Category: Digital Branding

Branding your Cannabis Brand takes some foresight and some thought. These tips will help you do so.

Tell a Story

Today’s consumer is smarter than ever and has caught on to the usual sales language. However, one thing they cannot resist is a good story.

A good brand story is one that entertains while connecting to consumers emotionally. Think about the “Most Interesting Man in the World ads” by Don Equis. All they did was take a cheap lager and turn it into something else completely. A cheap beer suddenly takes on an attitude of sophistication and adventure. To make things worse, consumers took the story and molded it to their lives with the “I don’t always/but when I do” meme. It is a story that’s likely to continue selling years after the conclusion of the campaign.

You don’t even need to have an elaborate story. A complex fiction may work wonders, but you might be surprised by what a simple origin story of your brand is capable of accomplishing. It provides a sense of authenticity and leaves your customers feeling like they are taking part in something greater than themselves.

So, you need to think about your brand’s story and find a good way to tell it. If you do that, you are guaranteed to connect with an eager audience.

Think “Lifestyle” Rather than LOLs

The Dazed and Confused image of marijuana was ubiquitous when cannabis was sold exclusively via the black market. However, as it enters the mainstream market, savvy businesses will brand their cannabis products for audience that’s more expansive.

It means marketing cannabis products as “lifestyle” enhancers instead of sticking to the traditional stoner niche. Think sophisticated and sleek i.e. a new product for a life of luxury. Apple is a prime example.

You can alternatively consider what the craft breweries did as their industry exploded following the turn of the millennium. Beer suddenly tool on a completely different level of refinement. Each brewery, today, has a distinct, storied brand. Beers are available for all occasions and to be paired with certain foods. A massive brewery tourism industry has even blossomed.

Think of it like this: The average consumer of cannabis is a middle-class, late twenties to early thirties. So, what kinds of products do these people buy? Organic foods, bespoke clothing, craft cocktails… you get the picture. Simply put, your brand should appeal to their desire for a more refined lifestyle.

Cannabis companies should be looking at more innovative techniques of branding in the modern cannabis era – use a cannabis marketing agency to help.

Elevate the Language

This is an extension of the point above.  All the outdated slang i.e. herb, grass, pot, bud, etc., speaks to the outdated and under-the-radar market. Today, you are selling in a mature and vibrant industry. You now sell “doses” rather than “hits” or “flowers” instead of “buds.”

Obviously, there’s enough room for all the silly aspects of marijuana culture that people know and love, but stay classy and still refer to it as cannabis for branding purposes.

Don’t Use Clichés

Never forget that you are attempting to elevate the conversation and that tired old clichés do everything besides that. Afro man songs, 420, tie-dye, laziness, and Rastafarian colors and even the long-embraced pot leaf have all started to fall by the wayside.

Sure, there’s a place and time for all these, but if you do have to use cliché and nostalgia, only include them as periphery elements – never make a tie-dyed pot leaf the basis for your whole brand.

Everything we do is goal-oriented, and the goal is to bring as many customers as we can, whilst keeping them happy. If your brand doesn’t speak for itself, don’t expect many new customers and prepare to say goodbye to your current ones. Branding (and rebranding) requires balancing many elements which all together represent your company in a simple and appealing way. It’s all about customers, and yet the way to get customers is to establish a recognizable, eye-catching, unique brand. Here are some ideas on how you can get more customers by properly communicating your brand.

Engagement marketing

Experiential (engagement) marketing is a marketing strategy that allows consumers to actually see and feel what your product can do. This is a great way to help your clients realize the benefits of your product, and generally, what they will get by sticking to your company. Representing your brand through such strategy is a great idea because you’re both “selling” the product and representing your ideology.

Break the chains

Let your creativity kick in. Traditional ways are called “traditional” for a good reason, as they used to work and they represent something common and already seen. That’s why today we have something called “modern”. Mixing your creativity with some modern techniques/advice you’ve seen or heard will allow you to fight the invisible constraints and express yourself in a new and memorable way.

Online and offline stores should look the same

Developing and designing a website takes a lot of time and effort. Building a store and designing the interior and exterior also take a lot of time. Since you’re already going to invest so much in these two, why not take a step further and make them as if they were two parts of the same whole? A visitor that checks out your website, finds something he likes and decides to come to the store itself and check out the product in person, will surely be amazed when he sees that the store’s layout is almost the same as the website’s layout.

