How to Advertise CBD Online – Complete Guide

Introduction

Market trends come and go, but CBD is here to stay. How can we be so sure? Well, for starters, the market is estimated to hit $22 billion by 2024. As if that isn’t telling enough, more and more entrepreneurs are jumping on the CBD train as the days pass. But if you’re here, you probably already know just how lucrative of a business it is, so don’t let’s preach to the choir.

However, it is one thing for a market to be lucrative and ripe for profit; it is another for traders and cbd sellers to be able to actually maximize the profit and potential gains. One surefire way of achieving this, though, is to advertise CBD online. And not just any type of advertising now, but effective advertising.

Then to the next issue – how to effectively advertise CBD online? We’re here for you! This article will highlight the concept that is CBD marketing, why it is important, the dos and don’ts of CBD marketing, how to advertise CBD online, and the best advertising strategy. Brace yourself!

What Is CBD Marketing and Advertising?

CBD marketing is basically marketing your CBD products. Yes, it’s that simple. And by marketing, we mean the art of promoting and selling company’s products and services. It refers to all the activities a company or business undertakes to get people to buy their goods and services.

Marketing and advertising aren’t the same, although they are commonly used interchangeably today. While marketing is the broad process of getting people to know and patronize a company, advertising is usually more specific. It is the art of promoting a company’s products and services through certain paid channels. In other words, advertising is a component of marketing.

As you may already know, there are many forms of advertising, including newspapers, magazines, radio, television, outdoor signs, directories, online, and many more. However, our focus today is on how to advertise CBD online.

Why CBD Marketing and Advertising?

Okay, we have considered what CBD marketing and advertising is. This brings us to the next question – why? Why are CBD marketing and advertising so important?

1. Getting Customers

Of course, this is on here. It has to be. The whole point of marketing and advertising is getting people to try out your products and services, CBD in this case. With proper marketing and advertising, businesses can pitch their products to people with the aim of getting them to buy.

Note our use of “proper.” Marketing wrongly will do the exact opposite of what you want and will only discourage people from patronizing your business. This is why CBD marketing has to be done right, and also why you need this article.

2. Building and Maintaining Long-Lasting Customer Relationships

It is not enough to get customers; businesses need to know how to retain them. It is not everyone that visits a company’s website that will make a purchase. In the same vein, not everyone buys a product that will come back for more. But with proper advertising, customer relationships can be maintained.

3. Creating Awareness

Another one of the main goals of marketing and advertising is to educate people and make them aware of a company’s brand. We aren’t saying, “making them aware of the company.” People can know of a company and not know what the company stands for and its virtues, making retaining customers difficult. This is where marketing and advertising enter the equation.

4. Beating Competition

Yes, getting people to try out your products is good. But imagine getting lots of people to try out your products? That’s the difference between average and successful businesses – the ability to beat the competition and draw people to themselves. The good news is advertising is an easy way of achieving this.

The Dos of CBD Marketing

1. Know The Law

We cannot possibly overemphasize this; we’ll still try, though! You must know the law surrounding advertising where you are. Don’t make the mistake of advertising without reading through the rules and regulations around advertising – which there are quite a few, especially when you want to advertise CBD online.

See local authorities if you have to, contact customer care services, read through terms and agreements, just make sure you know the law regarding advertising CBD.

2. Leverage Online Advertising Channels

The world operates on the internet now. The reliance has become so much that businesses without an online presence simply cannot survive. As such, it only makes sense to leverage online advertising channels to market your CBD products. For effective marketing, you have to know how to advertise CBD online.

3. Keep Things Simple

Don’t beat around the bush or bore readers. Say what you want to say in simple and understandable terms. Now is not the time to show your technical prowess with a whole lot of useless jargon. We aren’t saying you should be bland; no, you have to spice things up, but don’t overdo it and end up boring users.

4. Use SEO

This is so critical to advertising CBD online that we dedicated a whole segment to it. SEO is the heart of online advertising. It is what determines your reach and visibility, which are what will ultimately determine whether or not a company can attract customers.

5. Don’t Isolate Yourself

There is competition, true. You should aim to beat competitors, also true. But you know what isn’t – that you can exist alone. No business can stand without some level of external assistance, even from competitors. You should not see competitors as enemies to be avoided. Rather, attend trade shows and similar events where you can interact with your competitors to know what you’re up against.

The Don’ts of CBD Marketing

1. Don’t try and outsmart ad channels

This is specifically for people that want to advertise CBD online. Don’t try and outsmart ad channels because you can’t. Yes, it may work for a while, but it is never sustainable. You will eventually get caught and get blacklisted or even outright banned from using the platform.

2. Don’t Exaggerate Things or Lie

We agree this can be enticing. You’re probably thinking, “everyone lies a little when advertising.” That won’t cut it in CBD marketing. Because of the huge restrictions usually placed on CBD advertising, everything you put out will likely be heavily scrutinized. If there are false claims and assertions, you can say goodbye to your advert.

3. Don’t Make Medical Claims

Whether you think they are right or not, stay off making medical claims. The FDA doesn’t approve of it and will not hesitate to get your advert off air.

