Popular culture tends to tell us all “typical stoners” are males. From Seth Rogen and Snoop Dog to Cheech and Chong, heavy cannabis use has a longtime association with men. However, an exclusively male stoner population couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Who are the Female Stoners?
Brightfield Group defines a “typical stoner” as a cannabis consumer that has used consistently throughout their lives at a rate of 5 or more days per week (though 77% of typical stoners report using multiple times per day). Of all typical stoners, 38% are female! If a cannabis brand is looking to target heavy users and only considers the male stoners, they are ignoring 38% of their potential target audience. Even if a brand doesn’t particularly market to the heavy user, the 20/80 rule of sales says 20% of your customers make up 80% of your sales. In other words, those heavy users matter – so don’t ignore the lady stoners!
Female typical stoners also outshine men in both spend and loyalty. 53% of male typical stoners spend over $250 on cannabis a month, compared to 60% of their female counterparts! To sweeten it even more, the number of lady stoners spending over $250 a month increased by 47% from 2019 to 2020, giving brands all the more reason to target these new high spenders.
In terms of loyalty, lady stoners are one of the most loyal cannabis consumer segments- even more loyal than baby boomers and registered medical users! Our consumer insights portal includes personality measures as indicated by language in posts on social media. Female typical stoners rank 12% above average for loyalty while male typical stoners rank 13% below average!
Marketing to High-Spending Lady Stoners
Step 1: Understand Who You Are Marketing To
Not all lady stoners are the same. They are a diverse segment of women – for example, they over-index on being both partnered and separated, while under-indexing on being married and single. It would take a lot of resources as well as strategic genius to craft an all-encompassing lady stoner campaign, but by honing in on a more specific female heavy-user segment, brands can develop product portfolios and marketing strategies a specific subset of those loyal lady stoners will love.
How do you hone in? With consumer insights! Whether using your own customer data (which may not reflect your ideal customer) or syndicated consumer intelligence like we have here at Brightfield Group, the only way to design an accurate target audience is to use real-life insights. Though it’s fun to imagine the middle-age, mom lady stoner who drinks wine and reads Politico, target audiences based in consumer intelligence show you who that consumer actually is, what they do, and how cannabis fits in their life. 
Our consumer insights include handy filters that make it easy to create a specific lady stoner persona. In this example, I used the filters to see the occasions of cannabis use for a millennial lady stoner from Illinois that uses flower.
Step 2: Know Which Products They Already Love
Speaking of products, brands can launch products more effectively when they know who is already using the product type. When compared to male stoners, female stoners over-index in almost all product types, indicating they use a more diverse array of products. However, a few stand out.
They use 28% more “other edibles” than males, and nearly 4X more “other” medicinal products. In using cannabis products that don’t fit into a specific category, female stoners appear to be more adventurous with their product choices than males. Female stoners also use 24% more pre-filled vape cartridges than males. The more you dig into the data, the more you can understand what makes your target audience unique from others.
Step 3: Know Their Interests and Values
Beyond knowing who they are and the products they use, brands need to know what consumers value and are interested in if they want to cut through and capture their attention.
Social data is good at showing us what consumers are interested in. With a plethora of tools available to monitor consumer behavior on social media, it is easier than ever to understand what topics your target audience is actively engaging with on social media. Our social integrations allow brands to see a high-level view of what consumers are interested in – from real estate to pop culture, holistic medicine to football. When comparing female stoners to all cannabis users, they are more interested in accounts related to home and garden and less interested in entertainment.
Besides interests, our Consumer Insights portal includes data on cannabis consumers' values. By tapping into their values, brands can connect to deep psychological triggers, unlocking the key to higher sales and increased loyalty. The top three values for female typical stoners are tradition, security, and pleasure. Though brands shouldn’t compromise who they are to pander to a particular consumer, a strong consumer base can be built by finding the consumers whose values align with yours.
So to recap: lady stoners are here, they’re spending more money than before, they’re loyal, and your brand can effectively target them with the three steps we’ve laid out. We’re passionate about understanding the cannabis consumer in this ever-changing market, and diverse segments like the lady stoner will continue to pop up as legalization continues. Is your brand ready to capture modern cannabis consumers?
