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How to Define a Target Audience in Cannabis?

Target Audience in Cannabis – Developing a buyer persona is the starting point for promotion in any niche, including cannabis. A clear picture of who you are marketing to will help you develop effective content that speaks to the goals and needs of this audience. The new cannabis culture includes sophisticated and diverse professionals who are very different from the stereotypical user. Follow our guide to determine the target audience for your brand.

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Different Cannabis Consumers

Your audience is not a single type of consumer. Cannabis and CBD attract medicinal users, professionals, connoisseurs, growers, and other groups. Each has specific preferences and behavioral patterns, so segmentation is crucial. A dedicated agency like MjSeo will help your cannabis business grow with the help of a comprehensive SEO strategy.

Your website will not sell itself, and you cannot promote it without clever targeting. The audience must define your messaging, marketing, advertising, and merchandising. It will also influence the semantic core for your dispensary site. Here are the key groups to consider:

  • Cannabis Users

Consumers who do not grow cannabis are the primary focus of campaigns for marijuana, CBD, and paraphernalia. These individuals frequent websites and social media channels dedicated to the cannabis lifestyle. They include:

  • Medicinal Users

These consumers need cannabis for medicinal purposes — for example, for treatment of chronic pain, insomnia, or PTSD. They purchase both marijuana and CBD. To engage this audience, you have to focus on the medicinal benefits.

  • Professionals

The majority of consumers (84%) are full-time employees. This means you can reach a massive percentage of people. Highlight the effects related to relaxation and mindfulness, and present the products as a way to unwind after a hard day at work.

Creative Individuals

This group has always been the driving force of cannabis consumption. Typically, creative users prefer Sativa-based products that stimulate the imagination. To appeal to these individuals, highlight the productivity boost and creative focus.

Connoisseurs

These are real cannabis experts. They know everything about marijuana and CBD and search for the highest-quality and premium products. To catch their attention, emphasize unique and exciting features that set you apart from the competition.

Parents

This group may overlap with any of the other segments. As recreational marijuana is being legalized in many countries, the stigma of consuming it is gradually disappearing. As a result, many parents are willing to light a joint after putting their kids to bed. Marijuana consumption is becoming a legit alternative to grabbing a beer or a glass of wine. 

This group includes the younger and the older parents. The former are more open to experimentation, and they find a wider variety of products appealing. Older parents prefer conservative products (e.g., flowers), methods, and motivations for buying and consuming marijuana. Keep these distinctions in mind. 

  • Cannabis Retail

This category includes different retail operators, such as smoke shops and dispensary consulting companies. They are focused on dispensing cannabis and its derivatives, including flowers and edibles. Their audience includes legal residents and/or patients.

  • Legal Commercial Growers

Commercial growers are usually associated with legal dispensaries. As usual, they use large greenhouses or warehouses that have been retrofitted for large-scale grow operations. 

  • Home-based Growers

The vast majority of growers are hobbyists. They grow cannabis in their personal spaces for personal use and/or others — typically, less than 20 plants. This audience visits sites and forums dedicated to education, methodologies, grow journals, and new products related to growing.

  • Growing Suppliers

These are brick-and-mortar stores, e-stores, and the distributors that supply them. Store owners, managers, and purchasing agents are all part of this group.

Developing a Strategy

Based on the range of your products and services, you may decide to target one or more of these categories. Collect as much information as possible about their purchasing behavior, levels of engagement, media habits, lifestyle, and personalities. When designing visual aids, use stock images or original photos representing the target audience. Develop a consistent approach that will guide your design, advertising and content creation, including social media posts.

Targeting is the first prerequisite for marketing success. To be effective in this noisy environment, you need a laser focus. Keep your ideal customer in mind at every step of your marketing journey. You have to know their age, living situations, hobbies, location, etc. 

  • Example

Suppose you have a smoking product that should be equally attractive to males and females between the ages of 18 and 25. Based on your analysis, you may conclude that these consumers: 

  • live in densely populated urban areas, 
  • frequent nightclubs and vape lounges, 
  • are college students, 
  • prefer online shopping, and 
  • use Facebook and Instagram. 

Furthermore, you can establish their most active hours for online shopping — between 10:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. Now you have all the essentials to start crafting your campaign: the demographics, lifestyle, media preferences, and location. 

To Sum Up

The audience of a cannabis/CBD business includes several groups of consumers and organizations. Your target audience with its unique preferences, demographics, and behaviors must guide all marketing efforts, from the choice of stock photos for the site to your SEO campaign. 

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