4. Don’t Market Illegal Products

This is the only point in this article where we have to beg – please don’t market illegal products. It never ends well. Making money is good; we get it. But you know what else is good? Not being in jail! Enough said.

How To Advertise CBD Online?

The good news is that there are several ways you can advertise CBD online. The bad news – virtually all of these platforms have some restrictions on CBD advertising. This isn’t a deal-breaker, though, far from it. All it means is you have to not only know the online platforms to use but also how to use them to advertise your CBD online.

1. Social Media Channels

You saw this coming from a mile away, didn’t you? Social media advertising is one of the biggest and most effective forms of advertising. That stems, of course, from the fact that almost every adult in developed countries has a social media account now. Reports suggest that more than 55% of the world’s population has some sort of social media presence. This alone makes social media advertising prime for advertising.

However, it also means the social media developers work overtime on ensuring the kind of content that is released on their various platforms. CBD is kind of a grey area right now, and many social media channels have placed full or partial restrictions on CBD advertising. Below, we will quickly review some of the biggest platforms and their restrictions on CBD advertising.

– Facebook

This would have been the ideal platform to advertise CBD online because it has the most users of all social media platforms. Sadly, there are quite a few hefty restrictions. For one, you cannot advertise cannabis-derived CBD products on Facebook. Only hemp-derived CBD products have a bit of leeway.

Some years ago, Facebook didn’t allow CBD ads at all. Now, companies can advertise topical hemp-derived CBD products. While there is still a long way to go, it is a good sign that Facebook is willing to lower these restrictions.

– Instagram

Instagram doesn’t allow CBD ads. While they aren’t as strict in their monitoring as Facebook and Twitter, they still clearly don’t support it and will not hesitate to suspend accounts found guilty. This isn’t to say there is no hope on Instagram, though, as you can still link and redirect visitors to your products and website through regular posts on your account.

– Twitter

Twitter also doesn’t allow CBD ads. It’s a little surprising, considering Twitter is perhaps the social media that gives the most freedom to its users. As it turns out, though, they don’t allow the marketing of illicit substances or even herbal drugs on their platform. Luckily, this ban is only on paid ads. Businesses and companies can still provide links to their websites and products as normal posts.

Social media platforms are without doubt one of the best ways of advertising online. But you still shouldn’t throw caution to the wind when using these apps, as they usually have several restrictions and won’t hesitate to kick off guilty accounts.

2. Third-Party Ads

Native and third-party ads are effective ways to advertise CBD online. These types of ads are so designed that they don’t interfere with user experience. It then becomes easier for users to notice the ads and click on them. As with social media platforms, some websites do not allow CBD ads. But that’s just a few in the millions of websites available for use.

3. Email Marketing

Email marketing is fast gaining prominence in the online marketing world, and it’s not difficult to see why. This form of marketing focuses on personalizing the information doled out to subscribers. When we said building and maintaining long-lasting customer relationships, we had this at the back of our mind.

While it is pretty easy to set up, getting subscribers may be a hassle. If done improperly, many subscribers may just tag the email as spam. So, businesses to ensure moderation when sending out emails. The content should also be fresh and non-repetitive.

4. Affiliate Marketing

Working with affiliates is another effective way to advertise CBD online. Aside from being effective in bringing customers in, it is also low-risk as affiliate fees are based on the ability to bring customers in. This way, companies will get their value for money.
There are quite a few affiliate networks available for CBD marketing. Companies should pick one that best suits their needs.

5. Influencer Marketing

You must have heard of influencers before, particularly on social media platforms. Starting from scratch with advertising CBD on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram isn’t easy because you have to build up a following. If you don’t care for this stress, you can exploit the large following of certain accounts. This will pitch products out to a broader audience, ultimately leading to more sales.

SEO for Advertising CBD Online

You will not survive in online advertising if your content is not SEO-optimized. You may already have a website and even blogs you publish on the website. Still, without proper optimization, this will not mean much.

SEO will assist in churning out relevant and rich content, which will boost Search Engine Results Page rankings. The implication is that your CBD website and products will be more visible when people search for them.

SEO isn’t hard to do. You just need to know the right keywords to use, how to use them, and ensure that your articles are actually relevant to a particular topic. Ask yourself before releasing any content if your article will be answering a relevant question. Then ensure the content contained in your article is rich in the keywords people will be searching for.

If all of these are too much bother for you, employ an SEO expert such as Digital Octane or some other trusted company. Whatever you do, just make sure all your online content is geared towards proper SEO optimization.

Conclusion

Advertising CBD online is one of the most effective ways of marketing your products. Therefore, care needs to be taken to ensure it is done correctly. Fortunately, this article will serve as a guide, telling readers the steps to take and those to abstain from.

For more information on developing a winning CBD brand, reach out to Digital Octane anytime. We offer various services, including CBD website hosting, payment processor integration, tech support, supplier support, CBD website development. You can even get free consultations.

You want your CBD business to be successful; we do too! Reach out to us today.