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An Introduction to Common Cannabis Advertising Regulations

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One cannot enter this space without being bombarded with information about laws, policies and cannabis advertising regulations. It’s undoubtedly the world’s most strictly regulated industry as it emerges from nearly a century of social and political banishment.

That being said, advertising and marketing cannabis stores and products is still an issue. Sometimes because advertising outlets still take a stigmatizing approach to working with cannabis businesses. Take Facebook, for example, which considers cannabis ads as promoting drug use and blocks paid campaigns on the platform. Other times, it’s due to local laws and limitations. Fortunately, it’s easy to adapt to new regulations as they’re released by state and municipality.

Advertising and marketing regulations will vary in each market. But, you can expect some variations of the following basic types of policies to apply in every legal state: 

Dispensaries

Most states or cities that allow medical or adult use cannabis dispensaries will set rules on how the outside of the shop can look. Regulations will dictate the zone of town your store can be in, and the signage on the outside. Dispensaries are also limited in where they can advertise their services – making it easy for the big dispensary listing websites to charge a pretty penny. 

Product

As the industry becomes more mainstream, it’s commonplace for regulators to control the inner and outer appearance of the cannabis infused products on your dispensary’s shelves. Legal cannabis markets do not allow edibles that look like any commercially marketed candy or food, to avoid confusion and copyright infringement that seems to run rampant in the space. There are other labeling requirements in place, and the dosage of edibles is almost always controlled. Companies will adapt to rules like these, or fade into irrelevancy. 

Airwaves

For now, cannabis advertising regulations affect the radio and TV due to federal regulations, though local networks have been known to run tasteful ads in several legal states. If you want to get your spot on the air, you have to do it with subtlety and professionalism. Don’t use degrading or stereotypical, cliche’d language in your ad – you’ll only ruin it for the rest of us who want to be taken seriously.

Want to work with serious pros who are up to speed on all the latest in digital marketing tactics and cannabis advertising regulations? Hire your own Social Media Unicorn today.

7 Points of Research & Evaluation for Cannabis Infused Product Brands

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Selling cannabis infused products in the modern era is a big business game. Infused edible and topical brands must remain extremely current on the state of the industry in order to keep providing a viable product. Below are our key points to note when researching and re-evaluating your cannabis brand.

Your Competitor’s Branding

Looking at your competitors is how you figure out what you do and don’t want your brand to become. Pick apart their colors, branding, messaging, product design and packaging and decide how you will improve upon them. There’s absolutely no point in putting out a new product if it’s not going to be head and shoulders above its predecessor! 

Quality Sourcing

No matter what type of infused product you want to make, in this economy, ingredients are king. Cannabis consumers are among the world’s most health-conscious emerging demographics. That means they expect everything to be healthy, natural and on-point as possible – from the cannabis you extracted from, to the base and inactive ingredients that provide the ancillary user experience. In other words, few will want to buy a high fructose corn syrup-based cannabis beverage made with “trim run” concentrate, so source smart. 

Consumer Taste Trends

Think everyone likes sweets? Think again. Infused product brands that do well in the cannabis world are those that think outside the box and cater to eccentric or trendy tastes. Salty and savory brands are popping up with great success to counter the sugary cookies and brownies of old. Canna-butter is going by the wayside in favor of healthier cold-pressed infused coconut or olive oils. Time for you to find your product’s true niche in this market, rather than continue in the old way of thinking.

Dosage Demographics

Not every cannabis consumer wants a 100mg THC brownie – and realizing that is the first step to success on your infused product branding journey. When developing and new product or re-evaluating an existing one, it’s ideal to land your dosage somewhere in between your competitors. For example, if there are only a few cookies on the market and they are 25mg, 100mg, and 250mg respectively, then you should set out to create a 40mg version to offer consumers a unique and different option.

Product & Package Design

How many of your products can fit on a shelf? What does your packaging look like next to your competitor, or in a magazine spread? Does your labeling material or pigment scratch off easily? Would you rather be known as the eco-friendly tight packager, or provide luxurious box-and-padding to house your product? All of these are questions you should ask yourself as retail models and consumer desires in the cannabis industry change. 

Retailer Choice

One big part of infused product branding that many entrepreneurs neglect, is where the products are sold. If you have a luxury or high-end cannabis product, do you really want it on the shelves at a “mom and pop” shop in the industrial part of town? Rather, find dispensaries and delivery services who ascribe to the same values that you do. Developing these retailer relationships early on will bring long-term success, much better than short-term sales, and will keep you exposed to the same general customer demographics for years to come. 

Brand & Voice

You can bet that your product will attract fans as soon as it hits dispensary shelves. Part of developing an infused product brand is to form a distinct personality and voice for the company. That means deciding which age groups and lifestyles you’re going after. Once you’ve decided, you’ll be able to respond to comments and feedback in a professional manner, while building trust with your social media audience. Plus, you can naturally evolve this personality over the years as your target customers and products change. 

Are Expensive Listing Sites Worth It For Dispensaries?

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If you’re a marijuana retailer, odds are you have been eyeing investments in some of the major dispensary listing sites for the industry. These websites allow dispensaries to literally put themselves on the map, establishing a “home base” online with detailed menus that can be browsed by consumers in the area – even on mobile devices.

It’s true that these listing databases get feet in the door of your dispensary. But at what cost? 

