You've no doubt heard that the global cannabis market is poised to skyrocket. Thirty-three U.S. states have legalized medical cannabis, along with over 40 countries. Canada's recreational cannabis market is picking up momentum, while 11 U.S. states have legalized recreational pot, with more potentially on the way. Some observers predict an annual global cannabis market of $150 billion or more.

But some investors remain uneasy about putting their money into cannabis stocks. If you fit into this category, there are alternatives you might want to consider. Three great ways that you can profit from the cannabis boom without actually buying pot stocks are to instead buy shares of Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ), Shopify (NYSE:SHOP), or Square (NYSE:SQ).

1. Constellation Brands

Constellation Brands is best known for its premium beers Corona and Modelo. But the alcoholic beverage company dipped its toes into the water of the cannabis industry in 2017 by buying a 9.9% stake in Canadian cannabis producer Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC). It then jumped in headfirst last year by investing another $4 billion in Canopy, increasing its ownership to 38%.

In addition to its big stake in Canopy Growth, Constellation also owns warrants that, if exercised, would give the company majority control of the cannabis producer. It already exerts a significant influence on Canopy: Four of its nominees serve on Canopy's board of directors, two of which are executives at Constellation Brands.

Meanwhile, Constellation's primary focus is still on alcoholic beverages. The company's premium beers continue to enjoy strong sales momentum. Constellation ranks No. 1 in the U.S. alcoholic beverage market, contributing almost 25% of the total market growth.

The only negative in the company's beverage business has been in wine and spirits. However, Constellation recently sold several of its lower-priced wine brands to E. & J. Gallo. This deal enables the company to focus more on its premium wines.

2. Shopify

You might not think of Shopify as a cannabis play. The company provides an e-commerce platform for small businesses. But guess what? Quite a few of those small businesses operate in the cannabis industry.

Shopify scored a major coup last year when Ontario selected its platform for all online retail sales of recreational cannabis in the province, which is the largest in Canada based on population. The company also signed deals to power the e-commerce business for Canopy Growth, HEXO, and The Green Organic Dutchman, three of the top six biggest Canadian cannabis producers ranked by production capacity.

Most of Shopify's revenue, however, doesn't stem from the cannabis industry. In fact, the word "cannabis" or anything related to it wasn't even mentioned in Shopify's latest quarterly conference call. But there was plenty of discussion about a new product that could fuel the company's growth for a long time to come -- its new fulfillment network.

Shopify is basically enabling small businesses to compete with Amazon.com by taking care of all of the logistics involved with fulfilling customers' orders. It even allows small businesses to ship their products to customers within two days. Cannabis is important to Shopify, but its new fulfillment network could be the most critical factor that drives the company's long-term growth.

3. Square

Shopify isn't the only fintech company that serves the cannabis industry. In the past, payment processing and financial technology leader Square shied away from working with cannabis-related companies. But things have changed.

Square quietly launched a pilot program a few months ago to offer credit card processing to companies that sell cannabidiol (CBD) products. For now, it's still an invitation-only beta program for a limited number of CBD products. However, the U.S. legalization of hemp in late 2018 paved the way for massive growth in the hemp-derived CBD market. This appears to have opened the door for Square to inch into the market itself.

These initial steps by Square into the CBD market aren't significant enough at this point to move the needle for the stock. However, there are plenty of other reasons to consider buying Square. For one thing, the company's current ecosystem, which includes payment processing, business lending, and its Cash App for sending money, has a lot of room to grow.

Even better, Square's current products and services give it a launching pad to expand into plenty of new areas. It's easy to envision the company offering high-yield deposit accounts or investing products in the future.

Shades of green

None of these three stocks are pure-play pot stocks, but each of them could benefit from the expansion of the global cannabis industry. For investors looking for the strongest tie to the cannabis market, Constellation Brands is the best choice. Right now Square has the smallest connection to cannabis, with Shopify falling somewhere in between. But while these three stocks provide varying levels of closeness to the cannabis industry, I think they'll all deliver solid growth over the long run for patient investors.

New companies tend to cultivate similarly. Build a winning team and culture. Plan and establish your vision of success – but maintain flexibility. Structure an advisory board or shadow cabinet full of successful professionals, both inside and outside your industry. Stay lean and nimble, but hungry. Think like a customer. Find a problem, hire a solution.

Any start-up business can be riddled with challenges. Launching a start-up business in an undeveloped industry can be nearly impossible. The cannabis industry is one of those spaces. Applications that could assist in getting your company off the ground simply don’t exist. Anticipating solutions for problems that have yet to arise can be arduous at best.

Days are filled with grueling work and endless hours, makeshift solutions to new problems and thinking of ideas that put you yet another step ahead of the competition. Ultimately, advertising comes into play. Without proper marketing and advertising strategies, progress will stall. In the cannabis industry, advertising has become one of the bigger challenges facing businesses. Cannabis is a highly restricted and exceedingly regulated industry, and as a result, brands must align themselves with experts who can help to navigate marketing tactics with stealth precision.

