The Cult: The Cannabis Business, Culture, and Marketing Show

In this bonus episode of Hybrid Office Hours, the Hybrid team breaks down the most common marketing blind spots they see across the cannabis industry, from dispensaries to B2B and ancillary brands. Drawing on years of firsthand experience, this conversation outlines why many cannabis marketing strategies fail to deliver results and what brands should rethink if they want to compete, grow, and win market share. The discussion is practical, candid, and grounded in real examples from legal cannabis markets. Rather than chasing trends or vanity metrics, the episode challenges brands to focus on fundamentals like audience clarity, value differentiation, realistic expectations, and long term visibility. Below are the ten cannabis marketing blind spots covered in the episode and why each one matters. 1. Believing Your Audience Is Everyone One of the most persistent mistakes cannabis brands make is assuming their product is for everyone. While many people can consume cannabis, that does not mean everyone will. Trying to appeal to a broad audience dilutes messaging and weakens brand identity. The team emphasizes the importance of niching down and focusing on the people most likely to say yes. Brands that go deep with a specific audience conserve marketing budgets, create stronger emotional connections, and become more relevant within a defined lifestyle. 2. Relying on Educational Content to Drive Sales Educational cannabis content has value, but it rarely leads directly to transactions. Topics like terpenes, cannabinoids, and the entourage effect attract informational search traffic, not buyers ready to purchase. The episode explains that educational searches are typically global and dominated by publishers and media brands, not dispensaries or product companies. While education can support sales conversations or B2B marketing, it should not be treated as a primary revenue driver for consumer brands. 3. Failing to Clearly Define a Unique Value Proposition If a brand looks and sounds like its competitors, consumers have no reason to choose it. Every purchase decision is based on perceived value, not just price. The team stresses that brands must clearly communicate what makes them different and why that difference matters to customers. A unique value proposition only works if the market actually cares about it, which requires research, testing, and validation. 4. Assuming Consumers Will Adopt What You Want to Sell Many brands build products or features based on internal assumptions rather than market demand. This often leads to wasted time, money, and energy. The conversation highlights the importance of minimum viable products, market research, and competitive analysis. Great ideas are only valuable if customers actually want them and are willing to pay for them. 5. Underestimating the Impact of Packaging and Design Packaging is often the first and sometimes only interaction a consumer has with a cannabis brand. Strong design builds trust, signals quality, and drives trial. Examples like Wild and 1906 illustrate how distinctive packaging can influence purchasing decisions, even when consumers cannot remember the brand name. The team also notes that while compliance rules may limit creativity, all competitors face the same constraints. 6. Treating Cannabis as a Commodity Instead of a Lifestyle Successful brands align themselves with a lifestyle, values, and identity rather than just a product category. People use brands to signal who they are and what they believe in. The episode reinforces that lifestyle branding is a natural extension of niching down and is especially effective in competitive markets where products are otherwise similar. 7. Ignoring PR as a Core Marketing Channel Public relations is positioned as a visibility engine that fuels both traditional and AI driven search. Mentions from trusted publications and industry sources carry more weight than self promotion. The team advises brands to budget for PR early, coordinate announcements carefully, and avoid missing opportunities by sharing news before involving PR professionals. 8. Expecting Immediate Results and Overnight Wins Marketing is a process, not an event. Brands often approach marketing reactively, expecting it to solve urgent business problems. The episode makes clear that trust, awareness, and demand are built over time. Even paid advertising requires repetition and consistency, while organic strategies like SEO and brand building need patience and long term commitment. 9. Misjudging Market Size and Growth Potential Understanding total addressable market is critical in cannabis due to geographic and regulatory limits. Not every category is large enough to support aggressive growth targets. The team shares examples where brands set unrealistic revenue goals without accounting for category size, competition, or consumer demand, leading to frustration and financial strain. 10. Overvaluing Social Media as a Sales Channel A strong social presence does not automatically translate into revenue. Followers, likes, and engagement are not the same as customers. Social media is positioned as a tool for attention, credibility, and brand presence rather than direct ROI. The team encourages brands to set realistic expectations, prioritize relatability over rigid brand rules, and give social media managers the autonomy to create engaging content. Final Takeaway These ten blind spots are common across the cannabis industry, which means brands that address them gain an immediate strategic advantage. By focusing on clarity, differentiation, patience, and visibility, cannabis companies can move ahead of competitors who remain stuck in outdated assumptions.