In 2012, Washington and Colorado legalized recreational marijuana, sparking an ongoing economic event that will be forever known as the “Green Rush.” Named after the 1848 Gold Rush when miners and treasure hunters flocked to California with promise of gold, the legalization of marijuana had both investors and entrepreneurs scrambling to capitalize on the budding market.

Flash forward eight years and 11 states have adopted legal adult-use, while 33 have medical programs. By late 2019, it seemed like the rush slowed to a slight scurry. However, when the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., causing statewide lockdowns, the nation was reminded of the cannabis industry’s resilience. In a time of mass business closures and furloughs, cannabis was deemed an “essential business” by more than 20 states, meaning that retailers can stay open to provide patients with the physical and mental relief they need. As one of the few industries operating at full capacity, a Green Rush 2.0 was born.

According to cannabis analytics company New Frontier Data, the legal cannabis industry set sales records across North America since March, partially due to the market’s growth during the COVID-19 outbreak. E-commerce sales have risen by 43 percent across multiple recreational and medical states, and while consumers are making larger purchases, they are making them less often. However, those sales numbers are spread across the board and do not indicate any loyalty trends in terms of brands, which means cannabis companies still need to capture the attention of their target consumers.  

Before the pandemic, brands relied greatly on budtenders to peddle their products, and they allocated marketing dollars into building these relationships. From “budtender appreciation parties” to free products and branded swag, sales representatives often visited dispensary employees to educate them on their products with the hopes that they would recommend it to their customers. 

However, when budtender/customer face-to-face time is cut short, brands have to utilize more traditional means to get in front of their target demographic, such as print ads, billboards, but most of all, digital ads.   

Here are three strategies to use when reevaluating and tweaking a cannabis marketing plan:

• 1. Develop a Digital Strategy: The industry has long been stifled by Facebook and Google, which does not allow cannabis or CBD ads regardless of whether or not it’s legal in a targeted state. Because of this, brands are turning to cannabis-specific digital ad targeting companies such as Surfside.io which can target consumers in the same geographic locations as their dispensaries and who have buying habits inline with their offerings. 
• 2. Take Advantage of the Broadened Reach: Because consumers are relying on e-commerce, companies have an opportunity to access a wider demographic of people who would have otherwise not visited their dispensary due to location. Brands should be widening their target audience for digital ads to reach those who would otherwise not be obtainable. 
• 3. Leverage Media Relations: By having a strong public relations plan in place, cannabis brands can differentiate themselves from competitors using earned media coverage in print, broadcast, and digital publications. By doing so, they can avoid the restrictions that come with paid advertising, and educate consumers on their product offers while establishing credibility for their executives as notable thought leaders. 

The post How to Rejuvenate Your Cannabis Marketing Plan During COVID-19 appeared first on N6 Powered by KRMA | Fully Integrated Digital Marketing.

On August 11, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden announced Senator Kamala Harris as his pick for vice president, and the news was met with both enthusiasm and skepticism from cannabis advocates and entrepreneurs. Historically, the Democratic Party has shown more support for the federal legalization and decriminalization of cannabis than the GOP, yet Biden and Harris’s past sentiments on the issue have left some questions as to what stance they would take during their 2020 campaign and beyond. 

Throughout his political career, Biden has upheld unwavering opposition to adult-use legalization. However, with Harris as his running mate, and with the cannabis industry’s undeniable ability to raise tax revenue — especially now during  pandemic-induced state budget deficits — his views may be more malleable than once thought. 

During a 2019 interview with radio show “The Breakfast Club,” Harris not only discussed her belief that cannabis should be legalized, but endorsed the need for continued research on the health benefits of the plant, its impact on the brain, and backed its medical efficacy. She also voiced her concern for the racial disparity in marijuana arrests and, to the surprise of many, admitted to having smoked cannabis once before. While an advocate today, Harris admittedly has not always had these views. 

In 2010, Harris opposed Proposition 19 — also known as the Regulate, Control & Tax Cannabis Act — a ballot that would have legalized adult-use. Also, during her tenure as district attorney of San Francisco, she was renowned for cracking down on drugs and gangs, seeing more than 1,900 cannabis convictions come through her office. 

It was during her second term as attorney general of California when Harris came out in support of the decriminalization of cannabis. In her remarks during the 2017 Center for American Progress Ideas Conference she said, “While I don’t believe in legalizing all drugs, as a career prosecutor I just don’t, we need to do the smart thing  — the right thing — and finally decriminalize marijuana.” 

Harris has since stuck with this narrative. In 2019, Harris went on to introduce a bill to federally deschedule and legalize marijuana.

Just last month, Harris cosponsored The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act, bipartisan legislation that removes marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, thus decriminalizing the substance at the federal level and enabling states to set their own policies. It also calls for the allocation of federal funds for cannabis entrepreneurs of color and the expungement of marijuana possession charges from offenders’ records.

Biden still does not support federal legalization, but during their first joint interview with ABC News, the duo voiced their shared support for the decriminalization of the plant. Instead, Biden has vowed to change the way in which the country handles drug cases and opted for policies that promote rehabilitation over incarceration. 

The case for legalization is strong, especially in a post-pandemic atmosphere when the country will need to rebuild the economy. For instance, The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration reported that cannabis tax revenues in the second quarter of 2020 soared 32.6 percent from 2019, to another record of $208.4 million, and this does not include revenues collected by cities and counties. Over the first two quarters combined, cannabis tax revenues, at $414 million, were up 44 percent from the same period in 2019 and by 150 percent from the same period in 2018. 

