There has long been an industrial hemp industry in the U.S. and abroad. In the U.S., the hemp industry was worth an estimated $ 4.71 billion in 2019. The plant that provides hemp is Cannabis sativa. It is one of the fastest-growing plants on the planet, and one of the most versatile. Hemp fibers can be woven into cloth for clothes and processed into paper. It can be used as a building material. Hemp seeds are a superfood relished by the health-conscious. And these are only a handful of its uses.
The Dreaded Stigma
An unfortunate aspect of the hemp industry is its federally illegal status. One can get a special license to grow industrial hemp, but it still comes with a “drug abuse” stigma. Today, even as many states are passing recreational marijuana use laws, it is still a category 4 narcotic as classified by the FDA. Conversely, even the new CBD industry has this stigma. CBD is one of the hundreds of chemicals inside a marijuana flower. While it does not make one high like THC, CBD only recently became legal per the 2018 Farm Bill. This CBD must be derived from industrial hemp and cannot contain more than 0.3 % THC.
Online Advertising for HEMP and CBD
The challenge for those companies that want to use the web and pay per click (PPC) advertising is bypassing the “drug abuse” stigma attached to it. In some ways, it is justifiable. CBD that comes from marijuana plants is still federally illegal. Even in states where it is legal, there are challenges when considering PPC advertising. For example, platforms such as Google Ads, use an algorithm based on the FDA’s Drug Schedule. If there is any mention of marijuana or CBD in any fashion, it’s considered a violation of its terms of service.
Get Creative and Avoid Workarounds
There are web marketing companies that use workarounds. But engineering them can be tedious work and can become costly. The best options are using PPC with Pinterest and LinkedIn. Even this varies depending on what region you target. Facebook and Bing Ads are both not conducive to hemp-related advertising.
Another option is a display network that caters to the industry. This is a group of industry-specific web content that caters to a specific market. But be careful. The display network must be friendly to the hemp and CBD markets. Weedmaps stopped carrying ads from non-licensed products. The point is, do your homework. Find a web marketing agency that knows the ins and outs of friendly display networks. Don’t get sucked into a PPC campaign that may or may not lead to customers. They may claim to have good workarounds for Google Ads. However, it is not worth the trouble and cost.
At Web Rocket Media, we offer personalized service for all your hemp and CBD advertising needs. Give us a call today and see what we can do for you.