CBD is not a new concept. It has always been present in hemp and marijuana plants and many pockets of human beings have harvested it, going far back into ancient times. This being said, it has never been as popular as it is now.
Regardless of the fact that CBD can be harvested from hemp (which is not illegal), the movement to legalize marijuana has boosted the CBD industry. There may be countless people who have been using CBD for years to derive its medicinal benefits, but in this particular age, it has become a product for your everyday person.
With the sheer demand that exists for CBD, it is only fair that prospective producers are trying to jump on the bandwagon. But, with demand comes competition.
This begs the question: how do you make your CBD brand special. What are the steps that you can take when starting a CBD brand, to ensure that your company makes its name known?
First, you need to deal with the legalities of it all
Before you even think of launching into a branding campaign, you need to make the whole business official. This includes obtaining the relevant business licenses as well as the EIN/TIN that is needed for your CBD brand. This is not a place where you want to cut corners.
The relevant authorities are keeping an extra close eye on these kinds of dealings, so for the sake of your business, you want to keep yourself well on the right side of the law. If you are unsure of the laws that pertain to you, then you might want to read up on the laws that exist within your state. These can vary greatly depending on where you are located.
If you plan on producing and distributing in a state where marijuana is not legal, then you will need to make sure the products your CBD brand offers are completely hemp-based. The key in all of this is to educate yourself. You need to become an expert on CBD, the plants that it comes from along with the laws that govern these products.
Now you can build a business plan
The greatest entrepreneurs in modern history did not build their empires on a whim. They had a very clear vision of what they were selling and who they were selling it to. You will need to distill this vision when you start a CBD brand and the way that you can do that is with a solid business plan.
Which segment of the market are you looking to serve? Are you more suited for health and wellness or beauty? What is the assortment of CBD products you are looking at offering? If you do not have the answers to these questions, then you could do market and customer research.
This could tell you what the consumer base looks like. Where is there a gap in the market? Where does the demand lie? Do you have an idea on how to match that demand?
Once you have decided where your new home will be in the market, then you can start figuring out how you are going to build your CBD brand.
Financing and marketing
This is a capitalist world that you are living in. Nothing gets done for free and nothing is given for free. This means that you will need a plan to finance the whole operation. This will include investments to cover start-up costs.
You may have your sights on the revenue that our product could bring you, but this revenue is not coming in just yet. You need to spend money to make money and some of this money needs to be spent on marketing and distribution plans. You need to have a plan to get your product out there? How will you be targeting your customers?
How will you let them know that this is the product for them? And once they have chosen your product, how are you going to get it to them? This all might sound like tedious work, but this is what goes into building a business.
You need to have a plan for everything. You need to think about everything. Start-ups are not for the fainthearted. They need dreamers, but they also need practical people who will deal with the nitty-gritty work.
Where will you get your CBD from?
A successful business has successful marketing and branding schemes, but 9 times out of 10 they also have a good product. With this in mind, have you thought about where you are going to get your CBD?
There is the option of sourcing your CBD straight from Europe. Here you have farmers who have spent decades perfecting the process. But then there are also US-based suppliers that could potentially offer you something that your competitors don’t have. If you are having trouble making this decision, then you could look at the certificates of analysis that suppliers create.
This will tell you exactly what is in each cannabis product. If the COA seems suspect, then there is the option of getting the product tested by a third party. This is recommended simply so that you can ensure that you know exactly what you will be giving your customers.
Who are you?
This is not a question that is meant to bring on an existential crisis. Instead, it serves to make you think about who you want your company to be. When you sell a product, you are not just selling an item. You are selling a story.
To do this, you need to have an articulate idea of what your story is. What kind of associations do you want to have linked to your brand and business? A quick way of going about this is to think about what you don’t want to be associated with and then going right ahead and projecting the complete opposite.
The key here is to keep it simple and to make it personal. You are telling your story, it is perfectly fine to stick to the truth.
