Have you gone to a hemp industry expo or read a trade magazine? You’ll hear from breeders and growers and farmers and processors and seed companies and light companies and equipment companies and scientists and lawyers (way too many lawyers), yet never from the one field but for which none of it happens: Marketing.
In normal industries they use past success to teach, the successful tell how they did it. But in hemp, that’s flipped on its head: noobs are the new experts, and the actual experts are blacklisted because they dare to hold bad actors accountable. Then they wonder why acres crashed 95% in 5 years while foreign hempseed is still on grocery store shelves across the country. Instead of Wisdom they give you Infomercials and call it a win, charging $60.
Most erroneously think Marketing is just Sales or labels or ads, not realizing that good Marketing can move a lame product way easier than lame Marketing can move a good product.
How might a Marketer talk to an audience of Hempsters? One could start by explaining industry success stories going back decades and how and why great Marketing by professionals made it happen.
Such as the offices of Armani appointed in hemp fabric, Obama campaign hemp T-shirts, hemp on every grocery store shelf, or the global success of The Body Shop hemp products, for starters.
There’s been a hemp industry in America long before legalization, that’s why they used the Farm Bill to allow it in 2014 and 2018. Hemp is on almost every grocery store shelf in North America, including Walmart and Costco, and has been for years.
Want to support hemp? Then “vote 4 hemp” by buying some shelled hempseed (“Hemp Hearts”) today. It tastes great in most any recipe and adds omega-3 and protein.
Or she could just remind listeners of all the aspects that comprise the field known as Marketing:
Consumer research;
Branding;
The counter-intuitive art of pricing;
B2B vs B2C differences;
Online and MLMs: below the radar;
The last mile: POP, sales reps, and brokers;
Ad testing and tracking;
Leveraging neuroscience to increase intent to purchase;
Compliance: the art of not getting in (too much) regulatory trouble while still achieving your goals;
Market segmentation: can’t be all things to all people;
How and where to push back on regs;
Lobbying for fun and profit;
How to leverage the stigma;
Targeting the other 85% besides Stoners;
Moving into Stoner-adjacent markets;
Integrity in Marketing, yes that’s a Thing (“Differentiation by Honesty”);
Leveraging different Brands for different price points;
Clubs, memberships, subscriptions;
Avoiding Fauxthentic Marketing;
Marketing in uncertain environments;
Influencers, Brand Ambassadors, et al;
Marketing gray and black products;
Guerrilla marketing, grassroots vs astroturf;
Leveraging nonprofits for credibility and promotion;
Working around the now-toxic “H word”;
Allaying consumer fears fast;
Developing street cred;
Problem customers, knock-offs;
Strategic vs tactical marketing;
Discounts for improving margin and customer relations;
Marketing in short-supply conditions;
Supply chain management;
Forecasting;
Margin maintenance;
Cash flow management;
Creating real momentum;
Diminishing returns;
Marketing magic;
Co-packer management;
Ethical knockoffs;
Risk management, insurance, FDA, FTC, tort, employee, contract, state;
Marketing, ad, and PR agencies, KPIs;
IP protection;
Kits: cases half-off for inspired sales;
Displays, demos, samples;
Concerts, Fairs, and Festivals;
Fast Nickel vs Slow Dime;
Alternative channels;
Strategic infringement;
Brand story and statement;
Private label, drop shipping, side hustles;
Leverage existing distribution with line extensions;
Trade show tricks;
…and the like.
Just exposing people to the Art of Propaganda, er I mean Marketing is a big step forward, so few really understand what it is and how much their success relies completely upon it. (The founder of Marketing first called the field “Propaganda,” as it doesn’t really matter whether it is politics or toothpaste… it’s all the same.)
“Branding” is what consumers feel about your product and everything that goes into that, from name to colors to shapes to words to shelf-talkers to story to ownership to ads to PR to location to spokesperson and more. “Brand statements” communicate that within the company and agency.
When analyzing say a label, the first question to answer is always “who is it for?” A label perfect for one market might be horrible for another; it all depends on who your customers are. Make it appropriate for your target market, not you and your pals.
Since it’s in nearly every grocery store in North America, the market for shelled hempseed already exists, and demand is not hard to create anyway; there just has to be a reason to do so.
It’s almost all supplied from abroad, thus your brand has to be developed before they’ll list it in the chains.
So one could approach it like this: develop a “Proud American Protein” brand by importing whole hempseed and shelling it say in PA, thereby gaining the “Made in USA” declaration.
Then sell the heck out of it, use the usual brokers and marketing companies for all segments of retail trade; place in chains, Walmart, Costco, natural food, online, etc. Make raw packs plus roasted/flavored snacks, caramelized for ice cream toppings, and ready-to-eat foods from them.
Add a foodservice program and industrial sizes and production, plus co-branding with those using your material.
Intro your versions of the current best-selling foods, say Dubai Chocolate or whatever is the fad of the day, plus popular products like bars, protein drinks, etc.
An MLM component can avoid FDA better and sell medical or special foods from your American Hempseed. Find new markets, say as souvenirs from legal pot states. Or something like that, this stuff isn’t hard once you put your mind to it.
One goal could be to build enough turnover to justify growing it in the state in which it’s processed, in this example about 1,000 acres in PA. Heck, one could start this with no farm, factory, or finances, done right (see “Seedy!” below).
But it ultimately depends on what assets exist for you, say a distribution network or a pile of cash, and your goals.
Good Marketers were born for this kind of challenge.
Learn more from “Seedy! How To Start A Hemp Food Business” by Richard Rose. Doing Well By Doing Good With Hemp Foods. “Seedy!” is 177 pages, 52,000 words, 200 images, and thousands of links. Cost: free. Value: priceless.
Never before has an industry insider pulled back the curtain on the successful strategies used to create hemp’s biggest industry segment. Part how-to, part hemp history, part self-help.
Get it free at: https://therichardrosereport.com/seedy-or-how-to-start-a-hemp-food-business/
My free eBook “Seedy!” describes how the hemp food business was built by food and marketing professionals starting in the last century. And it reveals how you, too, could do it all on your own, using existing factories. The steps apply to any business, not just hemp or food specifically.