It’s only been 13 years since California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana, but it’s already become a multibillion-dollar industry. Sales in 2018 reached an approximate $4.5 billion and that number is still growing, set to reach $37.3 billion for all legal marijuana sales by 2024.  

As dispensaries across the country scramble to claim their piece of this ever-growing pie, each one has to find ways of setting themselves apart from the competition. To make your company stand out, you must first establish a recognizable brand image and keep it consistent across your website, marketing materials, and accessories.  

Targeted medical marijuana packaging is a powerful branding tool for cannabis manufacturers. It can:

• Inspire confidence in the product’s medical validity
• Communicate the product’s benefits
• Set the brand apart from others

So, how can you get your medical cannabis packaging to do all this?

1. Target a Particular Need 

In order to thrive in an increasingly competitive market, medical marijuana distributors need to recognize that not all consumers are the same. Before you make any packaging decisions, you need to determine who you’re targeting. Is your audience made up of:

• Young adults seeking relief from stress, anxiety, or depression?  
• Parents seeking an FDA-approved treatment for children with epilepsy?  
• Adults with cancer trying to cope with treatment’s side effects?

Each of these audiences will respond to different medical marijuana packaging elements such as colors, images, and text. Targeted design helps you to get consumer buy-in and solidify your brand image as a medicinal product supplier.

2. Choose Colors and Designs with Your Customer in Mind

The general population is more supportive of medical marijuana than its recreational counterpart, a 2017 survey reveals. 83 percent of those polled said that they supported the rights of doctors to prescribe medical marijuana, compared to only 49% in favor of recreational legalization.

Medical marijuana branding can help you to appeal to those who approve of the product only for healthcare purposes. Consider every element of your packaging.

For example, different colors will send different messages to potential consumers; white can emphasize your product’s medicinal nature, but also conjures images of synthetic medicines and lab coats. Earthen tones serve to give your product a more natural or organic image but might fail to win customers looking for a traditionally medicinal aesthetic.

3. Choose a More Streamlined Style

Data analyst John Kagia has speculated that as recreational and medicinal marijuana products diverge in their effort to appeal to different markets, packaging styles will become more distinct.  

Recreational marijuana products already tend to have colorful and casual packaging. This trend leaves room for medical dispensaries to set themselves apart by designing product packaging that is traditional and serious in order to present an image of pharmaceutical legitimacy. 

Essentially, the more your product resembles medicine, the more it will strengthen your brand image with that particular market. 

4. Use Professional Medical Language to Educate Consumers

Consumer education is a big part of the medical marijuana industry. Your packaging provides you with the ideal opportunity to inform buyers of your product’s benefits while also reinforcing your image as the provider of a medical product.  

Replace colloquial terms with more formal terminology. Where recreational product packages might talk about a “hit,” yours should discuss dosage. Don’t refer to the “user,” but rather the “patient.”  

Use the word “medicine” to describe the product whenever possible and detail its effects using consumer-friendly medical terminology. The more relevant information you’re able to provide on your packaging, the more consumers will view your brand as medicinal. 

The Takeaway

An investment in the look of your product is an investment in your success as a brand. With custom labeling and packaging from Cannabiz Supply, you can position your dispensary as a leader in the growing medical marijuana industry. Give us a call today and find out how we can make that happen.