Crypto Marketing with Ty Smith
Crypto Marketing vs. Cannabis Marketing - How Are They Similar? | Ep. 18
About this episode
Ty Smith, TJ Shedd, and Kylie Low break down what crypto marketing and cannabis marketing have in common, starting with the regulatory gray area both industries face. Cannabis is legal on a state level but not federal, and crypto rules are broadly unclear, which is why platforms like Google and Facebook restrict or block paid ads for both. That uncertainty also shapes who gets into these industries: people with a higher risk tolerance who are willing to build a business knowing regulation could change the rules later.
The team then walks through real audience data. Crypto skews over 90% male according to CoinDance, while cannabis is closer to 62% male and trending more female each year per Miner & Co research. Both audiences are heavily millennial, ages 25 to 34, though that group makes up a much larger share of crypto users (47.95%) than cannabis users (38%). Crypto has almost no audience over 65, while cannabis does given its much longer history as a product.
Because neither industry can run typical paid social campaigns, both lean on direct influencer and creator partnerships to get brand mentions worked organically into content. Crypto marketing concentrates on Twitter, cannabis leans more on Instagram since it's a more visual product, though cannabis accounts have to be careful not to over post product shots or risk getting shadow banned. Ty also makes the case for SEO in both spaces: because they're newer industries, high-volume keywords are still low competition, so brands that publish content and rank now will keep collecting organic traffic for years before competition catches up.
Key takeaways
- Expect to be locked out of paid ads on Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn in both crypto and cannabis marketing due to federal regulatory ambiguity.
- Lean into a bold, high-risk brand voice since both audiences over-index on early adopters willing to take chances.
- Build influencer and creator partnerships instead of paid social, letting your brand get worked organically into existing content.
- Prioritize Twitter for crypto audiences and Instagram for cannabis audiences given the more visual nature of cannabis products.
- Mix product shots with useful information and brand storytelling on Instagram to avoid getting shadow banned or having your account deleted.
- Invest in SEO now by targeting high-volume, low-competition keywords, since both industries are still new enough that first-page rankings are easier to secure today than in a few years.
- Remember your core demographic skews millennial (25 to 34) and male in both industries, though cannabis is trending more balanced by gender each year.
Questions this episode answers
Why can't crypto and cannabis brands advertise on Facebook and Google?
Both industries sit in a federal gray area. Cannabis is legal on a state level but not federally, and crypto regulation is broadly unclear, so platforms like Google and Facebook won't allow boosted posts or paid ads for fear of the compliance risk.
What percentage of the crypto audience is male versus the cannabis audience?
According to CoinDance data, crypto is over 90% male. Miner & Co research put cannabis at 65% male in 2018, dropping to 62% male in 2019 as the female share grew by about 3 points.
What age group makes up the biggest share of crypto and cannabis consumers?
Millennials, ages 25 to 34, are the largest segment in both. That group is 47.95% of the crypto audience per CoinDance, and 38% of cannabis consumers, which is still the top age bracket but a smaller share than in crypto.
How do crypto and cannabis brands market without traditional social ads?
Both rely heavily on going direct to influencers and creators to work the brand organically into content people are already posting, since they cannot boost posts or run paid social campaigns. Crypto leans on Twitter while cannabis leans more on Instagram because it's a more visual product.
Why is SEO a good long-term strategy for crypto and cannabis brands?
Both industries are still new enough that high-volume, low-competition keywords are available now. Securing first-page rankings early, for example with a 'Top 20 Cannabis Brands' style article, pays off with years of organic traffic before competition catches up.
Full transcriptShow
Ty Smith0:04
Welcome to another episode of the Crypto Marketing Show. My name is Ty Daniel Smith. With me, as always, is TJ Shedd and Crypto Kylie, Kylie Low.
Kylie Low0:09
What's up?
Ty Smith0:10
And today we're discussing the similarities between marketing in the crypto space versus marketing in the cannabis space.
TJ Shedd0:16
Yeah.
Ty Smith0:16
So, where do you guys want to start with this? Because there definitely is a lot of overlap between the two.
TJ Shedd0:19
Yeah, well, with the similarities, I think the number one that just jumps off right to everybody is it's they're they're both in a big federal gray area when it comes to regulation as far as, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, it's a lot of ambiguity and just people don't really know.
Ty Smith0:32
It's more ambiguous for crypto, I think, than cannabis. Cannabis is kind of...
TJ Shedd0:33
Well, cannabis is ambiguous in the sense that it's not federally legal, but it is on a state level. So, that's why they can't, places like Google, Facebook, they don't know if they can take money from them. They don't allow you to spend to boost posts and ads and all that kind of stuff because there's so much unclarity on the federal level, even though states have been really clear about how they feel about it. So, I think right off the bat, that's where that is. On a federal level, there's a lot of uncertainty from regulations on...
