The impact of COVID-19 on businesses across the UK and the world has been immeasurable. Not only have we seen companies go bust, or temporarily shut down, we’ve also seen companies focusing more on the digital marketplace, and reaping a huge number of benefits as a result. Nowhere has that been truer than with businesses in the vape and CBD industries.
At Parna Recruitment, we consider ourselves experts in digital marketing, and vape and CBD. In the wake of COVID-19, understanding how to build a digital marketing team is essential. That’s why we’re here to guide you along the process of becoming digital marketing masters.
Marketing vape and CBD online
As relatively new industries, both CBD and vape have immensely strong online presences. Still, since both sectors cross over into health, wellbeing, and traditional pharmacies, the market has still largely been built on brand presence in-store. Thanks to the shift that COVID-19 has incurred, e-liquid and CBD companies are figuring out how to rebuild that presence online.
At Parna we have strong relationships with both hybrid and digital businesses, particularly in the e-liquid and CBD sectors. We’ve worked alongside some of the most successful vape and CBD businesses nationwide, and one major factor in those with ongoing success has become clear as a result: establishing an online presence early in the pandemic. One well known vape company saw a 600% increase in online orders during lockdown.
That doesn’t mean it’s too late to prioritise online—far from it. Our expertise in growing digital marketing teams means that we’re well positioned to convert traditional businesses into digital-first industry leaders. If you’re looking to grow or build a vape or CBD marketing team, here are some essential starting points to consider.
Building a digital team
Creating a successful digital business isn’t simply a matter of applying traditional methods to e-commerce marketplaces. To build your vape or CBD brand digitally, you need to take a completely new approach, not least due to the tight restrictions surrounding PPC (pay-per-click) advertising. First up: search engine optimisation.
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
Since vape and CBD businesses face staunch limitations on PPC, you should immediately be placing a large emphasis on SEO. SEO, or search engine optimisation, is the process of creating quality written content for your website that ensures Google sees you as a market leader, and ranks your pages accordingly. Ranking organically on Google is immeasurably valuable, which is why having a good quality content writer on board is a must.
Website development
As new sectors, a lot of the work that goes into vape and CBD surrounds brand building, particularly in terms of building trust. Your website should look modern, trustworthy, and professional, even if your brand is more playful. Fake, money-grabbing websites pop up all the time, and you need to differentiate yourselves from the rest. Even better, good website development also has a major effect on SEO, so make sure you’ve got a dev who knows how to keep page load speed down and keeps your sitemap clear and navigable.
Social media
As part of the trust-building process, having a regularly updated social media account is integral. Get some e-liquid or CBD influencers on board, and make it clear that you’re a substantial organisation, whether that’s posting some great shots of your e-liquids out in the world, or photos of an everyday CBD user taking their drops in the morning. Whether this is handled by a marketing executive or someone dedicated to comms will depend on your internal structure.
Email marketing
Consumer outreach is essential, but you also need to work on keeping existing e-liquid and CBD consumers engaged. Since PPC isn’t an option, creating a strong email database means you’ll have a direct line of engagement with your users, allowing you to keep them informed about any deals, new products, or opportunities you have available. Once more, whether this is handled by comms or a marketing executive is dependent on your business—give us a call, and we’ll help you figure it out.
Consult our vape and CBD experts
This blog gives you an overview of what having a digital marketing team entails, and where you should be placing your focuses, but, unsurprisingly, there’s a lot more to it than that. That’s where Parna Recruitment comes in. Our team is on hand to give you exactly the advice you need to make your vape and CBD businesses fly today. Just give us a call at: 0121 227 4690.
