Branding is everything in today’s business world. Even though brand loyalty is dwindling in almost every industry, people still buy based on the brand. If a person feels comfort or pleasure from using a product, they will pledge their loyalty to the company.
The same modus operandi holds applicable for the cannabis industry, where reputation is even more important. This is especially important due to the controversy surrounding the use of marijuana for both medicinal and recreational purposes.
The brand loyalty system heavily benefits established companies. Aside from that, it also makes it tough for smaller up and comers in the cannabis industry to make a name for themselves. The first thing that comes to everyone’s mind when creating a company is the name.
You may have occasional flashes of brilliance when it comes to ideas concerning your goods and services, but your name will be the thing connected to the very same goods and services. That’s why making an appropriate decision is very important in the world of cannabis entrepreneurship. Your thought process, in this case, will directly impact the number of people that hold pop top bottles with your brand on them.
The importance of a name
This is one of the questions we get the most. With the cannabis industry growing, people aren’t just concerned about having a quality product (and an ever-expanding array of products). They think about the design of their custom cannabis packaging and other things related to branding.
On top of the list of entrepreneurship-related conundrums is, of course, the problem of deciding a name. How significant is a name and how can it impact the way you conduct business both in the infant phase of your project and beyond?
A truth which many up and coming entrepreneurs don’t want to hear is that nobody will care about your name that much. People won’t buy your products based on their name. The best-case scenario is having people laugh at a good pun or slogan connected to the name. Everything else comes down to quality and sufficient marketing of the same product.
However, can a bad product name deter your customers? Absolutely. Also, a good name may make the marketing part easier, allowing you to assemble versatile marketing campaigns for the world to see. Now that we’ve covered the significance of having a proper name, it’s time to dissect the brand creation process. This involves long-term solutions, as well as advice involving expression on the market.
Not just a name, but a signature line
To make it in a hectic business such as the cannabis industry, you have to think big and have lofty goals. There is no holding back when it comes to thinking of all the details. Why is the cannabis business so different from others? The answer to this question lies in a few components. It is these factors that dictate the way a dispensary owner should behave in the beginning phases of a cannabis-related project.
- Marijuana is different from other products mainly because of its controversy. Federally, it operates on both levels of marketing – positive and negative.
- There is also the component of marijuana being a product people use by eating or inhaling it. Because you feel it personally, marijuana is mostly marketed by a word-to-mouth system.
- Unlike any other industry, marijuana has a unique option of self-marketing. This means that, if your products and services are of sufficient quality, people will market you by themselves. Additionally, you can fuel the process by rewarding regular customers for loyalty.
Having these details in mind is important when starting a marijuana business. It should be a business line. It’s all about expansion. Think about all the possible facets of your endeavors that can be expanded.
Every single industry that is even remotely related should be seen as an option for expansion. The absolute most important thing is knowing what you want. From that point onwards, everything gets easier.
Know what you’re worth
The first thing you have to think about is what makes your product unique. This doesn’t revolve around having quality pop top containers or colorful custom cannabis packaging. It involves something much more. If you were in the place of your customers, how would your own product improve your life? If you started using it today, how would tomorrow be different?
We know it’s hard to pinpoint uniqueness at this point, so you have to focus on wording. Instead of trying to be different just for the sake of being different, it’s time to express the goals and benefits of your cannabis products. Even peripherals such as MMJ containers should contain the essential phrases and wordings.
Many cannabis entrepreneurs use cliché wording and irrelevant facts to highlight their product. Either they’re in the business for a long time, they’re licensed, or they source their strains from some exotic countries.
These are things that revolve around sounding attractive but don’t do anything. It’s essential that you take your time to eliminate these excess elements of your brand. Naming will become less important when the message is clear.
Strength in wording
A good entrepreneur is always strong when using his words, but also compassionate and willing to hear about what he could do better. We’ve already mentioned the importance of quality and marketing over a simple brand name, but you have to balance on a thin line.
Don’t capitalize on hype, be open and allow people to participate in the creation of your brand. When you’re still a small dispensary, organize tasting events and hand out invitations. Have in-store and online polls about people’s favorite brands.
We at Green Rush Packaging try to engage with our customers. It can stem even from the simplest benefits – like letting people choose the color of their pop top bottles. We even organize competitions for redesigns of our dispensary packaging. That way, the consumer participates in the creation of the product.