You don’t know what you don’t know

It is paramount for businesses to understand the resources and components needed to survive in this complicated space. Many companies don’t have enough capital and don’t recognize why they need it or how to apply it, while others have huge infusion of capital and may not understand exactly where to allocate it. Couple this with the restrictions that have been put in place pertaining to how a company can express their brand via creative and messaging, and options become increasingly limited. How can a company operating in a very tenuous space reach their target consumer? Not having enough channels to share your brand messaging is frustrating enough, but not being able to reach much of your target audience can be devastating to a brand.

Navigating the cannabis advertising landscape

Sometimes it is hard to see the green through all the red tape. Cannabis remains federally illegal and advertising restrictions vary by state. Limited access to inventory, creative restrictions and distribution limitations are just a few of the challenges faced by brands looking to advertise.

Platforms like Twitter Inc TWTR 1.1%, Google and Facebook Inc FB 1.47% have banned all ads for the plant. In California, for example, radio, cable, print, and digital ads can only be shown where at least 71.6% of the audience is expected to be over the age of 21. Colorado maintains similar rules. However, in Delaware, no person may advertise medical cannabis sales in print, broadcast, or by paid in-person solicitation of customers.

As a result, many brands have taken to advertising on billboards. This is currently a preferred method, but there will soon come a time when consumers experience billboard fatigue and begin tuning out. Another big drawback to billboard advertising is the lack of ability to track customer conversions.

This begs to ask, how can brands cut through the noise of competitors and create meaningful campaigns to project to their target consumer?

1. Find your voice. What is your “why”? Make sure that you have a story to tell and that you are telling that story through the proper channels to reach the intended audience.
2. Be creative. Find the appropriate channels for your brand. Publishers are becoming increasingly open to running cannabis ads both in print and online. Align yourself with an advertising and marketing company well-versed in the cannabis space, adept at utilizing data and technology solutions to help boost your brand recognition.
3. Be selective. Use good, clean data to make sound decisions. Try creative solutions like geo-targeting and making use of data analytics to gain deep perspective on your marketing campaigns and their effectiveness.
4. Be realistic. Create realistic expectations and allot adequate marketing budgets to achieve expectations around sales and other KPI's. Understand that there is an entire journey and process that you must endure to get to the heart of your brand.
5. Stay humble and remain focused. Stay resolute in promoting yourself and your brand. Don't waste time, energy and money on "taking out competition". Use your efforts and resources to elevate your brand and proliferate your story. There is tremendous opportunity in the cannabis space coupled with few true competitors. Focus on yourself.

Digital marketing is a must

Digital marketing includes all web-based or electronic communication stemming from the brand, reaching directly to the intended consumer. The creation of blog posts, contributed content to partner sites or web-based publishers, compelling videos and engaging infographics will all help to grow your brand while touching new audiences.

SEO (search engine optimization) is another critical tactic intended to position your company at the top of the search engine crawlers. By using keywords to rank your webpages, your brand will rise to the top on Google search platform and other search engines. Providing links to other reputable sites within your copy will help to further increase your authority.

Cutting through the conference clutter

There are hundreds of cannabis conferences and events being hosted around the world. While it is important to actively participate in these events, it is equally critical to understand which will be best suited for your brand and goals.

It will never be enough to simply set up a 10x10 booth at a show and hand out business cards. As the industry has evolved, so must our marketing strategies. Creating a memorable experience for your target is invaluable. Place your brand in a premiere location, employ brand ambassadors, and generate meaningful engagement with those around you throughout the event. Follow-up is key as well. Reach out to those you engaged with during the event, give a subtle reminder as to where or how you met, and initiate a conversation for moving forward.

If your brand is looking to engage with consumers, consider staging an activation at events like the Emerald Cup or HempCon. For B2B engagement, there are countless reputable events that consistently draw the best and the brightest in the space. New West Summit, MJBizCon, and Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo are all good options when looking to generate business while digging deeper into specific verticals.

Pay keen attention to up-and-coming events, like Green Market Summit. The two-day conference will take an introspective look into the economics of cannabis brands. MJMicro is an invitational networking forum that joins publicly traded cannabis companies with next-level, high-net-worth investors.

Continually position yourself and your brand amongst key leaders in the space, always keeping in line with your business model and goals.

Where are we now, and where are we going

There are many effective marketing channels for cannabis brands to explore in this moment in time. It remains equally important, however, to not only capitalize on those experiences but to keep looking ahead.

A year from now we will see a much higher level of understanding and much of the frustrations surrounding advertising and marketing in the industry should be alleviated. While we may not get to a free open place in terms of where we want to be with digital advertising, at least potential partners will be open to the discussion. We are witnessing increased appetite for data related to the cannabis industry from household brands like Dominos, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s. This is highly encouraging and should serve to move the industry forward.

Regardless of what marketing strategies you plan to adopt, make certain you are working with people who know what they are doing. It can be a very expensive lesson to learn, in terms of time and money lost, if you enter partnerships without a full understanding of the journey.