We’re diving into the world of high-priced listing services for dispensaries to help you determine what the ROI will be for your particular business. 

Worth the Hassle

If you’re wondering whether or not you should even spend time on these listing sites, the answer is yes. At the bare minimum you must have a basic-level listing on at least one of the major databases (Weedmaps or Leafly). This listing may cost you upwards of a few hundred dollars per month, which is a small price to pay for being exposed to thousands of locals per week. Otherwise, there are many smaller and more local listing sites, frequented by different demographics, that you might be able to try out for a cheaper price.

The real question, in this case, is how much business owners should invest in promotion on these channels based on the customer demographics they want to reach. 

Featured Listings

Want to be the top dispensary on your block? You’ll likely have to fork over some cash to the listing databases. The highest price for a featured listing is in the several thousand dollars.

How do you decide if it’s worth it to pay up? Ask your customers or patients how they heard about you on their member intake form. If you don’t seem to get a lot of referrals from your listings, and you need more foot traffic, it might be time to try it out. Or, if you notice that a certain competitor in your area is running promotions, it may be wise to try and outbid them for the popular spot on the local map. 

Other Perks

When choosing a listing service, make sure to consider all the benefits that the site has to offer, apart from the listing. Think of it this way – Leafly is home to one of the biggest educational cannabis blogs on the web. Some of their featured listing promotional packages may include some branded editorial content on the blog. That makes it a better buy than just a featured listing, because you are getting more long-term concrete value from the transaction. The blog post can be viewed and shared many times over on social media, even after your promotional campaign has ended. 

Looking to grow your dispensary’s marketing strategy past the confines of a map or listing? Social Media Unicorn can help. We’ll guide your budget and your social media marketing to optimize how your listings work for you.

Marijuana Legalization Affects Real Estate: Here’s How

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Industry publications cannot stop talking about marijuana legalization and its impact on the real estate market. And when we say that we don’t just mean marijuana news outlets.

The mainstream business and investing communities have really taken notice of legalization, and the conversation is building as new policies form nationwide. Experts and investors now believe they can project what will happen to the real estate market once a state passes a medical or adult-use legalization measure. 

Here’s what we know so far about what happens to real estate values in emerging legal cannabis markets. 

Heavy Competition

If you know about the licensing process for cannabis companies, then you probably know there are a ton of zoning regulations involved. These can vary by state and even by city, but they usually limit dispensaries and manufacturers to extremely limited areas of town. The jist of the rules is that policymakers don’t want cannabis to be cultivated, processed or sold near schools and parks, residential zones and other sensitive areas. 

That being said, finding an appropriate operations site can be stiff competition for license applicants. This allows property owners in industrial and other ideal zones to ask a premium price or rent for their cannabis-friendly real estate, which in turn bumps up prices close by.

Exodus

Something else to consider about new legal cannabis markets is that many people from out-of-state will soon be clamoring to move there. Be they “medical refugees” who can’t access cannabis in their home state, budding entrepreneurs and job seekers following the opportunity, or enthusiasts who would simply rather enjoy their hobby in peace, they’re all looking to find a place to live. 

More demand for real estate always drives prices up. The cannabis movement just happens to be one of the strongest uniting movements driving visibly huge demand for real estate.

Increasing the value of real estate is only one of hundreds of ways that cannabis legalization stimulates our economy. Regulated cannabis markets create jobs and livelihoods for thousands of people, provide affordable and effective medicine to our most vulnerable and provide a healthier way for people of legal age to recreate and enjoy their lives.

Ready to position yourself as a serious player in this industry? Call our genius team of marketers at Social Media Unicorn today. 

The Top 3 Growing Demographics for Cannabis Users

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No matter where you stand in the business of cannabis, you’ve simply got to know who’s out there consuming it.

Dated stereotypes of the marijuana user no longer apply. At first glance, to the naïve marketer, it may seem like only young, hip city folk are using the latest and greatest cannabis products. We like to look a little deeper than that. 

Get to know the three fastest-growing groups of consumers in the cannabis world right now: 

Baby Boomers

There’s no question about it: the generation of people born post-WWII are a dominant buying force in the U.S. economy. That means that as legalization spreads from state to state, Baby Boomers remain the fastest growing group of patients and consumers, tossing aside the old stigma for a new lease on health and wellness. 

Rising health care costs and low satisfaction with prescription medication treatments are leading more and more aging people to give cannabis another try – often for the first time in decades. 

Millennials & “Gen Z”

Not only have Millennials had the privilege of growing up around changing attitudes about cannabis, they’ve also led the charge in making marijuana a mainstream wellness product. 

The subsequent generation of youth consumers, dubbed “Generation Z,” are now quickly approaching legal age to purchase their own vape pen or edible in one of several regulated adult-use states. Time will tell just how involved this generation will be in the modern cannabis culture, but you can bet their tastes will be refined by lifestyle influencers and top-quality products they’ve seen on Instagram. 

The Elderly

Don’t discount the impact that elderly people will have on legal cannabis markets in the next few years – especially as curious Baby Boomers begin to see their health care costs skyrocket even higher as they age.

Medical cannabis is providing comfort to more people than ever so that they can live out the rest of their years in health and happiness. Through various channels, the word is getting out that pot beats pills any day of the week.  

If you are an entrepreneur launching a product or service in the cannabis space, you need to figure out who your customers are.

We can help! Hire one of our Unicorns today to put your brand on the map.