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Time to move on & close shop?CBD

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

RedBaron

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Hey guys, So I started a Cbd brand close to 2 years ago in the midst of the Cbd craze. I put plenty of time into the build out, but for the first 12 months I didn't put much time into building the actual business. I was more focused on my primary business that was already making money. Now for the last few months I have put most of my time into helping the CBD brand grow it has been a struggle. I can afford to not make anything for awhile, but when should I accept the fact that this might not work and close shop?

I understand that there are big players coming in
I know there are a lot of brands. ( I do have some decent traction, but the limit on marketing is a struggle, and my seo is decent but it is dominated by many others)
I have a small amount of consistent buyers, and everyone that has tried our products love it.

Main issue just seems to be bringing eyes to the website is super rough.
 
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JAJT

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I'm not terribly familiar with the CBD field, but food for thought:

- There's always big players coming in or existing
- There's always a lot of brands

That's kind of business 101. Very few businesses are novel enough to be unique snowflakes without competition. And the ones that do don't often have it for long.

Main issue just seems to be bringing eyes to the website is super rough.

If people love your product, and you get repeat buyers, chances are you have a marketing issue.

Pump up those social media posts, get involved in your ideal communities, get those ads running, look at what the competition is doing and learn from them, etc.
 

RedBaron

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I'm not terribly familiar with the CBD field, but food for thought:

- There's always big players coming in or existing
- There's always a lot of brands

That's kind of business 101. Very few businesses are novel enough to be unique snowflakes without competition. And the ones that do don't often have it for long.



If people love your product, and you get repeat buyers, chances are you have a marketing issue.

Pump up those social media posts, get involved in your ideal communities, get those ads running, look at what the competition is doing and learn from them, etc.
hmm ya you are right about that.

As far as social media goes from what I have seen there is a very small amount of people that order due to social media exposure. Cbd isn't a hot buy item if you have a badass Instagram page. Even with thousands of followers. Just from what Ive seen from all the top brands and mid level ones

The main thing is running ads is near impossible due to regulations.
 

AidenRafi

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hmm ya you are right about that.

As far as social media goes from what I have seen there is a very small amount of people that order due to social media exposure. Cbd isn't a hot buy item if you have a badass Instagram page. Even with thousands of followers. Just from what Ive seen from all the top brands and mid level ones

The main thing is running ads is near impossible due to regulations.
That doesn't make sense to me, but then again i am not in the industry.

I know of some people in Sydney that pumped up a teeth whitening kits from Alibaba , built a brand, and turned it into a 20 million dollar business over a few years via social media.
 
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pixieducks

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hmm ya you are right about that.

As far as social media goes from what I have seen there is a very small amount of people that order due to social media exposure. Cbd isn't a hot buy item if you have a badass Instagram page. Even with thousands of followers. Just from what Ive seen from all the top brands and mid level ones

The main thing is running ads is near impossible due to regulations.

I think you should really focus on social media. That is the only reason I found CBD and hoped it would help my medical condition, which it did. The twitter account I followed wasn't even about CBD, but they mentioned an article. Had they included a company selling it, I probably would have purchased right there. Instead, I searched Reddit and went with a recommendation (Charlotte's Web).

Couldn't you follow bigger accounts surrounding pain management, anxiety, and sleep issues and see if you can offer their followers a discount? I'm no social media expert, so maybe others can speak more on that, but I am a buyer because of social media.
 

Clay Alexander

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The main thing is running ads is near impossible due to regulations.
I'm assuming this applies to adwords and facebookAds. But what about finding and sponsoring CBD or culture related websites/forums. There's more than one way to advertise :)
I'd also suggest getting your name/personality `out there` more, I'd bet many users of these products would rather feel they were buying from someone they `know` rather than a faceless company.
 

RedBaron

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That doesn't make sense to me, but then again i am not in the industry.

I know of some people in Sydney that pumped up a teeth whitening kits from Alibaba , built a brand, and turned it into a 20 million dollar business over a few years via social media.
I could be wrong but from what I've seen all of the major companies have barely anything as far as social media engagement goes. Same goes for influencers that talk about Cbd.
Examples are Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube.
The only platform that has had a decent hit back is Reddit and believe it or not Tik Tok
 
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RedBaron

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I'm assuming this applies to adwords and facebookAds. But what about finding and sponsoring CBD or culture related websites/forums. There's more than one way to advertise :)
I'd also suggest getting your name/personality `out there` more, I'd bet many users of these products would rather feel they were buying from someone they `know` rather than a faceless company.
Hmmmm. Agreed.
 

