CANNABIS MOBILE MARKETING
Did you know that your customer is spending at least 60% of their time online today on their smartphone? As a marketing channel, mobile holds tremendous value for dispensaries looking to engage their customers on their personal devices. That means that if you want to grow your dispensary mobile marketing should definitely be on your radar. So, how can you take advantage of this opportunity? What are the various types of mobile marketing you can use and how can you ensure your campaigns are effective? We’ll teach you everything you need to know and how to get started below.
What is Cannabis Mobile Marketing?
Cannabis Mobile marketing is a multifaceted channel through which brands can engage with customers on their tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices. In their most effective form, campaigns are optimized for these devices and can deliver location-sensitive ads—a feature that dispensaries can use to attract nearby customers.
Why Your Dispensary Needs a Mobile Marketing Strategy
Aside from the fact that your customers are spending the vast majority of their time online using a mobile device, there are even more reasons that a dispensary mobile marketing plan is crucial to the success and growth of your shop. This year, predictions were released that mobile traffic is officially overtaking desktop traffic, so if your dispensary isn’t utilizing its mobile channel yet, you are most certainly missing out. Through mobile, businesses can drive a significant increase in awareness, customer engagement and sales.
5 Types of Mobile Marketing Strategies
When it comes to mobile marketing, step back and reframe your perspective from that of a mobile user. Think small screen size, competitive distractions, and personalized information. Below are 5 types of mobile marketing you should consider:
01. Website
Your website is your dispensary’s platform to give value, context and important information to your customers. It may look great on desktop, but have you tested your website to ensure it’s mobile-friendly? If your website doesn’t pass the test, Google and other search engines have decreased your organic SEO ranking. Why? In the past years, search engines are measuring the value you bring to their users and if your website isn’t optimized to cater to the dominant base of people searching on their mobile devices, you are promoting a bad customer experience.
Invest in responsive web design that achieves:
- Flexible Grid Design
- Responsive Images and Image Galleries
- Mobile Navigation
- Short and Concise Product Descriptions
- Personalized, Location-Specific Content
- Responsive Footer Navigation
02. Email
Email open rates have grown by 180% in the past few years which means that optimizing your emails for your customer’s various devices is a minimum requirement. When considering email for mobile, recognize that you have a smaller screen size and therefore need to be even more concise with the information you’re delivering and place your most important information towards the top. In addition to that, you need also think about reconfiguring your call to action (CTA’s). For example, including directions to your dispensary after promoting this week’s special deal is a much more relevant CTA when the button could link to their mobile maps application.
03. SMS/ Text Message
Text message marketing can be some of your most engaging and effective marketing yet. SMS boasts a 98% open rate, but what’s even more important than that is how you can reach your subscribers in less than 15 seconds. It allows you to be agile and respond to current events while driving foot traffic during your slow times of the day. Much like other mobile strategies, you must be actionable and concise as text messages generally allow for only 160 characters.
You can promote:
- Special Promotions
- Flash Sales
- Order Alerts
- Contest Alerts
- Much more…
04. Mobile Applications
The opportunity of marketing through mobile apps is available to both dispensaries who have their own live app in the app store and those who don’t. If you’ve invested or are considering investing in building our own branded app, you’ll be able to take advantage of ‘push-notifications’ to promote reminders, specials, timely news, highly personalized messages, and encourage your app users to engage with new content.
However, if you don’t have your own branded app, you can still market through other brands’ app in the form of in-app advertising, a service you can explore through platforms like:
- Leafly
- Weedmaps
05. Ads
Just as email and website need to be optimized for your mobile users, as do your ads. When designing ads for these devices, keep in mind the small amount of space, type size, color contrast and image proportions. These mobile-friendly ads can be distributed through a variety of mediums: website ads, social media ads, in-app ads, or ad networks, etc. While Google display ads are still not available for cannabis businesses, you can find a similar service through Mantis or Adistry. By designing ads specifically for mobile, you ensure that when your ad appears to your users, its design, messaging and CTA is correctly translated.
- Leafly
- Weedmaps
Cannabis Mobile Marketing Best Practices
In order to take full advantage of mobile marketing, we’ve compiled a list of best practices for you to keep in mind when designing your campaigns.
01. Put Yourself in the Shoes of a Mobile User
Whenever you’re crafting a dispensary mobile marketing campaign, do what most underestimate and put yourself in the shoes of a mobile user. Imagine you have a phone in your hand – what irritates you the most? Small photos that you can’t zoom into, copy that’s too small to read, oversized letters jumbled together for a headline… In order to design for mobile, you need to keep the experience in mind throughout the strategic process. What may look great on a larger screen can be translated as an eyesore on a mobile device. While this pertains to aesthetics, it also applies to functionality and including relevant CTA’s, which we mentioned above in the example of including a ‘Get Directions’ button that will route the user to your front door.
02. Be Clear and Concise
Mobile marketing is a true test for what is important and what is fluff and/or filler space. You must be clear on your hierarchy and message and focus on prioritizing elements that add value to your marketing. While a majority of users are spending more time on their smartphones, they are not going to have the attention span to squint or spend time on something that is not providing them with real value. Stay focused and keep your messaging concise.
03. Keep Your Audience in Mind
Depending on the channel you’re looking to include in your mobile marketing plan, you’ll need to adequately consider the audience who will be receiving your content. Are they a loyal customer that’s subscribed to your text message list or are they a potential customer you’re targeting on a popular local app? If you consider your audience, you will be able to accomplish more from your investment by identifying relevant avenues.
04. Think Local
Your dispensary is a local business and therefore you’re looking to attract users in your surrounding area to come in for a visit. 1 in 3 searches done on mobile has local intent, meaning that users are looking for something nearby. This is when it’s important to optimize your web copy and ensure that your landing pages and business listings are accurate and mobile-friendly. Try geo-targeted ‘flash sale’ or promo ads to drive traffic to your local shop or include a click-to-call extension in your Google ads.
05. Be Consistent and Experimental
Once you begin your dispensary mobile marketing campaigns, you’ll want to invest the resources it takes to track them to decide what’s working and what’s now. Mobile marketing, as with all marketing, needs to evolve and adapt in order to improve the customer experience and increase conversions. If you are doing text message marketing, this means not sending your users 5 texts a week for 2 weeks and then disappearing for a month. Be consistent, add value, expand your strategies, and be consistent.
06. Want to See What MediaJel Can Do for Your Dispensary?
Mobile marketing alongside various other types of marketing can make an incredible difference in everything from your online brand presence to your revenue stream. MediaJel is a dedicated agency for dispensaries looking to explore the growth and expansion that digital marketing can bring to the table. Want to hire us as your team of experts? Submit a request here.
Let’s take an in-depth look at each digital marketing channel.
Given the unique position of the cannabis industry, we’re only covering the digital marketing channels that are permitted to use by ancillary businesses, brands, dispensary owners, mobile applications, producers, processors, and websites. There is a legal gray area when marketing cannabis companies, and you should regularly reference the laws within your state before starting any campaign.
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