Branding your Cannabis Business
Before we get into all the tips for getting a marketing your CBD Skincare product, please read our previous article, How do I brand my cannabis business? before you go any further.
It will discuss the fundamentals of branding and marketing your cannabis business.
CBD Beauty
How should I brand my CBD skincare product?
If you are reading this, chances are you are starting up with a small artisanal product. You have luck on your side because you are in a upwardly trending niche, CBD extracts. The global CBD cosmetics market is estimated to be valued at over $580 million and was set to surge upward, at least prior to the Coronavirus outbreak. Therefore, a demand for your products already exists, and you won’t have to second guess the market.
What should you do as you are creating your first quality product:
- Study your local market
- Analyze your competition
- Have a business plan in place
- Figure out who you are going to market your product to
- Be passionate enough that you can weather the difficulties that you might encounter
- Understand that you are in sales now and you will need to pitch your product, whether its online or in stores
- Develop an identifiable brand in order for consumers to recognize, and forge a connection to, your product
- You will also have to determine your ability to grow and attract investors at some point
How does my target audience affect my branding?
You must identify the segment of the market you are catering to by including the following factors:
- Age
- Sex
- Education levels
- Economic status
- Sophistication
You are in luck because you can learn from successful conventional and natural beauty brands which have preceded the CBD market.
After you’ve analyzed the cost of production, think about where you want to position your product in the market:
- Luxury
- Mid-priced
- Economy
How should I position My CBD product to become more competitive?
You will have to understand the psychology of the consumer. For example, who buys a luxury product? It’s not always the rich. Rather, it’s those who aspire to the lifestyle and to the image.
What about a natural product? Will a consumer who cares about natural ingredients, sustainability, and who is eco-conscious spend more? Probably.
Luxury markets are dominated by baby boomers and Generation Xers, but will you be appealing to them or are you going to be in for the long haul and market to millennials and younger generations?
Understand that luxury and natural products are not mutually exclusive. There are pricey botanicals on the market as well. Sisley, Cle de Peau, among others are well known. Study their marketing techniques.
Will your products be priced economically? Consider that you will have to sell more of them.
You will then have to analyze your targeted consumers’ shopping patterns. The younger they are, the more open they are to purchasing from various venues-online, in store etc. That will affect where your product will be distributed and how you will advertise it.
How do I package my CBD product?
With CBD infused products, full spectrum or not, you will be emphasizing their anti-inflammatory properties. CBD has a calming effect on conditions such as acne, rosacea, psoriasis in addition to a having a soothing effect on skin because of the anti-oxidants it contains.
Consider which products you will be selling:
- Oil
- Lotion
- Cream
- Serum
- Mask
- Soap
- Bath products
Which segment of the market will you be selling to?
Now you can start to think about your packaging. The colors you choose are one of the major components of your packaging. For example, millennial women are notorious for their love of millennial pink. But did you know that they also love all shades of greyed out pastels? Furthermore, the advertising industry has invested billions in researching consumer behavior and and has concluded that certain colors carry various psychological connotations. Green, for example, connotes health, harmony, relaxation, and organic and holistic products. In its negative aspect, it connotes jealousy, materialism, selfishness and envy.
The color scheme of a package can attract or repel people immediately.
What else goes into packaging;
- Fonts
- Textures
- Shapes
- Logos
- Message
What is your message?
- Young and fun?
- Health conscious?
- Beauty oriented?
- Anti-ageing?
- All of the above?
In 2018, Forbes reported that the biggest growing segment of the beauty industry was online and that:
‘Consumers, mostly women, are on a journey of exploration. They are enjoying new products and finding new brands. This is part of a larger generational shift of younger consumers rejecting the large brands their parents preferred and seeking out locally-made, artisanal, natural products in all consumer categories. ‘
When branding, your copy will be critically important.
Think of some well known brands you know. For example Benefit has a really cool retro look and super-clever copy. The packaging is girly, pink and fun. But the copy, names of products, and the funny and smart plays on words the copywriters use in naming and describing products are a major part of its appeal. The same goes for its retro images of glamour girls and harried housewives.
How about Urban Decay? Badass and cruelty -free are the brand’s taglines. Just the name of the brand, in itself, evokes the 1990’s, clubbing, raves and…urban decay. They made their name by coming up with never seen before colors and have stayed relevant with their commitment to boycott animal testing, so much so that they don’t sell to an enormous and hugely profitable Chinese market.
My CBD brand
How do I sell my product?
Your ability to sell your product on marketplaces like Amazon depends whether your product is derived from Hemp or the marijuana plant. You can only sell products derived from hemp on Amazon and Shopify, since cannabis is still not legal in all fifty states. Decide where you will sell your products.
- Stores
- Website
- Amazon
- Shopify
What does that mean for your strategy? Regardless of your other outlets, you will need a website where you feature and sell your products.
How do I market my product?
You will have to diversify your marketing channels.
- Website – the foundation of your brand
- Social media – especially Instagram
- Advertising – online and in print, if you can afford it
- Influencers – Instagram
- Trade Shows
- Distributors
- Independent representatives
- Beauty bloggers
- Email lists/mailings
- Testimonials – you can feature these in your mailings, on your website, and your social media
Summary
Branding and marketing your CBD beauty products successfully will entail:
- Figuring out who you are marketing to
- Packaging your product to appeal to that segment of the population
- Getting a website where you can sell and describe your product
- Marketing your product
