Gone are the days where creating content just for the sake of having a lot of content was the industry standard. Now, it’s all about creating authentic, quality content that your audience will actually want to share.
Now that’s a tricky sentiment because “quality content” is a broad statement and everyone’s idea of quality content is different. At the very least, quality content is material that is written in the easy-to-comprehend language and offers appropriate steps to implement to solve a particular problem or point of pain. Quality content also uses an authentic voice that should entertain or inform your audience.
The Authentic Voice
People don’t just trust brands. If anything, the general consensus is that brands are only out to get your money and they don’t really care about you at all. When a company is authentic and genuinely cares about its customers and uses a human voice, it gives these skeptical people something to relate to and eventually buy from.
Having an authentic voice for your brand means that whenever your brand says anything, your consumers listen. They are interested in what you have to say because it adds value to their lives which enables you to engage with them and build a long-term relationship.
In order to be authentic, think of it in terms like this: Talk TO your audience, not AT your audience.
How to be more authentic as a cannabis brand
- Determine your audience. Consider your audience’s level of education and background, their ages, what they like to do in their free time, their favorite method of cannabis consumption, and their world views. From there, you take all that information and turn it into a persona, also known as a representation of your ideal customer.
- Determine what authentic means for your brand. When you know who you’re trying to talk to, you need to figure out what it is they want from your brand. Brands like Apothecary Extracts relies on humor and drool-worthy images of their products, but as a dispensary that focuses on the medical applications of marijuana, that may not make sense for you. Start by following your customer through the buyer’s journey. What do they look for in cannabis? Is it price or quality? Is it brand recognition? With this in mind, you can determine the correct, authentic voice to use with your audience. Think about what personality you want to portray. Think about what matters to your audience and what would prevent them from buying from you, and then come up with ways to dissuade those doubts.
- Be what’s missing in the cannabis industry. There are a lot of cannabis companies that all do the same thing, so it’s important to segment your brand in a way that encourages customers to trust you by being different. One of my favorite examples of a brand standing out in a saturated industry to create more trust is Amy’s Kitchen, a frozen vegetarian food company. They noticed that there was a demand for healthier fast food options, so they created their own drive-through restaurant that serves healthy, organic and non-GMO food. Being the first to innovate in a saturated industry is one of the best ways to build trust and credibility with your own authenticity.
Authenticity is Convincing
Asking customers to spend their hard earned money on your products or services is like asking them to sell you hours of their life. Consumers are continually becoming less and less likely to give money to brands they don’t know anything about. By using a human voice and speaking directly to their interests, hopes wants and needs, you can effectively convince them that your brand is worth their time.
As the top cannabis marketing firm in Denver, the cannabis marketing professionals at Team Maryjane still bring it when it comes to creating running and maintaining effective content marketing and social media strategies. Shoot us a chat or give us a call today to get started on your very own audience of hungry readers, or just subscribe to our cannabis marketing blog for more tips.