Navigating Co-Marketing Campaigns: A Roadmap for Cannabis Brand Marketing

As we all know, the cannabis industry is anything but boring. So, why should your cannabis brand marketing strategy be?

Breaking out of the “same old same old” when it comes to your brand marketing strategy can improve your cannabis brand overall and ensure that you’re staying competitive. While you might think that working with another cannabis brand or business is counterintuitive, launching a co-marketing campaign can spice up your brand strategy and create buzz around your business.

What are Cannabis Co-Marketing Ad Campaigns?

Cannabis co-marketing campaigns refer to two brands or businesses that develop a marketing campaign advertising them both. The brands work together to create a campaign that highlights both companies’ offerings in a new and fresh way. Our favorite co-marketing campaigns to launch are between cannabis or CBD brands and dispensaries. Picture this, a geo-targeted display ad with the creative showcasing your cannabis brand products, but for sale at “PotLeaf” Dispensary. When you click on the ad, the user is sent to the dispensary eCommerce page for your brand for the user to select, checkout and enjoy. What are the benefits you ask?! Increased product sell through and brand awareness for you in the area around the dispensary you partnered up with. It’s a win, win for cannabis brand marketing strategy, and your relationship with the cannabis dispensary!

Why Choose Co-Marketing for Your Cannabis Brand?

Co-marketing is a great tool to keep within your “marketing toolbox” that can be useful in various situations. For example, let’s say you’re a cannabis retailer that focuses on a health and wellness niche. Suppose you were to partner with a local yoga studio or farmer’s market, for example, to promote a line of wellness-related products. In that case, you could leverage a more significant segment of customers who are potentially unfamiliar with your business- getting you more exposure. The same strategy can work with a business partner within the cannabis industry. 

Co-marketing can help add the little bit of spice to your cannabis brand marketing strategy that you need to help break into new segments. But more than just adding excitement to your brand’s marketing plans, co-marketing can save you money on advertising costs, as typically both businesses split the costs. 

How to Run a Co-Marketing Display Ad Campaign between a Dispensary and Cannabis Brand

While establishing a co-marketing campaign can be an excellent option for your cannabis business, it takes careful consideration and planning. First comes selecting the perfect partner retailer. It’s crucial to choose a partner retailer that compliments your business- instead of competing with it. 

Once you’ve hashed out what business you’ll be partnering with, it’s vital to lay the groundwork for your relationship with your new partner. What goals will you have for your campaign? What will your ideal timeline be? How will you create co-branded content? Be sure to assess each business’s unique talents and skillsets when deciding how the plan will come to fruition. Once you’ve established a game plan, write up a formal co-marketing agreement to protect your business and be sure that both sides get the most out of the partnership. 

A Case Study in Cannabis Co-Marketing: the Kiva Brand Campaign in San Francisco

Here is a sample campaign we’d like to share with you for inspiration. The campaign’s goal is to increase brand awareness for the Kiva brand in San Francisco and drive eCommerce sales through the online menu and in-store foot traffic sales through partner retailers within a time frame of 30 days (12/15/2021 – 01/16/2022). 


First, we visited the where to buy page on Kiva and selected six retailer locations that sell Kiva products. 

  1. Bloom Room, 471 Jessie, San Francisco, CA 94103
  2. Barbary Coast Dispensary, 952 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103
  3. BASA, 1326 Grove St, San Francisco, CA 94117
  4. California Street Cannabis Company, 1398 California St, San Francisco, CA 94109
  5. Berner’s on Haight, 1685 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117
  6. Barbary Coast Sunset Cannabis Dispensary, 2161 Irving St, San Francisco, CA 94122

Then, we had our graphic designer create a display ad in four sizes 300 x 600, 300 x 50, 728×90, and 320×50 so that the ads will fit within the different devices cannabis consumers see every day, whether it’s for placement within publishers, games, mobile apps, or more. Here’s what a 728×90 may look like:

 

 

If you work with your partner cannabis retailer to allow the addition of the MediaJel pixel to their website or shopping cart, we can track any customer who has seen one of the ads, for example, the Jane menu on Bloom. 

At MediaJel, we have an integration with all major shopping carts, including Jane, Dutchie, Woocommerce, Olla, Shopify, and more- making sure we can cover all the bases when it comes to advertising your cannabis business.

The screenshot below highlights how the e-commerce sales or transactions are reported within the MediaJel marketing cloud. The client in this campaign invested $933, and the geo-targeted display ad campaign influenced $18,334 in sales over the campaign’s life cycle, resulting in a 519.3% return on ad spend or 5.1 ROAS.


Are you interested in learning more about co-marketing and display ads?

Want to learn how to maximize your cannabis marketing strategy?

Reach out today to learn how MediaJel can help you transform your cannabis marketing strategy.

Geo-Advertising   |  March 3, 2022   |   By MediaJel