AidenRafi

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I could be wrong but from what I've seen all of the major companies have barely anything as far as social media engagement goes. Same goes for influencers that talk about Cbd.
Examples are Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube.
The only platform that has had a decent hit back is Reddit and believe it or not Tik Tok
Sounds like an opportunity bro.
 

RedBaron

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Sounds like an opportunity bro.
is it? lets say all the top companies have 50-100k followers with an average of 100-500 likes and less comments
( which is trash). The question I would then ask is this.

Are they not catering properly to viewers or nobody cares?
 
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AidenRafi

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is it? lets say all the top companies have 50-100k followers with an average of 100-500 likes and less comments
( which is trash). The question I would then ask is this.

Are they not catering properly to viewers or nobody cares?
Could be purchasing followers, which means low engagement.
 

amp0193

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Main issue just seems to be bringing eyes to the website is super rough.

How is your product different or better than what else is out there?

How is your marketing different or better than what else is out there?
 
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biophase

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I sell CBD online. SEO is very tough and like you mentioned, no ppc or FB or IG ads. I built my brand via social media posts.

I’m confused by some thing though, you mentioned that you did not spend a lot of time on this business because your other primary business was making money. And now you say you can’t afford to not make money on your secondary business.

Unfortunately the time to SEO your CBD website was two years ago when everybody else was doing it. Now everybody has a two year head start on their link building and social media presence.

Is the business doing well enough that it can be sold?
 

RedBaron

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How is your product different or better than what else is out there?

How is your marketing different or better than what else is out there?
The only way my product is different is the quality is par with the top brands, but I focus on selling it at a lower cost than they do. Mainly because I believe the the prices for finished product are much to high still when companies are easily marking up the product at a very high margin.

Another way my product is different is I better than average smokeable hemp to the market. This part of the market is small but expanding rapidly, but its future is highly uncertain due to regulations.

As far as marketing goes I would say not to different. Ive had decent success with pumping youtube reviewers. Other than that nothing
 

RedBaron

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I sell CBD online. SEO is very tough and like you mentioned, no ppc or FB or IG ads. I built my brand via social media posts.

I’m confused by some thing though, you mentioned that you did not spend a lot of time on this business because your other primary business was making money. And now you say you can’t afford to not make money on your secondary business.

Unfortunately the time to SEO your CBD website was two years ago when everybody else was doing it. Now everybody has a two year head start on their link building and social media presence.

Is the business doing well enough that it can be sold?
I meant to say that since my primary business has done pretty well I have been able to afford to keep the Cbd brand open (at a loss), but Im not sure if I should continue to do so. Just as you said two years ago everyone has solid seo and linking builds etc.

I thought about the sale of it. It doesn't make enough money to live or anything, but it does do something. The main thing I screwed up on is I ordered way to much inventory in the beginning lol.

I can't imagine anyone would buy it. Although it is a well put together brand.
 
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ShepardHumphries

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Differentiation. How are you different from the big players? Why should I choose YOUR product over theirs? (This is not a real question, it is to prompt you to make things so)

Guerilla marketing ain't the same as when I first read about it in the 90's, but I think that thinking outside of the box is key ... after all, what with your interesting cultural and family history stuff, and the fact that everyone that handles the production of your products cleans their hands with dihydrogen monoxide, heck, a good mixture of dazzling with BS and true differentiation / excellent customer service, you just might make it work?

On the other hand, some stuff has its season and is done.
 

Kasimir

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I would never just close it. As @Lunamoonbay said I'd rather sell it. But wouldn't do that either.
As a lot of people already said would put a lot of effort into social media and SEO.
Maybe boost organic traffic with a blog around CBD or if your community is getting bigger even a CBD blog.

I think you could also team up with some other small struggling CBD brand from another country, which would help to build your social media and online branding without being direct competitors.
 

RedBaron

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I would never just close it. As @Lunamoonbay said I'd rather sell it. But wouldn't do that either.
As a lot of people already said would put a lot of effort into social media and SEO.
Maybe boost organic traffic with a blog around CBD or if your community is getting bigger even a CBD blog.

I think you could also team up with some other small struggling CBD brand from another country, which would help to build your social media and online branding without being direct competitors.
thats an interesting idea actually
 
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AlinMay

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Hello, you need to conduct a detailed analysis of major competitors. I also recommend raising the brand's visibility on the Internet. You need to increase the number of external live links, publish articles and maintain real blogs of your company with information and research useful for the buyer. fill content with useful articles. order placement of articles on major news magazines supporting your topic.
 

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