As legalization legislation rolls out across the U.S., more markets are opening up for direct sales of medical and recreational cannabis. Further, growth is projected to occur within related businesses such as delivery services and home growing equipment. However, just as reaching “new market” consumers can be challenging for any business, for cannabus providers entering the open market, the competition is extremely tough. So the better your marijuana marketing and marijuana website design are, the better you can stand out in a very competitive market.

Make the Best of your Marijuana Marketing

Simply having a digital presence through your marijuana website design (or medical marijuana website design) isn’t enough to compete in the growing medical and recreational cannabis markets. As new players struggle to establish their brands in a rapidly greening America, some have come up with interesting ways to get noticed.

Real stories that went viral

Some marijuana entrepreneurs are striking digital gold by posting stories that go viral. In his article in ganjapreneur.com, author Jake Browne explains how these stories drew clicks from everyone from customers to cops, and got picked up in media headlines to boot. Here are just a few of the marketing maneuvers that captured our interest and helped grow their creators’ brands:

• The Jaw Dropper – super-pricing items like “cannabis caviar” at $1,400 an ounce drew hundreds of comments to a blog article published by the Denver Westword, turning it into one of the biggest cannabis stories in the blog’s history.
• The Celebrity Strain – Browne explains that naming proprietary strains after the latest hot celeb can give it more marketing cred, enhance sales pitches, and score great free press.  
• The First – being a first-timer in the world of cannabis can secure you a following solely because there are often few alternatives. Become the go-to source when people need quotes from industry stakeholders, and give bloggers an excuse to cover your brand new thing.
• The Cringe-worthy – suggestive content has long been a way for businesses to lure customers, and while Browne cautions discretion, he also notes that this type of content is yet more proof that sex sells.  In one case, a film called “The Dispensary” suggests that a budtender received sexual favors in exchange for marijuana to the tune of 35,000 views. Tasteful? Heck, no, but attention-grabbing? You bet.
• The Losing Battle – Doing something just barely illegal can get your story noticed, and not just in a bad way. Browne describes how a Colorado dispensary chain’s “charity raffle” of a $4,200 ounce of product drew attention not only from state officials, but also a number of publications.

Use your real stories to give hope and get noticed

The author concludes his listing of marketing successes on a more altruistic note with “The Advocate”. He relates a story of The Stanley Brothers, well known for their high CBD products that created a line of products named after a young girl fighting chronic epilepsy. “Charlotte’s Web” products are some of the most recognizable brands in the country, and as Browne puts it, they have given hope to a number of parents. He concludes “finding someone in your community worth fighting for will always help provide visibility to your business.”

In addition to getting your product or service noticed, remember that these stories become part of the fabric of your organization, and ganjapreneurs with conscience should know just how far to take things. It seems as though, in the cannabis industry, taking wacky out on a limb isn’t such a bad idea, as long as nobody gets hurt.

Drone marijuana delivery across the San Francisco Bay, although still slightly illegal, makes for a good story. But how about cannabis-packing homing pigeons? Now that’s a heartwarming story of a human-bird partnership that’s as clickable as they come. You’re welcome.

If you’d like to talk with us about getting a marijuana website design, or medical marijuana website design that makes your business look more evolved than your competitors, let’s talk.