How to Run Compliant Digital Display Ads

Now that cannabis is reaching groundbreaking strides within the legal system and becoming more socially accepted, the question remains — why aren’t there more digital ads showcasing cannabis brands? While cannabis brands are currently not allowed to run their advertising campaigns through Facebook, Instagram, and Google, there are other avenues businesses can use. In this blog post, Cannabis360 explores these alternatives and explains the guidelines for cannabis ad campaign compliance.

Other Options for Cannabis Advertisement

Google and Facebook are two of the most well-known platforms in the world. It comes as no surprise that combined, they account for approximately half of all digital advertising dollars spent in the United States. Because cannabis advertising is prohibited on these two marketing behemoths, many business owners might believe that cannabis digital advertising altogether is not allowed. However, this is not the case.

Cannabis digital ads can easily be featured on hundreds of mainstream websites using programmatic advertising technology. This technology is highly advantageous as it allows advertisers and their ad agencies to use demand-side platforms (DSPs). With DSPs, you can set the parameters of bids for certain ad impressions based on relevant attributes of the ad space and the viewers.

What’s more, cannabis ads are no longer restricted to being featured on cannabis-related sites only. In the past, digital cannabis advertisers were generally limited to buying space on industry-specific sites, such as Leafly, High Times, and Weedmaps. Because of this, advertising prices were often increased, causing ad budgets to dissipate very quickly.

Today, through programmatic advertising technology, cannabis ads can be shown through just about any website, making advertising far more affordable. Furthermore, cannabis businesses have more advanced advertising techniques at their disposal, such as building look-alike audiences, cross-device advertising, first-party data onboarding, and ad retargeting.

Rules for Cannabis Digital Advertising

Even though some marketers are aware that cannabis advertising can be shown outside of cannabis websites, they may not fully understand what digital ads can look like. With cannabis classified as a Schedule I drug, current digital advertising regulations are governed by state cannabis laws, meaning they vary depending on where your business operates. This is vital information should you wish to run digital ads across multiple states.

Luckily for cannabis ad agencies, many state laws can be boiled down to a handful of broadly applicable guidelines. They include:

  • Under no circumstances are ads allowed to make claims of health or medical benefits
  • Ads cannot use any elements that might appeal to children, such as cartoon characters
  • No false or misleading statements, including those made about competitors’ products
  • Testimonials or endorsements from doctors or other healthcare professionals are forbidden
  • Ads are restricted from showing the cannabis product being consumed in any form
  • No pricing information, potency statements, or promotional offers
  • Ads regarding infused products must state “For Adult Use Only”

Sticking to these guidelines, marketers will be able to create approved ads for a variety of settings with more ease. While these provisions are a good base, we still recommend double-checking with your state’s most recent requirements, as local rules may change over time.

Digital Ads vs. Traditional Marketing Tactics

Due to the lack of digital ad publishers willing to work with cannabis businesses in the past, cannabis marketers often resorted to traditional advertising tactics like billboards and print ads. As beneficial as traditional marketing can be, it features some shortcomings, particularly with targeting, measurement, and reporting.

For instance, print marketing materials cannot tell you how many people have viewed the ad, or how many of these viewers visited your website or dispensary after seeing them. They also provide no insights into your return on ad spend (ROAS). Another obstacle is that you cannot control who sees the ad, which is one of the main reasons why most states have treaded this subject cautiously.

Digital ads address many of these concerns for marketers and business owners. These ads can be exclusively shown to the appropriate audience and tackle the challenges with measurement and reporting. When implementing digital ads into your marketing campaign, you can better understand the return on your digital ad investment, helping you decide whether or not to continue with the same ads or change your strategy.

Digital Display Ads with MassLive Media Group

The cannabis industry remains to be one of the fastest-growing in the U.S., which is why it’s so surprising that it has yet to adopt digital advertising more broadly. MassLive Media Group looks to address that by expertly understanding and strategically leveraging various marketing options. As a full-service cannabis marketing partner, we understand the obstacles cannabis businesses face and are happy to take on the challenge. For more information about the ways we can help market your brand, please contact us today.

