You know how to grow quality cannabis, you’ve invested in an attractive dispensary space, you have amazing strains and products, but now you need customers. In this competitive industry, it’s not enough to just open your doors – you need a strategic dispensary marketing plan.
The good news is, by following a few tried-and-true principles of cannabis marketing, you can build awareness of your business, attract new customers, and watch sales start to climb.
Whether you have a large operation or a small boutique dispensary, these practical tips will help you connect with your target audience and gain a loyal following.
Navigating the Complexities of Cannabis Marketing
Due to the complex regulations and stigma associated with cannabis, businesses in this space need to navigate through obstacles that don’t exist in other industries. However, with the right strategies and approaches, these challenges can be overcome. Here are some key challenges faced by cannabis businesses and effective solutions:
1. Legal and Regulatory Restrictions
Cannabis marketing faces strict legal and regulatory restrictions that vary from region to region. Advertising limitations, age restrictions, and guidelines regarding health claims make it challenging for businesses to effectively promote their products. To overcome this challenge, businesses must stay up-to-date with the ever-changing regulations and develop compliant marketing strategies that adhere to the specific guidelines of their target markets.
2. Limited Marketing Channels
Many traditional marketing channels, such as print advertising and TV commercials, have restrictions when it comes to promoting cannabis-related products. This limitation forces businesses to explore alternative marketing avenues. Leveraging digital marketing channels, such as social media platforms and search engine marketing, becomes crucial in reaching the target audience effectively.
3. Stigma and Perception
Overcoming the stigma attached to cannabis is one of the most significant challenges for businesses in this industry. Negative perceptions and misconceptions can hinder brand growth. To combat this challenge, businesses should focus on education and providing accurate information about the benefits and responsible usage of cannabis. Creating compelling and engaging content that breaks down stereotypes and promotes the positive aspects of the industry can also help shift public opinion.
4. Banking and Financial Constraints
The cannabis industry faces limitations in accessing reliable banking and financial services due to federal regulations. This can complicate marketing efforts, especially when it comes to accepting payments online. Businesses must explore cannabis-friendly financial solutions and seek partnerships with financial institutions that cater to the industry’s unique needs.
5. Limited Data Availability
Cannabis businesses often face challenges in collecting data and conducting market research due to the relatively new and evolving nature of the industry. Limited data availability makes it difficult to understand consumer behavior and preferences. To overcome this challenge, businesses should utilize customer feedback, leverage market trends, and collaborate with research institutions to gather valuable insights.
Understanding Your Target Cannabis Consumer
To craft compelling copy for a cannabis business, you need to speak your customers’ language. That means using a casual, conversational tone and simplifying complex ideas.
To market cannabis successfully, you need to know your customers inside and out. There are three main groups:
- Recreational users seek an enjoyable social experience. Focus on the experience of using your products and the good times to be had.
- Medical users rely on cannabis for relief from chronic pain, insomnia, or other conditions. Educate them about your products’ potency, effects, and health benefits.
- Enthusiasts are passionate about the cannabis culture and industry. Engage them with behind-the-scenes content on your brand and products.
Understanding ages and lifestyles
Younger customers, especially those under 30, tend to prefer edibles, vapes, and concentrates over smoking. Seniors are more likely to use cannabis for medical purposes and prefer tinctures, capsules or topicals.
Professionals in their 30s and 40s often value discretion. Vapes, tinctures or microdosing with edibles may appeal to them.
Outdoor enthusiasts and athletes tend to prefer non-psychoactive CBD products for pain and inflammation relief so they can stay active.
Finding the right message
For recreational users, focus on experiences and good times. For medical users, focus on health and wellness. For enthusiasts, share your brand’s story and passion for the plant.
Use social media and influencer marketing to reach younger customers. For older groups, email marketing, SEO and content marketing tend to be more effective.
With the right knowledge and marketing strategy, you’ll be connecting with your ideal cannabis customers in no time. But remember, when in doubt, focus on educating and building trust. Your customers will thank you for it.
Developing a Comprehensive Cannabis Marketing Strategy
Developing a robust cannabis marketing strategy is key to success in this growing industry. Here are some tips to get you started:
Identify your target customers
Who do you want to reach? Veterans, women, athletes? Focusing on a niche audience will help determine the best way to reach them.