TJ Shedd1:18
And in the back log of the effects, too. People don't know if we do X, Y, and Z right now, if a regulation was to pass a year from now, are they going to retroactively take actions? Are they not? Basically, people are just scared to get too heavily involved because of the potential downsides.
Ty Smith1:30
Yeah, from a marketing specific standpoint, it's the fact that you can't advertise on Facebook and Google and LinkedIn and the kind of traditional advertising methods.
TJ Shedd1:35
Right. And that's, yeah, exactly. You can't you can't do the typical things that you would do.
Ty Smith1:38
Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, for both of them, it kind of favors a brand that's willing to be a little bold, I think.
TJ Shedd2:09
That's where I was kind of where I was going to take it. Because there is so much people don't know, it favors people that are a little bit more high risk.
Ty Smith2:14
Which I like. I mean, that's that's why we're in crypto. That's why we're in cannabis because I like the high risk, high reward.
TJ Shedd2:18
Yeah, you took the words right out of my mouth. There's a lot of crossover between these two spaces because it does attract people that have a high risk tolerance, that are willing to go big and, hey, if next year something comes out and I have to shut down this whole business, it's all right, I'm going to start another one. I'm willing to put myself out there and see what happens. So, there is definitely a lot of crossover between the two spaces. They're also both probably two of the biggest emerging industries worldwide right now. I mean, maybe maybe just in the US, but probably worldwide, cannabis and blockchain are probably two of the biggest.
Ty Smith2:39
My knowledge of cannabis outside the US is very limited.
TJ Shedd3:06
Yeah, I mean, it's the US is a huge market that is definitely coming into. And I would say, yeah, those two industries probably have the most upside money that's going to be growing over the next 10 or 15 years, other than, I mean, there's a couple other ones, but those are two of the big ones.
TJ Shedd3:16
And they attract a lot of the same kind of people for a lot of similar reasons.
Ty Smith3:20
Yeah. I mean, yeah, in general, they're just more willing to be sort of that early adopter tranche of consumers, I guess, and take those risks. In terms of the numbers of the audience, in terms of the demographic data, both are heavily skewed male.
TJ Shedd3:31
Mhm.
Ty Smith3:32
Crypto... What? That's a shocker?
Kylie Low3:33
That's a shocker.
Ty Smith3:33
All right, so I have the data in front of me. If you would guess, which is more male-skewed, crypto or cannabis?
Kylie Low3:37
Well, I know. I already looked at it. I would say crypto.
TJ Shedd3:39
Yeah, I would guess. So, you've got like percentage-wise?
Ty Smith3:41
I have percentage-wise of, obviously, both are relatively new industries, so the data is relatively limited. It's a big difference, by the way, between the two.
TJ Shedd4:11
It's a big difference? So, I would say like 80/20 for crypto, 60/40 for cannabis.
Ty Smith4:15
Not totally off. So, crypto, and this is both confirmed by our data and by a study by CoinDance, which is a crypto research and statistics firm, 90% plus male for crypto.
TJ Shedd4:23
Okay, that's okay. You can experience that at most meetups, too.
Ty Smith4:27
Yeah, how many... So, we put on a monthly meetup and it's all it's all male.
TJ Shedd4:29
And then Kylie.
Ty Smith4:29
And then Kylie.
Kylie Low4:30
Just me.
Ty Smith4:31
Yeah.
Kylie Low4:31
And then, hey, my mom came once.
TJ Shedd4:32
Wendy. Wendy came once.
Ty Smith4:33
That's true.
Ty Smith4:33
And in terms of cannabis, it's 65% male. And it's growing more more female every year. So, in 20... Sorry, so this number is 2018, this 65% male, 35% female. And then in 2019 so far, it's been 38%, so it grew by 3%.
TJ Shedd4:44
Yeah, makes about right. That's kind of what I was thinking, 60/40.
Ty Smith4:45
Yeah, and that's according to Miner & Co, which is a social data research firm. Age-wise, what would you what would you guess? What's the younger audience?
TJ Shedd5:17
The younger audience?
Ty Smith5:17
All right, so both of them are heavily skewed towards millennials. Millennials, which is considered 25 to 34 right now, age 25 to 34, both of them...
Kylie Low5:24
I don't consider 25 to 34 young. I mean, they're not old, but they're mid. They're mid.
Ty Smith5:28
Okay, millennials.
Kylie Low5:29
Because you got Gen Y and Gen Z after them, so...