Real-world view

It’s very satisfying and educational at the same time, watching a person use some product, in real-time. Thanks to the modern era we’re living in and to all the technology and trends, we’re able to watch stuff like that, which is an amazing way of showcasing your business. Many websites provide live streaming, and of course we’re all witnesses of great ideas that Instagram and other social media have come up with. According to this master in advertising, today companies need marketing solutions that can flow like a liquid into whatever the new inventions have brought to us.

Stay fresh

Whether you’re willing to admit it or not, these days everything has to be stylish. Not only that it has become sort of a trend that more and more people tend to follow and worship, but even the statistics prove that fashionable design and advertisements tend to catch more eyes than regular “boring” ones. If you’re having a photo shoot to promote certain product that a user can interact with, make sure that the user looks like he’s getting ready for a gala evening. Also, if the product has anything to do with technology, make sure to point out the devices to create a “natural-looking” environment. Don’t forget about colors – everything should be harmonized!

Let your store speak for itself!

From the moment a client walks into your store or takes a look at your brand, they should immediately know what they are looking at and they should feel that vibe instantly. If you have to walk someone through your story than you’ve failed showing that story throughout your brand and store.

From what you’ve read so far, you should already have an idea of what are the things you can do in order to keep your current customers happy and to attract new buyers. As soon as they see your brand, visit your website or walk in one of your stores, they should form a positive opinion about your products and decide on purchasing them.

Author bio: Jennifer Hahn Masterson is a senior business strategist, holding an MA degree in business communication. She is always doing her best to help her clients find their place in the ever so competitive business arena. You can check her out on LinkedIn and Twitter.

With thousands of blogs saturating the Internet in almost every niche, it’s crucial that bloggers can set themselves apart from the competition and gain a loyal audience. Whether it’s through a Facebook page, email subscription, or other channels, blog readership can be measured by how many people are keeping an eye for blog updates from you.

This is significant because the willingness to subscribe is not something that any reader would do to just any blog. It’s like turning a one-off reader to a regular one. It’s going to take effort and patience to grow your blog readership, but it’s definitely something that you can do.

Here are four ways to improve your blog to develop a loyal audience:

1. Deliver quality content

Quality always surpasses quantity when it comes to blog content. Readers see so much information on the Internet, so when they find a really good one, they are compelled to read more from that source and begin to trust it. It’s cliché, but “content is key” is still relevant.

Here are some ways to deliver quality content:

• Craft irresistible titles or headlines to catch their attention and encourage them to read your blog.
• Create content that is valuable for your audience, those that would help them with their challenges or meets their need.
• Avoid using jargon or industry terms that readers won’t be able to understand, especially first-time visitors of your blog.
• Don’t hesitate to consult experts like David Hallstrom for help with content marketing if you feel overwhelmed.
• Utilize search-engine optimization (SEO) strategies like keywords so that your target audience can find you. However, don’t commit the common mistake of focusing on SEO alone and neglecting the content that would appeal to readers.

2. Encourage subscription

Once you can provide content that your audience would read, you’ll have a better chance of growing your readership. However, the primary reason your readership might not be growing could be simply because you don’t encourage them to subscribe to your blog.

There are so many creative ways to ask readers to subscribe to your blog, such as:

• Including a static sign-up form on your sidebar which can persuade readers to fill out no matter what page they are in.
• Craftily incorporating subscription in your blog post so it’s relevant and won’t look like spam.
• Offering gifts, discounts, or any other perk when they subscribe to your blog.

3. Host contests and giveaways

Contests and giveaways are proven to be effective in growing a blogger list. They are amazing measures to keep current readers excited and one-off readers to participate and subscribe. When using this strategy, you must carefully plan and make sure that the reward is something relevant and appeals to your audience.

Here are some things to remember:

• Keep mechanics and instructions simple to encourage more participation.
• Create steps that could increase their entries and chances of winning.
• Be transparent with when and how the winner will be chosen.
• Protect your blog by ensuring that you are following local laws or regulations from other countries if the contest is open to other locations.

4. Be on social media

Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn are popular because of the ability to connect and network. Many blogs have strong social media presence because it’s an avenue to be able to engage with their readers. The more you make a connection with your audience, the more you build a sense of trust that will allow you to expand your reach.

