sPart 2: Marketing Plan
What is your Target Market, your Message and Voice, your Media and your Platforms
The obvious place to start with a marketing plan is content –like blog posts, Instagram posts, brochures, Facebook ads, and website pages. You are a CBD Business, so you know what products you have, the dosage, the ingredients, and, ideally, the targeted uses. But starting to craft content with your products first, is a mistake.
Your Target Market
We mentioned in the last part (read here) that CBD is a product that can help everyone. But is everyone your target market? Not a great strategy if you want your business to grow. Choose your lane; by focusing on your specific customers, you will bring awareness to your CBD business faster because you are not competing with every other CBD business. Where do you begin to refine and define your audience?
The best place to start in defining your market is problems. Specifically, figure out which problems your CBD products solve. In other words, what questions are your customers asking Google? Answer them!
CBD has a wide array of uses and solutions. Most common among them is pain relief, anxiety reduction, help with sleep, inflammation reduction, immunity, and so many more. Athletes use it to control pain and inflammation. Pet owners and people alike will use it to keep anxiety and stress in check. Your mom may use it to control the pain in her hands from RA. Some people use it to boost their immunity against the flu. Of course, all of these ailments are helped by using CBD, but focusing your products on specific problems will make targeting (and ultimately, your messaging) much more straightforward.
UPDATE: Have you ever thought about focusing your business on the Senior Market? Studies show that they are more likely to try new methods of health and wellness if they have the right information. That means that you, as the business owner, must understand their needs. Start with CBD For Seniors, everything you need to know to guide this lucrative market to your brand.
What is Your Message?
Crafting irresistible offers is what advertising and marketing are very good at determining. The problem is that focusing on every offer, solving every problem will make your website and materials very dull and generic. Picture your ideal customer (if you went through part 1, you have already done this.) Now, what are their problems?
An old advertising adage says, “Speak to the dog in the language of the dog.” As logical as that seems, why do so many CBD Businesses try to speak to everyone, everywhere?
Athletes are a particular target audience and speak in a very language and tone.
Seniors are worried about the aches and pains that come with aging, and they certainly are not impressed with hemp leaves and snowboarding videos.
Pet Owners are a natural gateway audience for using CBD for themselves, but if they found you to help with their dog’s hip issues, don’t lose them by flooding their newsfeed with your bath bomb offers.
Every audience has specific problems. They speak in different languages and search the internet on various platforms, at different times of the day or night. Know who your people are, and know what problems they are trying to solve, and you will have all the messaging ideas you need to attract more than enough customers.
Determining Which Platforms To Use
Where to post all your content seems like a no-brainer if you have chosen a specific audience and want to target their particular problem. Sadly, most new businesses jump right into the social media platform, they are most comfortable with instead of where their customers can be found. I am sure that most baby boomers are primarily on Facebook, but it is a mistake to assume they prefer Instagram when learning about new products and services.
Hire experts to guide you through this process of media and platforms. They know where to find most people and understand how to turn your message into brilliant looking posts and emails specifically for that audience. I am not saying that the DIY method doesn’t work. It does, for a while. Hiring a marketing group is all about your time.
- Are you of more use lowering your costs through better suppliers, or taking your entire weekend “designing” posts for Twitter?
- Is your time better spent meeting with clients to discuss incorporating a CBD health regime or trying to craft a newsletter in Mailchimp?
The bottom line is about your customer. If they are reaching out, liking your posts, following your blogs, placing orders online, and leaving five-star reviews—you are in the right place, so don’t sweat it.
Content Rules
There are plenty of CBD brands with hip posts showcasing showering tincture bottles surrounded by neon and glitter. There are plenty of CBD brands offering discounts, coupons, and offers via email that is filling up email boxes one, two, sometimes up to five times a day. Is that what you would like as a CBD customer?
Then why imitate it when you cannot stand it yourself?
Reaching out to your target audience begins with education and advice. Every piece of content that you produce and post should offer value along the customer journey. Selling doesn’t have to be a 24/7 process. In fact, it should NOT be all about sales.
Educate, Inform, Delight, and Convince.
These are the guiding principles of digital marketing today. So stop selling and pushing the look and feel of your bottles.
Give your customers solutions through information, and they will help you find all the new customers you need.
To learn more about this one-page marketing plan, we have packaged together an incredible course worth thousands of dollars in marketing materials. Learn More
