CBD is one of the hottest trends in consumer goods. Many leading consumer brands are spinning up CBD-infused or hemp-based products or even full product lines dedicated to the additive known to relieve pain and anxiety, while even more entrepreneurs are starting entire businesses around CBD products.
Because major digital advertising channels like Facebook, Instagram, Google, Amazon and, most recently, Snapchat still won’t allow these brands to run paid ads, these brands are differentiating themselves with beautiful branding, interactive websites, valuable organic content supported by strong SEO strategies, user-generated social content and earned media.
While effective, these channels are becoming saturated, and brands are missing out on the growth-accelerating power of paid acquisition, leaving a booming industry to wonder – where can you advertise a CBD brand?
One option is to outsource your marketing to an agency with a hive mind of expert marketers constantly developing creative strategies to navigate such challenges. But if you’re going to attempt to do it yourself, here are six ways you can effectively advertise your CBD brand and products, despite limitations on major platforms:
1 – Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing allows brands to reach a wider audience on social by tapping into the communities of tastemakers in relevant industries. Your brand can leverage the trust that influencers have built with their followers to promote your products in an organic way. Sometimes, picking the right influencers for your brand can be tricky – keep in mind that sometimes influencers with smaller, niche audiences can make better partners for brands than influencers with broader reach, but less engagement.
2 – Affiliate Marketing
Leverage publishers to generate traffic to your website. Because affiliate fees are completely performance-based, working with affiliate networks offers your brand a low-risk way to generate quality traffic. Be sure that your conversion and retention strategies are in place, as customers from affiliate partners often present the highest potential customer lifetime value (CLV).
3 – Native Advertising
Native advertising is a form of advertising, typically within a digital publication, where placements are made to look like relevant content. By placing your content into publications like Civilized.life with millions of active readers of all shapes and sizes, you can leverage their audiences to grow awareness for your brand.
4 – Content Syndication
Similar to native advertising, content syndication is another great to way leverage your content to drive brand awareness. Platforms like FieldTest can help republish your content on relevant third-party sites, giving you an opportunity to put the right content-based advertisements below or near similar articles.
5 – Out-of-Home
Billboards. Sounds old-school, but it works. This traditional form of marketing presents a great way to grow awareness and move products in specific retail locations but can be expensive.
6 – Podcast Ads
Marketing your brand to dedicated podcast listeners is another great way to boost awareness. Though it can be expensive, placing ads into relevant podcasts associates your brand with personalities listeners trust.
Conclusion
The CBD industry continues to spread like a weed through organic channels. With these seven paid acquisition methods, CBD brands can add fuel to the fire of organic growth, despite extremely limiting restrictions on major digital platforms. As with any paid acquisition strategy, brands should be attentive to data, always testing and optimizing strategies to maximize budgets for ROI.
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