With so much supply in the marketplace and unpredictable demand, how do you feel about the importance of building a strong brand?
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It’s a tricky question. I guess I would answer with a few questions. My background is from a regenerative farming prospective that is a do less enjoy life more perspective.
That being said. What do you want to do with your time? There are a lot of opportunities to harness your existing skills and strong points. Also how much money do you really want to make?
Big brands aren’t started by newbies whom have growing experience. Even the best growers will fail to market big brands without the correct suppport.
In Washington we have seen the majority of growers start a brand and struggle to do it all. Branding, marketing, sales, packaging, etc all big work.
I’ve always enjoyed the idea of craft products. I would personally rather spend more time making everything really nice, and sell a small amount to a few stores. It’s just me and my wife so we don’t need or want to be billionaires. We just want to grow our farm restore the environment and enjoy what limited time we have to do so.
another great opportunity is wholesale growing. You may have to grow more than you would on the craft level. But you don’t have as much involvement.
I will run a mixture. I am marketing my small craft brand, based on numbers that I have previously been able to accomplish. I know I can grow, package and distribute around 50lbs a month. So I will stick with that each store will purchase a about 3lbs per month of mixed flavors.
The rest I will fresh freeze. I will then start making ice wax and marketing that. But 70% of my crop I will wholesale at a very affordable price. I want it sold so I can use the revenue to re invest.
I see a lot of failures of folks whom work really hard end up with a sub par crop, then proceed to try and squeeze every dollar they can out of it. Joints, oil, etc. the problem started with the inability to grow a good crop. I would suggest dump it for any amount and reinvest in the next crop.
The market is very dynamic and I do believe the majority of sales will follow the pattern of beer and tobacco. The majority of sales are low grade commercial product that is well marketed and supported
We all can’t be the best growers. With the best weed. Find your niche market that. Wholesale the rest. Those are my scattered thoughts.
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That’s a good point on doing a mixture of craft and wholesale. That way you hedge your bets and reap the benefits of both models.
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Thank you for this thoughtful and detailed response. Our thoughts is there is super high-end premium product which most consumers cannot and would not appreciate regardless but growers want to sell for top dollar understandably would require a strong brand mandatory to maintain price integrity (Ballast Point). Then let’s assume there is consistent, sold grade product supply (Budweiser beer) that can be sold either wholesale or retail at a reasonable price that can be grown by most competent growers. Our question was more geared at the wholesale grower and thoughts regarding having a brand for your farm?
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That is the first time I have EVER heard a grower say they aren’t the best, or their products aren’t the best…which is a truly refreshing perspective and I totally agree. There are so many talented growers in the industry, find the area you excel at and dominate it.
As for branding, I would highly suggest it. If you are producing quality and reliable products, then you want that associated with your brand/name. Name recognition goes a LONG way with consumers in every market that exists. Cannabis is no different.
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I think there’s also an opportunity to market oneself as the Budweiser of cannabis. Consistent affordable cannabis that meets a minimum standard of quality. There’s plenty of room in the beer market for several major brands to compete in that space. Those beer companies spend plenty of $$ on advertising and making sure that people know about them.
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Flowcana seems to have done just that with them branding several top notch growers’s produce under their brand. It helps to create a unified brand of quality. Personally when I hear someone has their product I just know its top quality now!
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I’m all in for brand building! It REALLY is up to the persons “end goal”. Some growers in small towns might want to stay that way and not branch out. He grows his plants for his community, lives an awesome small town life, gets old, hands his knowledge down to an apprentice and that’s that. Others will be super hungry for this amazing opportunity start off as a trimmer, works his way up the ranks to master grower, becomes a consultant, starts his own business, brands and franchises everything out, and becomes Steve DeAngelo. It all boils down to what YOU want. PS> I personally think everyone should be their own media outlet. Record and document everything. Brand or not.
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