DISPENSARY MARKETING STRATEGY
01. Attract
Dispensary Marketing
Getting Started: Make Sure Your Dispensary Is Market-Ready
You’re no doubt familiar with the adage popularized by “Field of Dreams,” the classic baseball film starring Kevin Costner: “Build it, and they will come.” While that advice may work for building a baseball field, it doesn’t work in the cannabis industry (or any other highly competitive industry). If you’re looking into how to market your cannabis business, you’ll find there’s a bit more to it than that.
Like all entrepreneurs, dispensary owners need to promote and market. Promote or perish, as they say.
Because the Feds (frustratingly) continue to classify cannabis as a Schedule I drug (deemed as dangerous as heroin), most major media properties do not allow businesses in our industry to advertise on their sites.
Sure, that presents challenges. But, nothing a little persistence or creativity can’t overcome. Even being in a tightly regulated industry, opportunities abound! Marketers are fortunate to have a wide array of digital marketing tools at their disposal.
What Is Dispensary Digital Marketing?
Dispensary Digital marketing refers to all online and electronic interactions between your dispensary brand and your target audience. With digital channels such as search engines, social media platforms, and mobile devices playing crucial roles, customers increasingly engage with digital content over traditional media formats. This shift underscores the significance of leveraging digital strategies to effectively connect with and influence your audience in the cannabis industry.
While traditional forms of promotion are unlikely to disappear (and many continue to be successful for dispensaries), it’s critical that digital strategies feature prominently in your overall dispensary marketing plan
How Can Digital Marketing Help Your Dispensary?
Digital marketing can help your dispensary by providing channels to attract and capture new customers, as well as engage with existing customers. Attract new customers by using search engines, directories, social media, display advertising, and other marketing tactics to drive foot traffic to your store. When a customer visits your store, it’s your responsibility to deliver satisfactory customer service, and capture them as a repeat customer.
Branding
What's a dispensary without a strong brand?
A commodity. Think about it. What would Apple be without their distinctive brand? Just another electronics manufacturer, right?. Your brand defines your identity. It’s at the heart of what makes you unique, and why customers buy from you and remain loyal.
Website
What makes a great dispensary site?
One of the biggest myths out there is that you can design your website in isolation from all your other marketing efforts. And, it’s a myth that can cost you dearly. Sure, pleasing aesthetics are part of web design. But, effective design encompassess so much more: from branding to customer acquisition to SEO, the design of your site influences virtually every aspect of your Web presence.
INFORMATION
OPT-IN
Blogging
Blog to Give Your Brand a Voice.
Blogging, you’ve come a long way baby! In the old days (the late 1990s and early 2000s), individuals used blogging to share their feelings, thoughts, experiences, and ideas. Fast forward to today: blogging is used by brands to share their feelings, thoughts, experiences, and ideas. Blogging gives your brand a voice.
Search Engine Marketing
Drive organic traffic to your website.
Google is the king of search! Search marketing, defined as the process of gaining traffic and visibility from search engines through unpaid (organic) efforts, allows you to reach customers at the precise moment they’re interested in what you have to offer.
Local Marketing (Digital)
Get connected with your local customers.
Local marketing targets the community around a physical dispensary. One of the most effective local marketing tactics (which boosts local visibility, SEO, and drives traffic to your dispensary) centers around Google My Business and local business listings.
OPERATION
Advertising
Advertising in the cannabis industry.
Psst! If you haven’t heard, advertising regulations in the cannabis industry are — well — let’s say a wee bit strict. For many — if not most dispensary owners — keeping up on ever-changing laws governing what you can, and can’t do, can feel overwhelming. While advertising may seem daunting, there are actually numerous opportunities available.
MOUTH
Display Advertising
Targeted digital advertising.
One of the biggest myths out there is that you can design your website in isolation from all your other marketing efforts. And, it’s a myth that can cost you dearly. Sure, pleasing aesthetics are part of web design. But, effective design encompassess so much more: from branding to customer acquisition to SEO, the design of your site influences virtually every aspect of your Web presence.
Word of Mouth
Marketing's oldest asset - spoken word.
Word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) is one of the oldest and most reliable forms of marketing. Take note: WOMM overlaps but is not the same as “word-of-mouth” (the naturally occurring effect of providing superior products and service).
02. Interact
Engage With Your Customers
Customer Service
Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.
It seems like common sense. And, it is! Communicate with your customers on a regular basis. The more you’re interacting with your consumers, the more they’ll remember who you are, and frequent your store. Use blogs, newsletters, social media, whatever you need to do to communicate on a regular basis with your customers.
Budtenders
Budtenders are your frontline.
Budtenders are your frontline. They interact with customers and patients more than anyone. In fact, they have the power to make or break a sale (and, of course, influence customer reviews). No doubt, it’s vital they are well-trained on the essentials: product knowledge, software, providing exceptional customer service, and asking satisfied customers for online reviews.
VALUES
SERVICE
Video
Surpass the competition with video content.
Not to be “Captain Obvious,” but you’ve probably noticed: audiences have short attention spans — which in our hyperkinetic content-saturated world only seem to get shorter. So, unsurprisingly, we’ve witnessed a surge in the popularity of video since 2016.
Loyalty
Build loyal, repeat customers.
News flash! A successful dispensary relies on building a base of loyal, repeat customers. They keep the lights on, the doors open, and serve as your brand ambassadors. And, let’s not forget: the cost of acquiring new customers is much higher than retaining (and nurturing) existing ones.
Event Marketing
Using exhibits & displays to promote your brand.
Put simply, event marketing refers to the process of using exhibits, presentations, or displays to promote your brand or products. Events can occur online or offline; you can choose to participate, host, or sponsor events. You can promote these events through various inbound (e.g. blogs) and outbound dispensary marketing activities (e.g. email, newsletters and SMS).
03. Nurture
Create Lifelong Customers
Mobile Marketing
Promo's designed for delivery to cell phones.
Mobile marketing is promotional activity designed for delivery to cell phones, smart phones and other handheld devices, usually as a component of a multi-channel campaign.
E-mail Marketing
Influence consumers directly in their inbox.
Email marketing is a well-choreographed symphony of subject lines, content, automation, and information hierarchy and is still considered to be on the of the most efficient channels for marketers today.
ORM & Reviews
Online Reputation Management & Reviews.
A commodity. Think about it. What would Apple be without their distinctive brand? Just another electronics manufacturer, right?. Your brand defines your identity. It’s at the heart of what makes you unique, and why customers buy from you and remain loyal.
Deals & Discounts
Creating promotional price structures.
Such a deal! Who doesn’t love a bargain? Uh, let’s see: no one! There’s no way around it: price point and discounts motivate dispensary customers. And, what better way to bring customers back into to the store than deals.
Deals are a great way to engage past clients, attract new ones, and retain and upsell existing customers– not to mention.
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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Social
Engage socially - and reliably.
Don’t underestimate the importance of social media for your dispensary. Sure, recent crackdowns by some social media channels — here’s looking at you Facebook! — have made social media engagement a little more challenging for cannabis businesses. Nonetheless, there are plenty of social media opportunities you can use.