Successfully grow and market your Cannabidiol (CBD) business

Bypass advertising restrictions and skyrocket your sales with ShoutOut

by Sarah Hutchings

Posted: Thursday 6th February 2020

CBD (Cannabidiol) Global Market

CBD has well and truly captured the medical world's imagination. Mounting scientific evidence points to the enormous therapeutic potential of CBD to treat a range of conditions including depression and anxiety, heart health, chronic pain and cancer-related symptoms.

Now legally available in Canada, most U.S. States and European Union Countries, the market is set to soar. Leading cannabis researchers (BDS Analytics & Arcview Market Research), project that the market value of CBD sales in the U.S. alone will surpass $20 billion by 2024.

So how is your business going to win the race for market share?

The Key Challenge Growing a CBD Business

Until recently, marijuana and hemp products were illegal in most countries.

While the medical, public and political perceptions of products made from these materials are rapidly evolving, it is still not plain sailing for companies wanting to promote their CBD products.

Significant advertising restrictions still exist.

Even modern digital ad giants Facebook and Google reject ads that promote these products. They have immediately shut down advertising accounts and banned businesses from using the platform as a result.

These restrictions aren't going to change while CBD is still under review by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

So how are you supposed to promote and grow your CBD business?

6 Proven Ways to Promote Your CBD Business with Affiliate Programs

Waiting for advertising rules to change is NOT the answer.

With approximately 40% of U.S. consumers aged 21 and above claiming that they would consider trying CBD according to a study by High Yield Insights, the race is already on to capture share in this market.

Here are six proven strategies you can start using now:

1. Optimise Your Website (SEO): Optimise your website, so your brand gets organically found when people actively search for CBD products and information.
2. Create Content: Produce fresh content that educates and informs people about your business and products. Using relevant keywords and phrases will help you get found and make your SEO more effective.
3. Launch an Affiliate Program: People love sharing products that radically change their life for the better. So why not reward and incentivise them for it? Create an affiliate program where you enlist passionate customers, employees and friends to tell the world about your CBD products for you.
4. Add Multi-Level Marketing (MLM): 10x the success of your affiliate program by adding multi-level scalability. MLM is where existing affiliates can invite other people to join their network. In turn, they too get rewarded each time that person makes a sale. Creating a program with unlimited width and depth is one of the quickest ways to exponentially scale your business.
5. Approach Micro-Influencers: Approach people with small but loyal social media followings (3,000 to 100,000 people) who are highly relevant to your target audience. Rather than paying a flat fee for them to promote your products, offer a commission on each product that gets sold as a result. Offering commission massively boosts their earning potential and significantly reduces your risk by eliminating the need to pay any money upfront.
6. Engage in Email Marketing: While not new, this tried and tested method of promotion still has one of the highest returns on investment (ROI) of any online marketing channel. Regularly sending coupons, discount offers, news and educational content is a great way to keep your business top of mind and maximise the lifetime value of your customers.

The Proven Marketing Strategy for CBD Business Growth

Those in CBD businesses know how effective their products are. The secret to exponentially growing a CBD business is to build a network of passionate brand ambassadors to promote your products.

Harnessing the power of word of mouth to ride the coming wave of CBD growth, is the smart and effective way to also overcome advertising restrictions currently impacting this market.

What is the Best MLM Affiliate Plugin/App for CBD business?

With over 180,000 users, ShoutOut is unashamedly the leading referral application for CBD businesses the world over. With in-built multi-level marketing functionality, thousands of merchants are achieving phenomenal revenue results with this proven application.

With ShoutOut, your CBD business can have a multi-level affiliate program up and running in less than five minutes on WooCommerce, Shopify and Squarespace online stores.

Included with ShoutOut's FREE software is full access to video training. Learn how to master the full power of multi-level affiliate marketing by following our comprehensive video course covering 26 important subjects that will benefit your CBD business and set you on a successful path to achieve your goals.