 

References

https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/facebook-google-duopoly-won-t-crack-this-year

https://cannabisindustryjournal.com/feature_article/heres-how-to-run-compliant-digital-cannabis-ads/

https://www.leafly.com/news/industry/243700-marijuana-jobs-how-many-in-america

Manufacturing Recruitment Strategy

Worker shortages in manufacturing industry is real. Highly skilled positions remain open as a significant portion of the manufacturing workforce is nearing retirement age. For manufacturers, building and maintaining a robust and skilled talent pool is key for both short-term and long-term hiring success.

Recruitment Marketing as a Relationship Builder, Not Just Candidate Sourcing

Don’t wait to be present until a position is open – consistently position your brand in front of both passive and active job seekers. Consistent branding creates a talent pool who is familiar with your company, benefits, culture and therefore more likely to consider you when looking to make a career change. Top of the funnel marketing tactics such as video and display make your brand presence known.

Build A Connection By Understanding Your Best Potential Candidates 

Develop personas, marketing strategies and campaigns specific to your common open positions. Different positions attract different types of candidates. Understanding the nuances allows you to more directly content with job seekers, to communicate your company story and to welcome them into your culture with a personalized approach. Seek out a recruitment marketing partner with a deep data bench, capable of developing audience segments, media placements and creative to speak directly to specific candidate audiences.

Enhance Your Job Board Presence with Display & Video

Placements on job boards are effective in reaching those actively seeking a position. However, other traditional marketing methods like targeted display and video allow companies to share their full story. More visual formats let prospective candidates see your benefits and experience your culture. Both elements that can cause them to choose you as their next employer – over your competition.

SUCCESS STORIES

Healthcare Recruitment Strategy

A growing aging population, pandemic burnout and a ramp up of traveling nurse opportunities have put a strain on healthcare recruitment. Nurses are in high demand – with an abundance of employment options to choose from. How does your healthcare facility standout in this mad dash for employment?

Invest in the Community You Serve

Healthcare is essential to the community. Consider supporting the community you serve by sponsoring local events, job fairs and awards to keep your organization top-of-mind. Not only will these positive associations bring your organization front and center, it will also generate positive word of mouth among the community – reaching friends and families connected to potential candidates.

Showcase Company Culture

Give a glimpse of what its like to work at your organization on any given day. Show the people who work there, the halls to be walked and the benefits to be had. Video succinctly communicates positive culture through virtual tours, testimonials and more. Written testimonials and other content featuring current employees lend authenticity to your showcase.

Replenish Talent Pools with New Grads

New graduates are critical in helping to fill staffing gaps and to replenish talent pools. Utilize highly targeted strategies to reach new graduates, while still on campus, where they are spending their time. Hyper local mobile targeting puts your organization front and center among soon-to-be-graduating adding you to their consideration set for post-graduation employment.

SUCCESS STORIES

Education Recruitment Strategy

Like most categories of business, education providers are facing faculty and staff shortages. Finding experienced and passionate educators and faculty continues to be a challenge. Education institutions should look beyond salary and benefits to larger strategies to drive interest and applications for the upcoming school year ahead.

Build Your Talent Pool with Year-Round Strategy

Primary education recruitment season begins at the end of the previous school year, with many schools starting from scratch every year. Establishing a year-round recruitment marketing strategy, allows you
to reach faculty and staff considering a change throughout the school year, adding them to your talent pool as the year progresses. Having a year-round plan also puts your institution front and center, outside of the more cluttered traditional recruitment period.

Utilize Your Community As A Recruitment Tool

Your community has the potential to be a unique selling point for your institution. Consider highlighting the quality of life – showing prospective employees the community you serve. Community events, local activities, cost of living and more can have pull over prospective employees looking to make a move or to enjoy a way of life your community offers. Partner with local events, local organizations and even your convention and visitors bureau to generate content about your community.

