Cannabis marketing guidelines can be confusing as hell. Keep your brand safe with these 7 tips:

There’s so many limitations for weed brands trying to market themselves,

And learning to navigate through the sea of bans, ever-changing regulations, and paid advertising laws can seem like a fruitless effort at times.

I’ve laid out 7 proven tips for marketing your cannabis brand in 2024 without getting your accounts banned again.

If you follow these 7 simple steps, you’ll not only know how to get more eyes on your brand without being penalized,

You’ll also learn how to own your audience rather than just “renting” them from the Zuckerberg’s and Musk’s of the world…

Table of Contents

• Let’s Roll:

  • 1. Sell Your Brand, Not Your Products:

  • 2. Stay Up To Date With Local Laws:

  • 3. Focus Creative Efforts On Hemp/CBD Products:

  • 4. Change Your Terminology:

  • 5. Use Cannabis-Friendly Platforms:

  • 6. Capture Emails:

  • 7. Educational Material:

Let’s Roll:

1. Sell Your Brand, Not Your Products:

People buy from brands that they trust.

And top brands barely have to promote their products at all.

That’s because they know how to sell their brand - they’re selling an experience, a lifestyle, a status…

Emphasize the values, mission, and unique story of your cannabis brand. Avoid direct product claims that could violate regulations.

Make your audience feel something - create a desire with your unique value proposition.

2. Stay Up To Date With Local Laws:

This is a big one…

Cannabis marketing laws are strict and unfair, but it’s important to monitor and follow them.

Regularly monitor and understand the cannabis marketing regulations in your target regions.

• Set up alerts for legal updates

• Participate in industry forums

• Consult with legal experts to ensure ongoing compliance

Here’s a fantastic article by Basis Technologies that goes in depth with some of the most common regulations you need to follow: https://basis.com/blog/5-considerations-for-cannabis-advertising

3. Focus Creative Efforts On Hemp/CBD Products:

“Hemp-derived” is a much more accepted term on most social platforms.

Hemp is a widely used and accepted resource, and marketing regulations are much more lax for hemp-derived products.

• Food

• Textiles

• Hemp-derived self-care products

Use these to advertise your brand to a wider, hemp-loving audience, then funnel those eyes to your website. 👀

CBD is more commonly accepted than cannabis/weed as well.

Just be careful with promoting CBD products as you can still face some penalties!

4. Change Your Terminology:

Piggy-backing off my last point, changing your wording in social media posts and hashtags can keep you safe from community guideline violations too.

You can’t use words like “cannabis”, or “weed” (obviously),

But be careful to not make any medical claims about your products either!

Making claims like “calms anxiety”, or “treats insomnia” will get you banned.

Change these benefits to things like:

• “Promotes Relaxation”

• “Encourages Better Sleep”

5. Use Cannabis-Friendly Platforms:

For cannabis product promotion, use more weed-friendly platforms like X (Twitter).

X allows for cannabis ads in U.S. states and Canada where cannabis is recreationally or medically legal.

There’s still rules you have to follow, like being licensed and pre-authorized by X first,

But it’s a great way to promote your cannabis products without the amount of regulations as other platforms.

6. Capture Emails:

Social media followers = Rented audience

Email subscribers = Owned audience

You should constantly be encouraging your audience to sign up to your email list. If your social media accounts get banned, you still have your email subscribers.

Create solid lead magnets to persuade your audience to sign up:

• Exclusive offers

• Free informational guides

• Reward points in exchange for their email

Pack your email content full of free value to build authority and trust.

Remember, people buy from brands that they trust.

7. Educational Material:

Saving the best for last here!

The only way to continue breaking stigmas and progressing our industry is through education.

We need to consistently get our message out to the world that cannabis is a life-changing plant for so many people, and that the legal system needs to catch up and stop penalizing, and imprisoning people for consuming/selling a plant!

The goal of any cannabis brand should be to sell products, AND do their part in progressing the industry and educating the masses.

Create informative material like:

• Webinars

• Blog posts

• Customer stories

• Free strain guides

• Cannabis history content

Remember, compliance is key in the cannabis industry.

Regularly reassess your strategies, keeping them aligned with the ever-changing landscape of cannabis marketing regulations.

Engage with your audience authentically, emphasizing education and lifestyle, and your brand will THRIVE!

That’s all for today!

Hope this helped!

Steve