Standing out in today’s competitive cannabis industry requires more than just a catchy name and a logo. Integrating cannabis branding ideas that forge a connection between you and your potential customers can be the difference between boom and bust for new cannabis brands.
Your branding must be a story, an emotion, and an invitation to a unique experience. Tapping into the trends that can take your cannabis business to the next level is crucial for finding your place in the cannabis market.
1. Ensure a Strong Brand Identity
Laying the groundwork is essential before jumping headlong into the cannabis industry. Dedicating time and resources to careful research is an important investment that will pay dividends when you get your branding right.
Take the following steps to establish a strong and consistent cannabis brand identity:
Conduct Market Research
Market research involves gathering information about your target audience and your competitors. Find out who your potential customers are and their behaviors. Understanding your audience allows you to tailor your brand identity to their preferences and needs. This increases the chances that they’ll engage with your brand.
Equally important is identifying what other cannabis businesses offer (and what they don’t). Research what’s already on the market, pinpoint any niches you could exploit, and find out what customers like and dislike.
Top Tip
Market research can reveal surprising information about your target market that can challenge your preconceptions and influence your branding. For example, marijuana use among adults in the 35-50 age range reached an all-time high in 2022, with 28% reporting past-year use. Targeting an older audience may impact creative elements of your branding like the packaging, logo, or how you use social media.
Define Your Brand’s Values
Creating a purpose-driven brand is much more than just producing and selling cannabis products. Identifying what your brand stands for—for example, sustainability or fair pay—will help you create a brand that resonates with your target audience.
It will also help your customers align themselves with brands that reflect their own beliefs. This is useful from a branding point of view as it focuses your marketing efforts and helps you set yourself apart from the competition.
Example
Charlotte’s Web, a Colorado-based CBD company, is a perfect example of a purpose-driven company that has reaped the benefits of immaculate branding. Charlotte’s Web made it their mission to increase accessibility to a product that could reduce epilepsy-induced seizures in children. This mission, plus branding based on wholesome, pure values, put them at the forefront of the CBD market.
2. Align Your Cannabis Packaging Design
Many factors impact customers’ choice to purchase one product or another. According to a group of researchers in Malaysia, product packaging is the most influential factor in customers’ purchase intention.
Create a Strong Visual Identity
Creating a strong visual identity will help your brand stand out from the crowd. It will also help your customers recognize your brand when repurchasing your products. The key design elements of a visual identity for a marijuana brand are:
- Logo
- Color palette
- Typography
Cannabis packaging experts like Vert Pack can help you choose colors, fonts, and a logo that reflect your brand identity. The look you create will then be ready to be used consistently across your marketing channels like your website, social media, and the physical packaging of your products.
An expert will also be able to help you to effectively connect your brand voice with your packaging. The result will be stunning and professional packaging that offers a visual representation of your brand’s values.
Your Brand’s Logo
Your logo is a key part of your brand design. It’s worth getting expert help with your logo as it will be one of the elements customers most associate with your brand. Take these tips into account when creating a logo:
- Creating a logo yourself using design software can result in a bland, generic, or directionless logo that fails to connect with your audience. Worse still, getting the logo wrong can give customers the wrong impression of your brand.
- Skip clichés: Cannabis culture lends itself all too easily to clichés and stereotypes that perpetuate the stigma around cannabis products. Remember that people from all walks of life consume cannabis and don’t fit into a one-size-fits-all caricature.
Color Palette
Cannabis-related businesses have often relied on the red, yellow, and green hues associated with Rastafarianism. However, modern brands are embracing the whole spectrum of color. Colors are known to affect our emotions. The color palette you choose for your brand must therefore match your brand identity.
Typography
Discussing existing cannabis branding examples you like with your design team could be a good starting point when designing your packaging. Check out the fonts they use on their packaging and discuss their impact with your designer. The font you choose will convey different characteristics; choose one that fits your brand:
- Serif fonts: Serif fonts are best for traditional, reliable businesses that want to transmit sophistication, practicality, and formality.
- Sans serif fonts: These fit well with modern brands looking for a clean, geometric, or universal look.
- Slab serif fonts: These are contemporary, trendy, and friendly fonts for bold businesses.
- Script fonts: Script fonts look elegant, classic, and sophisticated. However, readability should be the first priority when choosing fonts.
The importance of packaging design for your brand can’t be overstated. Research suggests that brands only have seven seconds to make a favorable impression on a potential customer before they move on to the next product. Your packaging is your customer’s first contact with your brand. Giving the right message is crucial.
3. Use Consistent Branding on Different Platforms
Your packaging is only the beginning of how you present your brand to your target audience. Social media has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for promoting your brand. However, consistency is the key to your online market strategy. Continue the vibe you started with your packaging and stay consistent on every platform you use.
Develop a Brand Voice
The unique brand voice you develop for your cannabis company establishes its personality and makes it stand out from the competition. To do this, you must define your brand’s character traits. Are you playful or serious? Do you prefer a quirky and unconventional take or a more traditional approach?
Once you’ve decided on your defining features, use this voice consistently across all your platforms and portray the same message through your logo and packaging. Your brand voice will become a key part of your cannabis marketing strategy, so make sure it represents your company’s ethics and key value propositions.
Use Consistent Messaging
Consider the message you send and the tone you use in all your social media posts, blogs, or videos. They must align with your brand identity and maintain a distinct voice. Remember that you’ll need to adjust how you speak to your customers on different platforms. However, your values and key messages must remain the same.
Ensure a Consistent Customer Experience
Your brand’s values and identity must extend to every touchpoint with customers. This is important at every step of their journey, from the first click on your website or social media post to the post-purchase support you provide.
Consistency can help you build loyalty and trust and will encourage your customers to engage with your brand on different platforms.
Work with a Professional for Flawless Cannabis Branding
Having clear ideas about the creative direction in which you want to take your brand is a great start. However, working with a professional is the best way to ensure you translate your vision into commercial success.
By implementing your creative ideas and remaining true to your brand identity, you can cultivate a loyal following and make a lasting impression. Stay true to your brand identity and remain consistent in your branding to put your unique stamp on every product you launch.