Here are some tips:

• Research where your audience is lounging.
  While you can have an account on all social media platforms, the only one or two that matter are those where your audience is.
• Give time to engage.
  As much as you can, reply to comments, give valuable tips and advice, and so on.
• Don’t sell all the time.
  A common mistake of many blogs is overselling on social media, which discourages readers from visiting the blog or subscribing because of the thought that there is nothing else to offer besides products or services.
• Don’t belittle user-generated content (UGC).
  Encourage your readers to share photos, videos, testimonials, and so on, which are relevant to your products, services, or niche. UGC’s are seen by others to add to the authenticity of your blog.
• Offer guest blogging.
  Once you have a social media community, offer guest blogging to your site. You can be creative with how to choose the guest blogger, or you can turn it into something regular. Your guest bloggers will also reach out to their network to promote your blog.

Final thoughts

Blogging is widespread in this digital age, and many bloggers are competing to ensure that they have readership and continue to expand it. You can craft various types of blog posts and incorporate the tips given above so that you can have a more extensive reach. If more people are reading your blog, there will also be more leads to generate and sales to convert.

Building your brand is not something that can be done quickly it takes time and a lot of effort.

One of the best channels to build brand awareness is through email marketing.

Having a concrete email marketing strategy in place for your business will help you to successfully get the word out!

Should you use email marketing in 2019?

The answer is obviously YES!

Email marketing is still one of the highest cost to return marketing strategies you can use at the moment with a reported 1$ spent you are expected a return of up to $38!

Although it’s great to know that email marketing still works and it can make money for your business this requires a lot of tactical decision making.

Firstly you will need to get people on your email list.

There are literally dozens upon dozens of ways to do that so I am not going to delve on that here.

Although, when building your email list organically without using shady ways like buying lists, that shows that people are ready to engage with your brand.

Which means that if you do email marketing right you are on your way to making that potential lead a loyal and recurring customer!

Tips to build your brand with email marketing in 2019

1. Be consistent with your brand values

No matter what type of email newsletter you are sending in order to build a strong brand you will need to be consistent.

Strongly voice your brand’s core values and mission, this will help your brand become more respectable and tenacious!

And also provide a pleasant feeling to your subscribers which will eventually lead to people engaging even more with your brand.

2. Your email templates

When creating your newsletter you should have a certain template in place, that you will also use for future newsletters.

This will help your subscribers become accustomed to your brand and know exactly what and where to find the information on your next newsletter.

Especially your CTA(call to actions) if you are promoting your blog posts for example.

Let’s take a close look at some tips on how to structure your email template.

Firstly, you will want to display your brand’s logo in the right position within the header of your email template. The most usual and visual placement would be the center of your email’s header.

The second tip, your email template must be aligned with the font, color and overall design aesthetics of your business.

Third and final, properly show all the relevant company details like phone number, social links etc. Also, depending on your sender make sure to change the email signature!

If for example, you are promoting a blog post written by John make sure the outro on the emails closes with their name. This will allow you to build a person to person connection with your audience and reinforce your brand. If you are looking for inspiration here are more than a couple of free newsletter templates.

3. Your CTA

When you are sending that email campaign you are expecting some results either in the form of clicks to your new blog post or conversions in terms of revenue.

And in order to achieve that you need to have a high converting CTA within your email campaign, you really want to focus on whether you are going to be using a button as your CTA or plain old text.

This will allow you to navigate your subscribers to the intended action of your email campaign.

Creating compelling CTAs that are not blunt or pushy can and will help you increase brand awareness and also get some sweet social shares if you use unique styles of CTAs.

4. Try to solve problems not make “sales”

Constant problem businesses face when they use email marketing to increase their brand awareness is that they ultimately miss the initial goal and aim for sales rather than brand building.

Which can definitely hurt the overall image of your brand and make you look greedy which is something your brand should definitely avoid!

The best way to find a balance and increase the loyalty of your customer is to send email campaigns that actually help your current and new subscribers fix the problems they potentially have.

This can be done in a form of a blog post or just plain email offering some advice.

This will allow you to establish an authoritative figure among your competitors and ensure a great customer retention rate.

5. Keep your customers engaged with regular emails

As we mentioned before consistency is key when it comes to building your brand and what’s better than having a regular schedule for your email campaigns.

As well as set up a welcome email for your newly subscribed members, this will set the scene on what type of email they will follow up from your brand and making a good first impression is crucial.

Finally, carefully plan each month how many campaigns you are going to send out and try and keep them at the same volume for examples set a range on how many you should be sent so you do not overflow your subscriber’s inbox with your campaigns.

Overflowing your subscriber’s inbox with emails will eventually lead to losing the trust you are trying to build!

Final Thoughts

That concludes this article on how to use email marketing to increase brand awareness.

Hopefully, these tips will help you establish a stronger relationship with your email subscribers and eventually build a strong brand.

Let me know in the comments below if you have any other suggestion!