According to the 2022 Cannabis Digital Marketing Survey from the Cannabis Marketing Association, New Frontier Data, and NXTeck, marketers working in the cannabis industry – for both cannabis and ancillary businesses – believe that the most effective digital marketing methods are as follows:
Website/blog: 64%
Email marketing: 53%
Social media: 52%
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): 51%
In other words, the most effective digital marketing opportunity in the cannabis industry is content marketing. The top four digital marketing methods are all part of content marketing, and they far outranked all other digital marketing methods. In fact, the next highest rated method in terms of effectiveness according to cannabis marketers is earned media at 19%. It should be noted that much of earned media is an extension of a brand’s content marketing strategy.
Bottom-line, there is no more powerful digital marketing opportunity for cannabis marketers than content marketing, so a significant portion of your marketing budget should be dedicated to creating and sharing amazing content.
The Domino Effect of Great Content Published Often and Consistently
Content marketing is so powerful because of the domino effect. When you publish useful, meaningful, and relevant content on your blog, you’ll have something amazing to share in your email marketing and across social media platforms.
As more people see your content in their email inboxes or preferred social media platforms, they’ll engage with it, and some will share it with their own audiences, friends, and followers. A single piece of content can be repurposed to drive traffic to your website, awareness of your brand, and leads thanks to the domino effect that occurs online.
Companies that have the most success with content marketing are the ones whose marketing team understands the value of great content and their target audiences. These marketers know how to write content for the web (including style, formatting, SEO considerations, and more). They know how to break content into pieces to efficiently repurpose it and extend its reach and lifespan far beyond what the original content could do alone.
For businesses, the most important thing to keep in mind is not just that you should be investing heavily into content marketing but also that not all marketers are content marketing experts. In addition, much of the success of content marketing can be attributed to visuals, so designers who know how to create amazing digital assets are also required. If you’re investing heavily into content marketing, make sure you have the right people to develop the best strategy and implement it effectively to drive the highest returns on your investments.
The Importance of Your Blog as the Foundation of All Content Marketing
The power of content marketing starts with your blog. There is no more important piece of the digital marketing puzzle today than a blog that is part of your business’ website. Think of it this way – blogs are meant to be updated often with fresh content. That means you’ll have more content to share. You’ll also have more entry points to your website, which equates to more ways for Google and other search engines to find you.
Search engines rank high quality, authoritative content higher than other pages in search results, so the more phenomenal blog posts you can write on your website, the more search engine traffic your site will get simply because your posts will appear higher in search results. The more people who visit your blog posts, the more who will share them across social media, which brings even more people to your website.
Your blog also fuels your email marketing, social media marketing, and digital advertising. Blog posts give you opportunities to create targeted email marketing campaigns and social media posts (or ads) that drive people to your website, boost brand awareness, and increase leads. You can use your blog posts to promote lead magnets, such as ebooks and checklists, and require that visitors provide their email address in order to access those assets. Promote the lead magnet blog post across social media and other digital advertising methods, and you’ll grow your email marketing list and generate more leads.
I could go on and on about the importance of a blog as the foundation of all content marketing, but the most important thing to understand is that blog posts create hundreds, thousands, or more entry points to your website as people share them and search engines boost your page rankings. If you’re not publishing a minimum of one blog post per week (four per week is best to increase traffic), you’re giving up a huge opportunity that your competitors may be more than happy to steal from you.
Key Takeaways about Cannabis Industry Digital Marketing
Marketers report that a cannabis business’ website/blog, email marketing, social media, and SEO are the most effective digital marketing methods – far better than any other digital marketing opportunity. All of these methods are part of content marketing, so take a look at your marketing budget and make sure you’re allocating enough of it to content marketing.
Consider this – only 19% of marketers who responded to the 2022 Cannabis Digital Marketing survey said that programmatic ads are most effective for achieving their goals. Only 17% cited pay-per-click (PPC) ads as being most effective, and just 10% said display ads are most effective. Compare that to the 64% who said their website/blog was most effective or the 51%-53% who said email marketing, social media, and SEO are most effective. Now, take a look at your budget and re-allocate accordingly.
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