Marketing Do’s And Don’ts

The importance of being professional

One of the goals of Kannaway is to help people from all over the world have the opportunity to enjoy our wonderful products, and to be to succeed with their own home-based business. To ensure this is possible for everyone involved with Kannaway, we as a company, as well as a community, have the highest standards of excellence, integrity and conformity with all local and national regulations. Every industry has laws, rules and guidelines which they must agree to abide by, in order to best serve their customers and consumers. Whether it is providing goods, services or a combination of either, companies like Kannaway in the direct selling industry follow guidelines set by different governmental agencies. 

A couple of examples are:

1. Food and Drug Agency (FDA)

The FDA’s job, very broadly, is to ensure the safety of consumer food and drug products and to make sure that there are no claims of effectiveness of a given product without their explicit approval. In general, the FDA regulates Food, including dietary supplements, food additives and other food products, Cosmetics, including skin moisturizers and cleansers, as well as Veterinary products, including pet foods.

2. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

The FTC’s job, is to regulate many types of advertising that take place today. The FTC role is to protect consumers by stopping unfair, deceptive or fraudulent practices in the marketplace; something which is good for all professional companies and genuine consumers. Governmental agencies, like the FDA and FTC, take their role very seriously, and have been known to be very strict when protecting consumers. Sometimes their action may only result in a warning letter to a company involved, however they have also been known to fine companies monetarily, sometimes by millions of dollars and they have even been known to shut company’s down.

What does this mean for Kannaway?

Because of our goal, we follow the FDA’s and FTC’s guidelines with strict adherence. This is what is not only best for the company, but also for our customers and our Brand Ambassadors. Because of this, it means Kannaway has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to infractions of these guidelines. Any infraction of these rules will result in immediate termination.

Here’s why: What you say doesn’t only affect you, but affects everyone in the company and the company as a whole. One wrong word to the wrong person could shut down the business without warning. For example: CBD, the natural compound found in hemp oil, is not recognized for health benefits by the FDA. This means as a food, or dietary supplement, we cannot talk about any of the possible health benefits of CBD, whatsoever. That may seem strict, however we always want to stay 100% compliant with the FDA at all times.

1. Do always maintain customer confidentiality.

Do not give information about one customer to another. Do not mention other customers’ stories or their use of the products to other customers. For example, you may not say things like, “I have several cancer patients that I’m working with” or “My favorite client has MS and is using our products and loves them.” Statements like these breach HIPAA confidentiality and border on making medical claims. 

Which brings up the second and most important rule:

2. No health or medical claims - EVER!

This is the number one rule you must abide by. You may never, ever talk about anything related to health and CBD to Customers. This is the case whether it is in written communications, on your personal social media accounts, and in any public or private arena in which you are representing the company. The FDA and FTC take unlicensed medical claims, health claims, and quasi-medical advice very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that giving out medical or health-related advice or telling people that a product can, say, “cure epilepsy” could result in prison time (to you and possibly others) and a fine (to you specifically, the company, and others). At the very least, heavy fines and suspension of business may be levied by the FDA or FTC at any time and without warning. Some do’s and don’ts of talking about the product are on the following page:

3. Do not reference or cite any media

That includes research, journals, magazines, TV specials, etc. For example, saying things like “If you saw Dr. Gupta’s special on CNN…” is NOT ALLOWED.

4. Do speak to each customer the way the fda or ftc lays out

Bending or breaking the rules is never acceptable to FDA and FTC, nor is that acceptable to us. The “if you do your own research, there’s a lot of information out there” thing can seem really repetitive, but we cannot skirt laws and regulations. You have to be vague because of federal law, not because we don’t want you to make a sale or help someone in need!

5. Do not give medical advice. Do not suggest treatment options

While other supplement and natural product companies may bend the rules or push the envelope, Kannaway follows a strict compliance policy due to the controversial nature of CBD hemp oil. Here some basic guidelines that all Brand Ambassadors must follow:

You absolutely cannot talk about the health or medical effects of CBD. Ever. If a customer is asking if our products can help their ailment, here’s what you say: “I cannot give you medical advice, as I am not a doctor. But I suggest you conduct your own research and speak to your healthcare practitioner about your concerns.”  Here is some guidance on do’s and don’ts:

Products

If you have a customer asking specifically about certain products, here are some suggestions for what you can say, and some things you absolutely cannot say:

Cosmetics (e.g. Define, Salve, Kannactive)

Hemp Oil Supplements (e.g. Pure Gold, Gold Premium Oil)

Nutritionals (e.g. SuperGreens)

Vapors (e.g. HempVap)

We know this can all feel overwhelming, but know this is all in place to protect you first and foremost. You’re part of a new industry that’s helping thousands of people and has the potential to help millions more. Being compliant gives us the opportunity to bring CBD to the rest of the country and the world. We are hopeful that more reputable studies and increased acceptance of cannabis will push along FDA and FTC reviews in the near future. For now, however, we believe we have the greatest product in the world, we just have to be very careful how we talk about it!

Good stuff

Quality Assurance from seed to sale

After all of that heavy stuff about compliance and health claims, you should know that there are plenty of selling points that you can talk about that don’t involve making claims.

Here are just some of the great points about our oil and our products:

• Our hemp is grown without pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers.
• Our hemp is also non-GMO and sustainably grown on generational family farms in Europe.
• Our hemp has high levels of CBD naturally. The reason for this starts at the seed: We developed our own unique cultivars of hemp to have even more CBD than they normally would. Our hemp is then grown in amazing microclimates that allow spectacular growth.
• We have more CBD hemp oil than anyone in the world.
• We have the only reliable, fully-legal distribution system.
• We are the only company in the world that has the technology (the high-tech machinery) to process hemp in this way, so we retain all the natural hemp constituents (like chlorophyll) and get incredibly high levels of pure hemp-based CBD in our hemp oil.
• Every batch of our CBD hemp oil is processed in state-of-the-art labs. It’s tested for contaminants and purity, and is batched so that the natural CBD levels are as consistent as possible for a natural plant constituent. This is UNHEARD OF in the cannabis industry and, in many cases, the natural supplement industry.
• We disclose our natural variations in CBD content, so customers always know how much CBD (in milligrams) they’re getting in their hemp oil. Most supplement companies don’t disclose the natural variations in their products.

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