Marketing cannabis products requires a multifaceted approach, and the best foundation is an SEO-optimized website and curated blog
Editor's note: Curious about Cannabis Marketing, Public Relations and Thought Leadership? We're sharing intel about what works and what doesn't in this special Grasslands video series. Get the inside story about the best ways to deliver messaging that resonates with B2B and B2C audiences, as well as getting the right media placements for your brand.
John Svoboda:
Hello, and welcome to “Cannabis Marketing 101,” a show where we take your questions about cannabis marketing and marijuana PR and break them down with the experts. I'm John Svoboda of Grasslands, and as always feel free to send any of your questions around cannabis marketing or PR, to me directly at john@mygrasslands.com.
John Svoboda:
Of course, I'm here as always with my colleague, Ricardo Baca, AKA the founder of The Cannabist and CEO of Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency. Ricardo, what's new?
Ricardo Baca:
What is up, John? Great to be here with you, man.
John Svoboda:
It's good to see you again, and it's great to be answering these questions that we're gathering from our friends and colleagues from the cannabis industry regarding marketing, PR and how it affects the cannabis industry directly.
John Svoboda:
I'm ready to get into today's question. How about you?
Ricardo Baca:
Yeah, let's do it.
John Svoboda:
Right on.
John Svoboda:
So today's question comes from Brett in California. He asks why... or I'm sorry, this is from Rick in Colorado. I'm looking at the wrong one. "Why does my cannabis brand need content marketing?"
John Svoboda:
Why do they need it? First, what is content marketing? And why would somebody need that?
Ricardo Baca:
You know, content marketing is many things. But really think about content marketing as the blog on your website, and the text and copy on your website. Even the text and the copy that makes up your sales and marketing collateral. And when you think about this from a perspective of discovery, right? Why do we have these owned media channels like our websites? It is because we're hoping they work for us. We hope they do some of the work for us. They bring in those prospective customers and then we can hopefully close that sale, or make them a devout loyal customer. Whatever that might be. And that is your website. And the only way to create a website that works for you is by investing in content marketing, making sure that your copy is created with SEO, SEM in mind. As well as always having fresh copy on your website, because, John, how many times have you seen a brand, they come out and launch a big beautiful website at launch, and then they don't touch their website for like a year or two? And I get it, right? But you've seen this before, right?
John Svoboda:
Certainly. And I can tell you from experience that if I'm looking into a brand or if I'm a consumer and I'm looking into a brand and I see their blog had some... had a lot of good content for a little while and now all of a sudden dropped off the face of the earth for the last year or so, I'm scratching my corona beard here and saying, "what's been going on over the last year? Are these guys even... are they doing well? Are they in business? Is their product quality? What's going on?" So yeah, I've seen it personally.
Marketing Cannabis Products with a Curated Blog
Ricardo Baca:
Exactly. And you know, I get it. Keeping and maintaining a blog, especially amid a pandemic, especially amid... this vape situation, the industry was faced with crazy public markets. There's a lot going on. And perhaps the last thing on your mind is keeping that blog up to date. But you know what? It's very important when it comes to it, because this is how Google and other search engines work. They're constantly spidering the internet. They're looking for relevant copy. They're looking for good content that is resonating with people, and they're making sure that they have a reason to be found.
And so that is why you need to invest in content marketing. If you have a new blog on your site once a week or twice a month, and that blog is engineered from the start, from the get go with good SEO, that means you're just investing in your future digital search. And so as people are typing in “California dispensary” or “best California edibles”, hopefully they're going to find your brand because you have been investing in content all along. John, your dog behind you understands it. Content marketing is necessary, man.
John Svoboda:
Right, right. And so we've been doing this for a while. You've been doing this for quite some time. What kind of content have you seen be the most effective? What are people, especially in the cannabis industry, latching on to?
Ricardo Baca:
I mean, especially with this core industry, when you think about our inability to advertise in a majority of publications.
John Svoboda:
Right.
Ricardo Baca:
And the very real regulations that exist around that state by state and province by province, as well as Google and Facebook and Twitter, just saying "Cannabis industry? Not yet." And so we're waiting for federal legality until we can actually have access to these important advertising channels. And in the meantime, we have this gift. Because it's almost like a headstart. Now is our time to invest in our own owned media—so our websites.
So John, I'd say to answer your question, number one, you need strong, foundational copy on your website that truly tells your customer who you are. Who are you? What do you do? How do you provide that? And then also you need to make sure that that's engineered with the proper SEO so you can be stumbled upon via that important digital search. Secondly, investing in a blog is necessary. Even if you're just doing it once a month, at the very least you're giving Google one opportunity a month to spider your site, see that you're putting up relevant copy, copy that is relevant to your potential customers search terms, and then bringing that in. Investing in a long term content strategy. And this is what really builds up your own website in the eyes of Google. And that's exactly what we should be doing right now, because while Google isn't letting us advertise our THC facing products on its platform, it is letting us build up good search engine juju, and that is why you should invest in content marketing right now, more than ever.
John Svoboda:
That makes complete sense. Thank you so much, Ricardo, for that clarification explanation of what content marketing is, why it's so important and what to focus on, especially right now in these weird times that we're all living in.
John Svoboda:
So as always, you guys can learn so much more about this. And so, so much more about PR and marketing at mygrasslands.com. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please do. You can find us @grasslandsagency. I'm John Svoboda. Email all of your cannabis marketing and PR questions to me directly at john@mygrasslands.com. And we will see you tomorrow on another episode of “Cannabis Marketing 101.” Thanks so much, Ricardo.
Ricardo Baca:
Thanks John.
John Svoboda:
Have a good one.
Got a question of your own? We'd love to hear from you, and are happy to talk shop anytime about cannabis content marketing, thought leadership and PR. Drop us a line: hello@mygrasslands.com
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