, etc.
Some companies specifically do marketing in such a way that they can generate leads in specific cities and states every day; utilizing tools like Google My Business, Facebook Ads, and Instagram Ads.
Third-party non-cannabis companies typically (but not always) create a ghost account that is branded to look like a real business. They then get that profile to rank high and appear as a legitimate option in a specific city or area, and then once the consumer contact is initiated, those leads get transferred to a designated client or partner.
Google My Business and advertising on Facebook and Instagram can be QUITE impactful on someone’s local business. This is especially true if the third-party accounts are actually ranking highly and authentically in specific areas.”
What can cannabis brands do to create organic growth and expand reach?
Joey Brabo: “A couple ideas for cannabis brands in regards to creating growth without too much outsourcing or marketing spend would include:
- hiring college students with marketing and writing experience as budtenders so that they can pay $1-$2 above minimum wage to leverage their writing skills for product review videos and blogs.
- idea #1 but hire with experience for graphic design and social media so that you get someone who understands Instagram Reels, TikTok, and other social media more than the average budtender.
- Each and every person who visits the retail store should be offered a discount to follow on various social media, join loyalty program, subscribe to email blast, etc.
- Each and every follower on social media should be direct messaged thanking them for the follow and asking them what area they’re in. Once they respond let them know you’re available as a resource in case they have any questions related to cannabis or CBD. No selling just offering friendly resources.
What should cannabis brands do to maximize the power of Youtube and Google reviews immediately?
Joey Brabo: “Cannabis brands should be leveraging the power of reviews to improve sell-through at the retail level.
Doing a review in house is quite literally as simple as pulling out your phone, setting it up on a shelf or book so you can see yourself when you record a video, then record a video talking about the product. Consumpton with thoughtful and tactful commentary adds value and can likely convert to a sale.
Don’t forget that a true review should be unbiased. It would be ideal to hire a friend, consumer, veteran, or influencer; and to pay them to give you an extremely open and honest review.
In terms of maximizing the power of reviews for cannabis marketing, they should be edited slightly. Then, upload to Youtube in a way that shares the product title first, brand second, retail location third. The video should also be shared from Youtube to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and other social media. Am Instagram reel and TikTok should be created showcasing specific clips from the video. All of this works collectively to increase Youtube engagement and support long-term social media engagement.
Marketers in the cannabis industry should highly consider incorporating more SEO based strategies that leverage reviews, product showcases, and authentic feedback. The power of a real testimonial goes much further than traditional paid media or advertising because referrals really do have lasting impacts on why people purchase.
People are more familiar than ever with curbside orders, express pickups, and at-home deliveries. According to iHeartJane and Headset, two of the most respected data and POS software companies in the cannabis industry, more than 50% of cannabis consumers are searching for information about weed products before they buy.
Customers have questions and they’re looking for answers online because they can’t spend that much time with budtenders. Leveraging the power of Youtube and Google’s love for SEO rich content makes more sense now than ever.
For more information on content strategies, execution, and marketing cannabis or CBD via content, please reach out to our team via email at info@respectmyregion.com.
