How Truth, Resourcefulness, and Diligence Drive Cannabis Marketing Success

Advertising is about spotting boundaries and providing novel solutions to
both immediate and long-term problems. I’ve been an account manager in the digital
marketing industry for nearly ten years, and let me tell you this: Agencies
do not have a monopoly on good ideas or novel solutions. We simply have
processes in place to prevent us (usually) from proposing bad ideas.

There are three pillars to running a successful ad campaign: *truth*,
*resourcefulness*, and *diligence*. Let’s look at how to make them work for
you.
Truth

One of the first promotions I was asked to run for a client was a display
advertisement calling attention to an early-bird special for senior
citizens. There is a nugget of truth to the idea we should reward people
who come in early, and there is a nugget of truth to the assumption
early-bird shoppers skew older. I was intrigued and a little confused. Do
seniors smoke weed? Would they show up to a dispensary at 8 a.m. for a
10-percent discount?

Yes, they smoke, and yes, they will show up, but not in the same numbers as
twenty-somethings will show up for a night-owl special an hour before
closing. There is no reason to restrict the age of a special unless you’re
very intentionally trying to attract that crowd. The client was warned, but
we ended up running the promotion anyway—and didn’t see much success.

There is a lesson here for business owners: Data matters, and sometimes
your gut feeling isn’t reflective of reality. You need to know your
demographics and how they interact with each other. If you don’t have time
to look at the data and come up with a good plan of action, pay someone
else to do it and be receptive to their findings.

There’s a lesson here for account managers, too. Advocate for your client,
but sometimes you must advocate for your client’s best interest to the
client. This means gently telling them their idea is terrible and
explaining why. Numbers don’t lie, so show them the numbers. It also means
offering alternatives they like as much as their own idea or convincing
them your idea was actually theirs.

A more general lesson about deals also surfaces: Your deals should hit the people
who are most likely to make a purchase and convince them to buy more than
they normally would. Anything that drives up the order value to redeem the
deal or incentivizes the consumer to add one more item to their cart
(perhaps to get a discount?) goes a long way toward making a campaign
successful.

Unlike in traditional retail, cannabis businesses typically can’t offer
anything for free. However, they can offer some products, like a simple
pre-roll, for a single penny.
Resourcefulness

You have more resources than you think you do. This is true for
do-it-yourself (DIY) business owners, shoestring-budget marketers, and
million-dollar agencies alike. Paid programs and tools are great, but most
of the tools you need to use on a daily basis are completely free.

If you’re writing copy for a webpage, for example, all you really need is
Notepad, Google Docs, or now, a free AI assistant like ChatGPT or Gemini to
help brainstorm ideas or polish your tone. If you’re designing a banner for
your website, Canva remains a go-to tool. The most useful resource is still
Google, with YouTube a close second. If you don’t know how to do something,
Google it. If the instructions don’t make sense, watch someone walk through
it on YouTube—or ask an AI for step-by-step help.

I’ve built individual web pages and entire websites by digging through DIY
Google guides. Podcasts and YouTube channels are dedicated to every part of
marketing a business, and experienced small and medium-sized enterprises
often share it all for free. Google Analytics, Search Console, and Trends
all help neophytes learn about their websites, potential customers, and
what people search for online.
Diligence

Diligence isn’t a one-and-done affair. Persistence is key from the
perspective of business owners, account managers, and everyday people
seeking growth in any facet of life. As an account manager, this means
following up with clients, coworkers, and yourself until you have
everything you need to launch a campaign. Being diligent means having a
primary plan and also a backup plan. It means having a content calendar and
working it every day, analyzing what worked and what didn’t, and figuring
out how to perform better the next time.

The most common and hardest-to-overcome pitfall is planning inadequately.
Most people don’t start looking for information about avoiding business
pitfalls or getting out of them until they’ve accidentally stumbled into a
sizeable one. This is especially true of cannabis businesses. Having a good
payment processor and a good-looking website before launching a campaign is
of paramount importance, for example.

A related pitfall is failing to set realistic expectations. You need to
know why you’re doing what you’re doing and set measurable, realistic goals
for whatever it is you’re doing. The hardest conversations I have as an
account manager are those that happen a month into a campaign when the
client asks me why I haven’t made them a million dollars yet.

Prioritize trust, transparency, and vigilance. If your clients or customers
don’t trust you, they won’t be your clients or customers for long. You need
to give them a reason to trust you and work with you.

The best way to gain and keep trust is by being transparent. It’s okay to
say, “I don’t know. I’ll do some research and get back to you.” Just make
sure that isn’t your response to every question. Do some research before
you speak with clients. Think about what you would want to know if you were
in their shoes, and find answers before they ask the questions. If you’ve
thought of something and they haven’t, that’s worth sharing. It shows you
think about and care about their business.

Be vigilant, and watch for trends. Every market is moving at a breakneck
pace right now, but the cannabis market is moving at light speed. Something
might be legal one week and illegal the next. (Delta-8 gummies, anyone?)
Legality is one thing, but trends have a half-life of about one day.
Remember the Dyson hair dryer everyone clamored over? Or the last season of *Stranger
Things*? Trends move fast, and you need to be three steps ahead if you want
to grow.

*Editor’s Note: This story was originally published July 23, 2023. Updated
June 24, 2025, to reflect current AI tools.*