Digital marketing presents both many opportunities and many avenues for cannabis companies. Social media gives industry insiders a chance to interact with their customers. The pay-per-click market isn’t friendly to cannabis right now, but that could soon change. SEO can help a business find its local audience or get the word out to a larger public.
Behind many of these avenues is what’s known as “content marketing.” Content marketing may include videos, infographics, and social media posts. It also includes another well-known marketing vehicle: the blog.
As video marketing becomes popular and Instagram grows its user base, you might wonder if blogging is on its way out. It used to be considered indispensable for a business to have a blog. Is that still the case?
A review shows that blogging might be one of the best techniques you can use to build awareness and grow your business.
Blogs Communicate Your Expertise
Let’s start with the basics. A blog is a self-hosted “magazine” of sorts, where you can publish articles about your products and your business.
The purpose of a blog isn’t to sell your products, though. People generally don’t spend much time on sites that only talk about the company itself or read blogs that feel “pitchy.”
So, what’s the point of a blog then?
The blog is a dedicated space where cannabis professionals can share their expertise. For example, think about the questions a budtender in a dispensary is asked on a day-to-day basis.
What if you could provide the answers to potential customers before they ever set foot in your store? A blog post focused on answering customers’ most common questions could be just the thing.
That’s because people aren’t just looking for information when they step into a store. Most consumers do research online. They want to know who has the products they want and which products are best. They ask questions about pricing.
In the cannabis space, many people are novice users, and they have many questions. They want to know about THC and CBD. They have questions about dosing. Which method is really the best? How are these products made and tested?
As an industry professional, you have the answers to these questions. A blog can help you share these insights and give your customers the answers they’re looking for.
A Blog Builds Trust
The blog is also a vehicle for building trust between the company and its audience.
How does the blog build trust? First, it showcases a company’s credibility. As new articles are published, a more extensive knowledge library is built. People can find the answers to more of their questions.
As they discover the blog offers great advice, people will start to look to this resource first. Whether they want tips for finding high-quality CBD oil or reviews of the latest strains, they know where to turn.
They might still Google the site, but they’ll know they can trust the link to your website whenever it crops up. In turn, they’ll click it first to get their answers.
If you recommend a particular product over another, they’re going to take your word for it. They may also look to you for insights about where the market is going or other thought leadership.
In today’s market, trust is essential. Customers don’t shop with brands they don’t trust. Most consumers say they don’t trust ads and brands as a general rule. They’re even skeptical of social media posts. Old-fashioned advertising will only get you so far in this environment.
A blog is a different kind of marketing, because it focuses on building relationships. It’s not necessarily full of product pitches or salesy language, instead, it’s a peek behind-the-scenes. A blog can be seen as an educational tool, because it’s focused on helping people.
Boosting SEO with Blogging
Customers aren’t the only ones who see a blog as credible. Google is also interested in blogs, and if you want to push your SEO efforts forward, then a blog is a great idea.
Why does Google like blogs so much? First, a blog can help the search engine giant see that a website is being updated regularly. New content shows that the website is active, which means the company is likely still in business. This means your site is probably a better resource to send people to, as well as potentially being secure. It also encourages Google’s web crawlers to come back and recrawl a site on a more regular basis. That leads to more complete indexing.
Next, the blog also helps communicate what the website is about. The more you write on a particular topic, the more Google will “know” what the site is about. Keywords found in blog posts, along with metadata and more, help Google push your page to users who are actually interested.
A blog also presents opportunities to create links:
- To your own content and pages
- To other resources
- From other sites
If you publish a great guide on choosing CBD products, you might get a link back from another credible site. That again encourages Google to come back and recrawl your site. It also adds to your credibility.
Why Does Google Care about Credibility?
Search engines like Google use hundreds of factors to decide page ranks. Yet many of these factors tie back into one idea: credibility.
Blog content boosts your credibility in a few different ways. It can show relevancy to a topic through keywords or metadata. It can also help with link-building. Comments and shares may help show “social proof.”
Building this credibility is important, since it pushes a site higher in the SERPs. That’s the goal of SEO, after all.
Why does Google care about credibility, though?
Google’s business hinges on the satisfaction of its users. If people couldn’t find what they were looking for via Google search, there’s a good chance they would switch search engines. Google wants to keep users happy (and coming back) by delivering the best results.
People want relevant answers to their questions. They want good website experiences, and they want helpful information from credible sources.
Google’s algorithm helps it align what it delivers with user expectations. If users want credible information from good sources, then so does Google.
In short, meeting Google’s SEO expectations helps you meet your users’ expectations.
A Blog Influences Other Marketing Efforts
Why else should a cannabis company be blogging? The short answer is that blogging can provide a solid foundation on which to grow your other marketing efforts.
How so? The content you create for the blog can be repurposed in your other marketing campaigns. Think about a social media campaign. You can promote a blog via Twitter, LinkedIn, or another social media platform.
A blog can also be repurposed into an infographic or video content for YouTube and Instagram.
If you’re running an email marketing campaign, then you might want to promote a new blog post to your email list. When following up with a sales prospect, you might send some relevant links with answers to questions or product reviews.
We already talked a bit about how blogging influences your SEO, too. SEO is often an overlooked marketing strategy. It goes a long way in supporting social media marketing, PPC ads, and more.
Increase Brand Visibility
What else can a blog do for a brand? It improves visibility. Even if people aren’t coming to a website in droves, they might still see your blog ranking in the SERPs.
This can increase your brand visibility. Every time people see your website name or your logo, they’ll be reminded that they’ve encountered it before. That may encourage them to click and visit the website. It may also encourage them to click on an ad for your brand when they see it.
They may also recognize the name on social media and give you a follow. Increased visibility and brand recognition are key to building an audience.
Sharing Is Caring
The importance of blogging for cannabis companies—or any other company—is clear. A blog helps translate company knowledge and expertise into actionable advice your customers know they can rely on.
A blog is just another way of showing you care about your customers and your relationship with them. It also sets a foundation for a marketing strategy that will take you further in the age of social media.
Not sure how to get started? Get in touch with us. We can help you develop a content strategy that you can grow from.