As crypto continues to find more connectivity and practical uses in the real world in an age of growing acceptance and widespread adoption, one sector seems to stand out among others: the cannabis industry.
Recent years have shown that it’s a sizzling hot sector that last year was estimated to have expanded to a $19.3 billion market. Companies dealing in cannabis products and services have never before looked harder for ways to improve efficiency across the board: partnering with firms that can help boost production, processing, while cutting the cost of sales without sacrificing quality control.
So B2B agricultural firms with expertise in farming technology, from fertilizer to botanicals and lighting, are all rushing in to break into cannabis — and they are doing so through cannabis marketing.
Sending smoke signals
While there are differences in tactics and methods, owing to different audiences and user demographics, much of marketing principles should remain the same for crypto and blockchain. And, rightly so, they should also apply to cannabis marketing.
Here are some principles we believe one should always apply to crypto marketing, and how they are similar or different to cannabis marketing.
- Pay attention to public opinion
Breaking the norm can be very difficult when it comes to products that may have an old and misplaced association with vice. How the public responded to crypto in 2010 when it first came out was pretty much how they responded to cannabis in the 20th century: it was used only by criminals and associated with illicit and illegal activities.
Ten years on after Bitcoin was introduced, attitudes have drastically changed towards crypto in many places. We’ve spoken about how institutional entities like the Norwegian government have already put their trust in crypto — and the same can be said for the cannabis industry, which in recent years have enjoyed legalization in the unlikeliest of countries. Georgia legalized it for medical and recreational use in 2018, following Venezuela a year earlier, joining a host of other nations already decriminalizing it: Australia, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, South Africa and many, many more.
So when doing crypto marketing, it’s wise to target places where crypto is actually legal and accepted, and the same should be for cannabis marketing. You may also want to get ahead of the queue and market slowly in countries you know will soon be legalizing it (like Mexico set to pass legislation in April 2021). Don’t waste resources marketing in places that have a negative attitude to your service or product!
- State laws (especially in the US)
A quirk of legality can occur in several countries like the US, where there are state, rather than national differences in jurisdiction. For example, cannabis is entirely legal in 11 US states, while only medical marijuana is legal in 28 states. Marijuana itself is still completely illegal in 11 states.
Even crypto can have the same complexities in the US, with New York having the toughest, but also the most robust regulations surrounding related activities.
So make sure you do your research and plan out your strategy taking into account state laws, even in countries that have an overall positive attitude towards your sector.
- Marketing legality
Despite crypto enjoying acceptance in most of the world today, crypto marketing itself can be another issue altogether. For example, you may run ads for your crypto services on large social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Google, but you may not advertise sales events or even use terms associated with investment and trading.
Some crypto-specific platforms like Brave are almost a free-for-all, so that’s a great place for crypto-friendly advertising, but it’s always wise to find out what’s OK and what’s not in terms of specific marketing activities so you don’t face a hefty fine or litigation action down the line.
The same also goes for cannabis marketing! Even in some US states where marijuana is completely legal, the laws are quite restrictive on how cannabis-related services can be marketed. Some only allow CBD oil to be advertised, while some will only permit products related to medical use.
At CryptoMarketeer, we emphasize the use of solid and proven marketing strategies for blockchain and crypto projects to achieve sustainable and lasting results that ultimately help your business grow for the future. It’s really much of the same for any other sector like cannabis.
So if you’re keen on marketing for your industry, make sure to engage the right experts in the right field!
