“Cannabis Pros and Marketing Masters” Episode 3: Short Impact: Marketing Genius for ANY Budget
Host Nigel Despinasse, Isabella DeChard and KC Santana cover an excellent range of topics and niche ideas in Episode 3 of “Cannabis Pros and Marketing Masters”, a #B2BCannabisShow proudly brought to you by Beard Bros Media Network.
This Short Impact focuses on one theme by presenting filtered #B2Bcannabis content for business owners, entrepreneurs, #dispensary owners, and other players in the global #cannabisindustry.
Marketing Strategy Tips from the Masters
ND: Over the course of our conversation, we’re going to go into different strategies, challenges, and insights that these two have on SEO, community engagement, podcasting, workshops, what have you. … Give us a little bit of an intro about you, what you do, the role that cannabis plays in your professional and personal lives.
IBDC: I’m Isabella, but I also go by Bella. It’s half the syllables for us stoners. And I call myself a creative cannabis human. I do everything from copywriting, a little bit of graphic design. I work in SEO and CRM marketing strategy at the moment. And I have been helping behind the scenes with the marketing efforts for this year’s Emerald Cup.
KC: KC Santana here. I am the host and founder of Chiefah Entertainment. I originally started doing events and that slowly transitioned into just becoming a virtual host for the Chamber of Commerce (also a member there). Now I just manage my podcast. I have been so happy and just blessed to be able to be in this community. A couple of years ago, I became an Emerald Cup judge
Encouraging Curiosity: Using Education and Experience to Market Your Product
IBDC: I really think about the overall experience that we want to provide to, let’s say in this case, the customer. If I’m working with a dispensary, this customer just bought a product. Now, how can we invite them in for another experience or for them to share their thoughts? And how can I recreate that into an e-mail campaign or a blog to share to enhance your experience by trying this tip and trick for how to consume.
And there’s just so many different ways to go about it. And I think that’s why I’ve been really drawn into working in this industry aside from the personal passion and connection I have with the plant, because of the curiosity, because of the research that we need to do. It’s because of the questions being asked.
ND: And I’m sure both of you guys can attest to this: every dollar matters the most for businesses. Oftentimes I’ll have conversations with people and they don’t have money for something, but it’s a matter of understanding: where are you putting your money now? And how is it making a difference for you? Because, if you have shoestring budgets, then that spells a need for creativity. You have to understand what maximizes your dollar.
Descriptive Sells
There’s cultural, biomedical, spiritual, and subjective/personal layers to the cannabis plant; not just the consumer-satisfying getting high aspect. There is an astounding complex biology that produces medicinal benefits, flavours, textures, and colors that enthusiasts love: this makes each strain – and its variants – unique, and each subjective experience unique and valuable to the #cannabis producer and/or business owner.
IBDC: It can just be in the simple elements of a dispensary website … I want to know a little bit more. I want to know what [the bud] smells like when you open it up the first time. I want to know like, the second aroma that you smell after that. I want to know the nitty gritty details. And I think dispensaries and brands are really missing out on being more specific about their product descriptions. Think about the eyes and perspective of someone who is seeing this for the first time. They’re not going to know what the bract or a calyx is, or the pistils are this color. We need to kind of lay it out in educational terms where we’re still accurately promoting the plant, but in a way that’s going to encourage their curiosity and get them to really know what they’re buying or what’s in store.
KC: Bella touched on this several times when she explained the experience – the experience of a shopper trickles all the way down into marketing. And so, you know, brands need to keep that in mind as well when they do their digital advertising on any of their labels.
There’s still ways you can market yourself that would be beneficial. Like [Nigel] said, social media is free. You can use LinkedIn now. Personally, people sleep on LinkedIn, in my opinion, when it comes to the cannabis space. I love LinkedIn. If you’re looking to get right to the source of a brand, LinkedIn’s the place to go to. Instagram is fun. And the more I study the platforms, I can understand why it can be overwhelming for somebody who may be a retail operator. even somebody that has a cultivation center or distributor, that they don’t have the time to put that energy into studying the marketing strategy, especially when we’re in an industry that gets a lot of shadow banning and censorship. So, there’s so many different layers when it comes to marketing. And I think you just got to figure out as a brand where your bucks are going and where your energy is going.
*The above article pertains to discussion points from Cannabis Pros and Marketing Masters Episode 3, a multi-faceted episode series. For other articles that feature more relevant and must-read discussions from this specific episode series, and others, click here, Subscribe to our Beard Bros Network Media Live Series YouTube Playlist. New to this B2B live series? Read more here.
