Marketing is deceptively complicated, and many of us believe we excel at communicating solutions to audience needs. When you’re used to making decisions and having them succeed, it’s natural to assume your instincts about messaging and positioning also are sound. This overconfidence leads to mistakes and misconceptions that can cost cannabis businesses significant money by steering them in the wrong direction.
The most damaging of these mistakes happens when leadership dictates marketing direction, often to the experienced marketers they’ve hired, because they see themselves as the campaign’s target persona. The thinking “this is what I would want” or “this is what I would respond to” creates a narrative that excludes what your audience actually wants or needs.
Good marketing requires flexibility and adjusting course based on feedback from the intended audience. It requires research to acquire real understanding about who you are talking to, what problem you’re solving for them, and what they are seeing and comparing in the marketplace. The cannabis industry compounds these universal challenges with state-by-state limitations, fragmented access to consumers, and structural barriers that make even strong brands hard to scale.
Avoiding the blind spots below can help keep your spend and your strategy aligned with reality.
Your Audience Isn’t Everyone: Targeting Drives Real Cannabis Growth
One of the most common mistakes is marketing to everyone who might consume cannabis instead of the subset most likely to choose your brand. But broad messaging dilutes relevance.
Narrowly define your target audience. To do that, consider which consumers are most likely to enjoy and use your products. Factors to consider should include emerging and declining demographics in your market, whether your audience is composed of high-THC or casual consumers, and how many competitors already target your chosen segment. The sweet spot is those consumers who are likely to adopt your product but also are under-recognized by other brands and retailers.
◆ Niche first, then scale. Clarity beats inclusivity at the start.
Cannabis Content Marketing Confuses Education for Conversion
The earnest desire to educate is one of the most common marketing instincts in cannabis. Brands assume the public still doesn’t understand terpenes, cannabinoids, or microdosing — which is partially true — but it doesn’t follow that people are seeking out that information from a brand’s or retailer’s website.
Even if an educational blog post ranks in search, the person reading it is likely performing informational research, not a transactional search. They are solving curiosity, not choosing a product. The right place for education is at the point of purchase, where clarity can tip a buying decision.
◆ Use education to build trust at purchase, not traffic online.
Clarify Your Unique Value Proposition
Before your target audience is defined, before your addressable market is sized, and before media outlets are mentioning your name, the most important question is, “Why would anyone buy this?” It is easy to point to product features — engineering, service, quality — but your competitors can claim those too.
A unique value proposition (UVP) is only “unique” if the buyer feels it solves a problem better than the alternatives. A UVP should simplify decision-making, not complicate it. If your audience is thirsty, you sell a refreshing solution. If they’re anxious, you sell relief. If they want a better end to their day, you sell that experience.
If your value proposition doesn’t map directly to a customer pain point or desire, it isn’t a value proposition — it’s a tagline.
◆ A UVP should feel like recognition, not explanation.
Cannabis Packaging and Design Influence Buyer Trust
Looking like every other brand is inexpensive, but it also can be the difference between market domination and quietly fading from the shelf. Humans buy with their eyes first. A magnificent product in unexceptional packaging rarely gets the chance to prove itself.
Wyld is a case study in design as differentiation. The standout octagonal packaging is recognizable from across the room, and it’s part of the reason Wyld has become a top-selling brand.
Packaging also can spark user-generated content and serve as a built-in awareness tool if it gives consumers something delightful or worth showing off. Whether it’s the cachet of a product like Liquid Death or the amusing facts printed on the inside of a Snapple lid, 40 percent of consumers likely will share a product that was designed with shareability in mind.
◆ Packaging is a marketing strategy, not a cost center.
Become a Lifestyle Brand Instead of a Category Commodity
In adjacent industries — beer, luxury spirits, energy drinks — branding is tribe-based. Consumers don’t just choose a product; they choose an identity. Cannabis has not fully embraced that playbook yet, which leaves open territory for brands to align with cultural communities rather than broad demographics.
Seth Godin frames this as “People like us do things like this.” When consumers see themselves reflected in the brand’s tribe, price and features become secondary to belonging. Eventually, cannabis brands will function as identity badges in the same way, and early movers will own those cultural lanes.
◆ People buy identity first and cannabis second. Sell belonging, not product.
PR Is a Visibility Engine for Cannabis Brands
PR often is skipped because brands assume awareness can be bought through volume alone. But in an environment where credibility is a differentiator, earned media signals legitimacy. When your brand is mentioned by respected outlets, you gain borrowed trust.
With AI-enhanced search engines increasingly surfacing reputation signals, third-party validation isn’t optional; it’s the new discovery layer. If others are talking about you, you exist in the real world. If not, consumers may assume your brand is small, untested, or temporary.
◆ Visibility feels earned when someone reputable says your name for you.
Unrealistic Timelines and the Myth of Overnight Marketing Wins
Marketing is a process, not an event. Too many brands expect a burst campaign, a single email push, or a one-off initiative to deliver outsize returns. That may happen occasionally by luck, but sustainable marketing is built on consistent repetition and reputation-building.
Trust is built when a brand shows up repeatedly in relevant places. Familiarity rewires risk perception: Consumers feel safer buying what they already recognize.
◆ Consistency builds trust. Campaigns aren’t events — they’re systems.
Right-Size Your Audience by Understanding TAM
State boundaries and regulation dramatically shrink total addressable markets (TAM). For a single-state brand, the audience is limited to licensed channels and in-state geography. For dispensaries, markets often are even smaller — shaped by distance, convenience, and commuting patterns.
Yet many operators plan as though demand is limitless or national in scope. Analytics tools from firms like BDSA, Headset, Placer.ai, and AIQ exist precisely to show the real top of the funnel. Skipping them means building forecasts on hope instead of math.
◆ Build your strategy on market data, not optimistic headcount.
Compete for Market Share Instead of Hoping for Discovery
Competition in cannabis is not about attracting “new” customers. It is about convincing someone to switch from a brand they already trust. That means your competitors’ visibility is the baseline that must be surpassed to earn consideration. Among other ways, brands do that by:
- Being on the same shelves as their competitors.
- Appearing at the same shelf height.
- Mounting campaigns with industry partners.
- Exhibiting at trade shows.
Being “a diamond in the rough” does not move market share if no one ever sees you sparkle. Outspending, out-positioning, or out-partnering competitors is visibility, not vanity.
◆ Compete for market share intentionally. Visibility must match your ambition.
Social Media Presence Rarely Translates Into Cannabis Sales
Social media can foster relevance, tone, and cultural presence, but it rarely drives direct revenue in cannabis because purchase paths are blocked or heavily restricted. Even organic reach is throttled: Most brands reach 15–25% of their audience on their best day.
Followers and engagement metrics can look impressive while doing little to change sell-through. Social is useful for social proof, not sales. The conversion moment still lives in retail, not on Instagram.
◆ Use social for credibility and culture, not conversion.
Closing the Gap
These blind spots don’t simply waste spend. They also cap growth. The brands that will win from here on are the ones that shrink their audience before scaling it, match claims to pain points, build cultural relevance, and pursue visibility with intention rather than hope.
Marketing momentum is not built on instinct but on alignment: understanding who you serve, where they are, and what makes them choose you twice.
Based in Denver, Tyler Jacobson is director of marketing at Hybrid Marketing Co., a full-service creative agency serving highly regulated industries including cannabis and hemp. With more than twenty years of digital marketing experience, he specializes in turning visions into actionable outcomes by understanding customer needs, simplifying complexity, and aligning teams around shared goals.
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