Job Fairs Help Build Awareness of Your Institution

Passive and Active job seekers join job fairs to learn more about prospective districts and institutions. By merely being present, among your competition, you can ensure that your district or institution is in the consideration set for educators looking to make a career move. Both in-person and virtual career fairs provide additional visibility and awareness for your institution.

SUCCESS STORIES

Warehouse Recruitment Strategy

Warehouses are experiencing unprecedented growth thanks to a shift towards online shopping. As growth continues and timely shipping remains critical, warehouses face a continual shortage of workers.

Tout the Benefits That Make You Stand Out

Warehousing jobs are not historically known for good benefits and upward mobility. With changing demand and increased competition, more warehouse companies are adding long-term benefits and job training to their offerings. As an employer, tout benefits like 401Ks, employer matching and paid training as part of new hire packages. Talk about your openings more as long-term careers vs. short- term or holiday employment for additional appeal.

Get Connected In the Community

Grassroots community efforts and word of mouth tactics still hold strong in warehousing recruitment. Sponsoring local community events and job fairs raises brand awareness in the community, spreads positive sentiment about your organization and jump starts word of mouth. This simple activation makes your organization more likely to be noticed by potential job seekers and considered as a stable, future local employer in a future job search.

Local Jobs, Local Placements

Warehousing recruitment pulls most applicants and new hires locally. Very rarely to companies hire outside of their immediate market. Tap into the local job seeker scene through local job boards, job fairs and other local job posting opportunities. Local job seekers continually use these outlets to find new employment opportunities.

SUCCESS STORIES

Trucking Recruitment Strategy

Facing an aging workforce and increased competition for new talent, the trucking industry struggles to keep recruitment pipelines full and trucking routes staffed. Trucking industries should look to implement full-funnel marketing strategies to not only attract active job seekers but it keep talent pools fresh with new prospects.

Address Trucking Industry Myths

Increase top-of-the-funnel prospects by introducing the benefits of a trucking industry careers to passive job seekers. Address potential concerns head-on, including hours, mileage goals and living conditions while highlighting employment benefits such as 401K matching, healthcare and time off. Video and written content are both great vehicles to communicate this information.

Stay in Touch with Prospects

Deciding to change careers can be a lengthy process for passive job seekers. Keep your talent pool active with periodic communication about your business, job openings and career benefits. Set up an email calendar, reaching out to a list of emails from those who you met at job fairs, submitted an inquiry or sent a full resume. Frequently post about your culture, the trucking industry and openings to keep your followers engaged.

Job Boards Are Important

Trucking applicants remain tapped in to local and regional job boards. A presence on local job boards and job aggregator sites provide you business with bottom of the funnel presence – reaching those interested in the truck industry and actively applying now.

SUCCESS STORIES

Professional Recruitment Strategy

Finding outstanding talent that fits your culture is a concern for any business. Make the most of your time and resources by attracting qualified candidates that can hit the ground running and succeed within your organization. Identify quality talent and cultivate your talent pool with leading recruitment marketing strategies perfect for professional businesses.

Showcase Your Company Culture

Tell the story of your business, your history, your employees and more. The more a prospective employee knows about your operations and culture the more they are able to determine whether they are a match for your organization. Office tour videos, employee testimonials and other visuals can help to show daily life within your company.

Tailor Communications to Open Positions

Instead of deploying blanket recruitment ads for all positions in your company, consider developing custom creative and campaigns for each position. Messaging should focus on key benefits and operations of that role, showcase photos and videos of that segment of your business and speak directly to those candidates. Specific communication, drives more qualified applications – increasing your odds of finding a match while building up your talent pool - than general recruitment ads.

Use Job Boards to Reach Active Job Seekers

Job Fairs, local job boards and job board aggregators remain critical bottom-of-the-funnel tactics in securing applications for open positions. While other flashier tactics will fill the top of your funnel, these more nitty-gritty media elements provide a place for active job seekers to seamlessly apply for the positions they want – now.

SUCCESS STORIES