In addition to tax revenue, employment rates and real estate values also increase with the approval of medical and adult-use marijuana. Between cultivation and manufacturing facilities, dispensaries, and countless ancillary businesses that support cannabis, the industry has reportedly created more than 211,000 full-time employment positions in the United States. Cannabis has the ability to help revive the country that, as of July 2020, had an unemployment rate of 10.2 percent. 

With a mere three months until Election Day, we will likely see the subject of drug reform be touched on in future debates between the two parties. While the impact of a White House takeover by the Democratic candidates is still undetermined, we can expect much more conversation surrounding marijuana reform than seen over the past four years. 

Since his election as commander in chief, President Trump has threatened to ignore Congress’s protection laws for marijuana in each state and, more recently, his administration has proposed removing medical marijuana protections in the 2021 fiscal budget. During the 2020 Republican National Convention, multiple speakers expressed critical views about the cannabis industry and expressed their disdain for dispensaries being deemed “essential businesses” amid the pandemic. Otherwise, the Trump administration has done little to push the industry forward and instead have agreed to leave it up to the states. 

Currently, seven states are posed to have legalization initiatives on their November ballots. Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota have ballot measures for adult-use, and Idaho, Mississippi, Nebraska, and South Dakota ballot measures would allow for a medical cannabis program. For the foreseeable future, we will continue on this path of slow, fragmented adoption. 

No matter the outcome of the election, brands will need to secure a strong presence with a public relations preparation, especially considering how the cannabis industry seems much brighter under a Biden/Harris ticket. At the very least, it will revitalize the conversation surrounding cannabis decriminalization and full legalization, and bring the issue back up to federal consideration.

The post What a Biden/Harris Ticket Means for Cannabis Industry Reform appeared first on N6 Powered by KRMA | Fully Integrated Digital Marketing.

This article was originally posted on Cannabis Industry Journal

Public relations has a role to play in every industry, providing value for companies looking to promote their services, announce a recent fund raise, or want to plant a flag in their domain as a leader or subject matter expert. Some industries, however, are writing a new playbook for the way PR is done. The cannabis space is a prime example of how PR can – and has – evolved in such a short amount of time.

This industry has been a part of N6A’s DNA since 2017 when we created a cannabis-specific client service group. Since then we’ve seen the ups and downs, rapid changes and overall growth in an industry that, at the time, very few took seriously. We knew the potential was there, but we couldn’t be prepared for how foreign this would be compared to our other specialties like tech, cybersecurity, and professional services. 

We had to forget what we knew as media professionals and develop new plays and strategies for an industry in its infancy – all while bearing in mind the plant’s polarizing past and ambiguous future. With so many lessons learned from years of cannabis marketing and public relations, here are just a few key takeaways that have shaped our approach and operations in the marketplace. 

Build Relationships Across the Board 

It’s often said “it’s not what you know, but who you know,” and in cannabis this couldn’t be more true. While the industry is growing rapidly, it’s still considered a tight-knit community where everyone talks to each other, and leaders lean on one another for expertise and guidance. A competitive nature is inherent in any business environment, but what I’ve noticed about those working in cannabis is that everyone is striving for the same goal: to further legitimize an industry plagued with stigma. Whether it’s developing media contacts or a new business prospect, the foundation lies in building relationships with the key players in the space. 

From a PR perspective, this includes working closely with the reporters dedicated to the cannabis beat, whether they write for a trade or mainstream publication. Journalists are shifting between jobs faster than ever before, and this beat favors industry veterans. One day your “friendly” at an obscure cannabis outlet will suddenly be spearheading coverage at The New York Times, Rolling Stone, or other iconic publications. For the sake of clients and their desired business outcomes, communications professionals should foster ongoing conversations with any reporter interested in covering cannabis; you never know where it could lead.

Understand the Limitations 

Both public relations and advertising have proven to be instrumental in normalizing cannabis businesses within the mainstream media. However, cannabis marketing and hemp marketing can be a compliance minefield due to strict state and federal regulations. While the industry’s growth is nothing short of explosive, opportunities for advertising are extremely limited as the largest digital platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have banned cannabis ads, forcing companies to look for other options. 

Paid media has its time and place in every industry, but with so much red tape in cannabis advertising, it provides an opportunity for earned media to take the stage. Aside from a few key trades we all know well — Leafly, High Times, Marijuana Business Daily — journalists across business, lifestyle, finance, and retail verticals are covering the space. Depending on what a business is looking to gain from PR, these initiatives are a great way to get directly in front of the audiences they want to reach without the risk of violating certain cannabis advertising guidelines.  Companies that are ancillary, and therefore not selling a particular cannabis product, also have a bit more flexibility when it comes to advertising, especially on social media channels. 

Evolve with the Industry 

The cannabis marketplace as it stands today is vastly different than when we began to service clients years ago. For decades, this industry operated in the shadows and outside of the law, but as legalization spreads across the globe, the way that businesses position and talk about their brand has had to change.

Gone are the days of reefer madness as consumers begin to see cannabis as medicine or a wellness supplement. With this comes a significant reduction in the use of words such as “weed,” “stoner,” and even “marijuana,” while words like “cannabis,” “medicinal” and “patients” step into the forefront. Both communications professionals and businesses must be hyper-aware of the verbiage we use if we want to professionalize the industry and fuel worldwide adoption. 

As the industry sophisticates, the demographic of consumers does as well. What was once reserved for a younger, male population has now been growing in popularity among women, baby boomers, and the elderly. Cannabis businesses are now forced to diversify their messaging to appeal to the masses which often includes taking a minimalist approach to branding and packaging. 

Consumers are no longer looking for the lowest prices, but a brand that they know and trust. Recognition, whether it be locally or nationally, can be gained through a strong cannabis marketing plan and will become increasingly imperative for long-term success. 

See what else we’ve been up to in the cannabis  sector, and let us drive outcomes for you! Talk to us today.

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