Ty Smith5:30
Okay, for crypto, the crypto consumer, the people that have invested in crypto or are heavily involved in the crypto community, that's 47.95% between the age of 25 and 34.
TJ Shedd5:37
Yeah, that makes sense.
Ty Smith5:38
And that's also from CoinDance, the same study actually as the other one. For cannabis, it's less, but it's still, so millennials 25 to 34 is still the biggest age demographic, but it's only 38%.
TJ Shedd5:44
It's probably harder to track with cannabis, too, because there's a lot more cash. So, how do you how do you really nail that down?
Ty Smith6:14
So, technically, that's not cannabis consumers in that they're consuming products related to cannabis, but it's cannabis smokers, so it's a little different.
TJ Shedd6:17
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's people that have identified themselves as survey as a user.
Ty Smith6:20
Yeah. But there so there's almost in crypto, there's almost no one that's in the 65 plus range in crypto. There is some, but they're sort of like on the macro investment level. In cannabis, there is, because cannabis has been around for, I don't know, how many years.
TJ Shedd6:29
Well, since the planet.
Ty Smith6:30
Forever, yeah.
Ty Smith6:32
So, let's discuss the similarities in how to reach them. Obviously, there's a lot of similarities with the audience demographics, so you would think it's pretty much the same in terms of how to reach them.
TJ Shedd6:39
Well, yeah, in the sense that you're basically you're blocked out on social media, so the only way the best way we've found in...
Ty Smith6:43
Well, you're blocked out on promoting on social media.
TJ Shedd6:44
Right, on like boosting your posts, as far as, yeah, promoting on social media through the actual platform like Facebook or Google, YouTube, that type of thing. So, in both spaces, you see a lot of people going direct to influencers, creators to partner with them and work their brand organically into the content that they're already posting. You see that across both cannabis and crypto.
Ty Smith7:23
Yeah. Yeah, but the regulation for cannabis is really tough, especially because everything is state-wide and federally it's illegal, so it's easier through social media is definitely a big one. For crypto, Twitter is the biggest, for sure. And for cannabis, it's not not it's it's heavy on Twitter, but it's much more heavy on Instagram.
TJ Shedd7:34
Yeah, visual.
Ty Smith7:35
It's a more visual product, for sure.
Kylie Low7:38
Everything about it is visual, but yeah.
TJ Shedd7:40
And to that point, if you are trying to grow an account like that on Instagram, you have to be really careful and sensitive. You can't you can post pictures of, like, a crazy-looking bud or things like that, but if you do that every single time, you're going to get on their list and you're going to start getting shadow banned and blocked and all that kind of stuff. So, it's really...
Kylie Low7:51
They'll delete your account.
TJ Shedd7:52
Yeah, you have to be really careful of mixing in shots of products, shots of brand, facts, information, just and really mix it up and try to make it as useful as possible to your audience, obviously.
Ty Smith8:24
Yeah, and another one is SEO, which I always push for crypto because, it's a new industry, so it's easier to rank. SEO is search engine optimization, it's ranking higher on Google. So, I always push crypto companies now to to get their content created now targeting high-volume keywords that are low competition because they're not always going to be low competition. So, if you can secure your first-page spot now, it'll be way easier than doing it in the future. And the same goes for cannabis.
TJ Shedd8:40
Yeah, no, that's a great point. For cannabis, doing an article like "Top 20," "Top Up-and-Coming Cannabis Brands for 2020" and then you include your own brand in there and then list out 10 other ones, like there's probably not a lot of competition in that space right now, but I guarantee it's going to get searched a lot.
Ty Smith8:49
The people that get in on that now are absolutely going to get the big reward from that.
TJ Shedd8:52
Right. And that's, like you said, that's a long-term investment, too. You get it in there now and you're going to be getting returns on that all year and for years to come for organic traffic to your site.
Ty Smith9:23
Yeah. So, I mean, do you guys have anything else to to add? I think we touched on basically all the major points.
TJ Shedd9:25
Yeah, those are the big ones.
Ty Smith9:26
Okay. So, let's wrap this up. If you have any questions about marketing, join us on Slack. We're at coinbound.io/join-slack. If you have any questions about crypto or cannabis marketing, we can we can help you out there. Or send us an email at info@coinbound.io. Follow us on Twitter @coinbound_io. Young Dumb Crypto is TJ, Kylie is Crypto Kylie, and I am Ty Daniel Smith. And remember to rate, review, and recommend the podcast if you found value in this. And that is all for today. Thanks, guys.
TJ Shedd9:45
Thanks.
Kylie Low9:46
Bye.
