Cannabis Business Confidential

The 10 Marketing Blind Spots Holding Cannabis Brands Back

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.

Why Your Business Website Matters in 2026: B2B vs B2C Digital Strategy

What’s the real purpose of a website in 2024? In this episode of Hybrid Marketing’s Office Hours, Tyler Jacobson, Matt Gillespie, and Aaron Rosenbluth tackle a question most marketers avoid: when was the last time you actually visited your favorite brand’s website? Starting with frozen pizza brands and ending with strategic insights for cannabis businesses, this conversation challenges conventional wisdom about digital presence. The team discusses why they completely abandoned educational blog content after years of heavy investment, how Google’s AI overviews are reshaping SEO, and why consumer behavior has shifted from brand loyalty to convenience-first shopping. You’ll learn why B2B websites need to serve as sales enablement tools rather than traffic generators, how dispensary websites should prioritize user experience over content, and why some of the most successful brand websites focus on unexpected experiences like merchandise drops and interactive games rather than product information. The conversation also explores the harsh reality that many websites exist simply to validate legitimacy rather than drive transactions, and why aligning your expectations with actual user behavior is more important than chasing vanity metrics. Whether you’re marketing a cannabis brand, running a dispensary, or managing any B2B or B2C business, this episode will help you rethink what your website should actually accomplish and where to invest your marketing resources for maximum impact. Key Takeaways: Why educational content strategies have fundamentally shifted The critical question every business should ask: “Why would anyone come to our website?” How to align website strategy with actual customer behavior The difference between websites that support sales vs drive direct conversions

Are you a brand or just a logo?

In this Office Hours Live session, the Hybrid Marketing Co. team explores one of the most common misconceptions in branding: the difference between having a logo and building a true brand. Tyler Jacobson, Aaron Rosenbluth, and Matt Gillespie unpack why a logo is just the tip of the iceberg, while a brand encompasses everything beneath it—purpose, values, tone of voice, customer experience, and more. Through real-world examples from the cannabis industry and beyond, the conversation explores how visual identity may grab attention, but brand strategy is what builds loyalty and long-term connection. The team also discusses how packaging, retail experience, scent, and even music play into brand perception, as well as how businesses can evolve their brand over time without losing their identity. Whether you’re launching a new company or refining your market presence, this episode highlights why investing in brand strategy is not optional—it’s the differentiator that drives trust, recognition, and growth.

Why Cannabis Brands and Dispensaries Need to Become ‘Love Brands’

In this must-listen episode, the Hybrid Marketing Co. team explores what truly sets love brands apart—and why this distinction could be the difference between growth and irrelevance in the cannabis space. Whether you’re a dispensary owner or brand marketer, you’ll gain powerful insights into creating lasting emotional connections with your customers. What You’ll Learn: What a “love brand” really is—and why cannabis companies need to careHow to forge authentic emotional connections that drive loyaltyReal-world lessons from brand missteps: Southwest, Bud Light, TargetThe difference between lifestyle and love brands (and why it matters)Simple, actionable steps you can take today to start building trust Featured Experts:Matt Gillespie – VP of CreativeTyler Jacobson – Director of MarketingAaron Rosenbluth – Director of Content Topics Covered:The psychology of brand love and cannabis consumer behaviorCommon brand misfires that erode trustBuilding loyalty in a highly regulated marketHow to connect deeply—on any budget

Entering the Cannabis Beverage Market with Walter Apodaca of PotShot & Vessl

Hybrid Marketing Co. Vice President of Strategy, Jenny Lamboy, and  Vessl founder and CEO, Walter Apodaca, discuss the early success of PotShot and how Walter made the leap from the traditional beverage market into building a cannabis beverage brand PotShot.