Build your brand
Develop a memorable company name, logo, and consistent visual style to establish your unique brand identity. Your brand is what sets you apart, so spend time crafting a story that resonates with your target customers.
Focus on education
Educate people about your products and their benefits. Start a blog, publish videos, post on social media. Teach them about cannabis strains, consumption methods, and safety. Becoming an authoritative source of information will build trust in your brand.
Social media marketing
Have a strong presence on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Post regularly, engage with followers, and advertise to boost your reach. Pay attention to the rules for cannabis companies, as some sites have restrictions. Build relationships by liking and commenting on posts from others in the cannabis community.
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Optimize your website and content to rank higher in search engines like Google. Use important keywords, internal links, fast loading pages, and high-quality content. Higher rankings mean more organic traffic to your site.
Traditional advertising
Don’t overlook print ads, radio, billboards, and TV. While some mainstream sites avoid cannabis ads, many local publications and stations welcome them. Sponsoring local events is also a great way to raise brand awareness in your community.
With a smart marijuana marketing strategy that utilizes both digital marketing and traditional advertising, you’ll be well on your way to success in the cannabis industry. Stay up to date with trends and adjust your tactics as needed to keep improving results.
Leveraging Social Media and Influencers for Cannabis Branding
Leveraging social media and influencers is key to successful cannabis branding. As cannabis becomes more mainstream, social platforms have become an important way for brands to build awareness and connect with customers.
Facebook recently relaxed its cannabis advertising policies, allowing licensed cannabis companies to advertise on the platform. This presents a huge opportunity for brands to reach potential customers. Post eye-catching photos of your products, share the latest industry news, and engage your followers by asking questions and starting discussions. Run paid ads to reach new audiences and drive traffic to your website.
Instagram is ideal for showcasing high-quality product photos and building brand identity through an esthetic feed. Curate a cohesive style for your posts and stories. Partner with influencers who have a dedicated cannabis following. Run contests and giveaways to increase engagement and gain new followers.
Influencers
Micro-influencers, with 5,000 to 100,000 followers, can be very effective for promoting cannabis brands. Their audiences tend to be highly engaged and more open to recommendations. Look for influencers who genuinely like your products and brand. Negotiate paid partnerships, product exchanges, or affiliate marketing deals. Make sure any influencer you work with has an authentic voice and will represent your brand appropriately.
YouTube
YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google, so having an active channel is important for search visibility and traffic. Create video content like product reviews and tutorials, facility tours, interviews with team members, and more. YouTube advertising is also an option to promote your channel and specific videos. Partnerships with popular cannabis YouTubers can significantly increase brand exposure.
Creating Compliant Cannabis Email and SMS Campaigns
Creating compliant email and SMS cannabis campaigns requires extra care and consideration. As a cannabis marketer, you have to follow strict regulations to avoid legal trouble, but that doesn’t mean your messages have to be boring. Here are some tips for creating engaging cannabis email and SMS campaigns that also comply with the law.
Keep content educational
Focus your messages on educating subscribers about your products, services or the cannabis industry in general. Discuss the benefits of CBD or THC, explain how different strains or consumption methods affect the body, share recipes, or highlight the latest cannabis research. Educational content is allowed and helps build your authority.
Avoid promotional language
Steer clear of promotional phrases like “act now” or “limited time only.” Don’t emphasize price or discounts. While you can mention your products or services, do so in an informational way. The overall tone should be helpful, not salesy.
Include proper disclosures
Clearly state that your message is an advertisement. Include your license number and the statement “for adults 21+ only.” These disclosures must be prominently placed at both the top and bottom of your email or SMS message.
Double opt-in
Require subscribers to confirm their email or cell number before sending them cannabis-related messages. This “double opt-in” process helps ensure you have consent to contact them. Without consent, your messages could be considered spam.
Review regulations regularly
Marijuana marketing rules are complex and frequently changing. Stay up-to-date with the latest email, SMS and cannabis industry regulations in your state or country to keep your campaigns fully compliant. If in doubt, connect with a cannabis legal expert.
Following these best practices will help you create compliant and compelling cannabis email and SMS campaigns. With the right approach, you can build trust, drive more traffic and increase sales through your digital marketing efforts.
Measuring and Optimizing Your Cannabis Marketing Results
Once your cannabis marketing campaigns are up and running, it’s important to measure how they’re performing to determine what’s working and what needs improvement. Some of the key metrics you’ll want to track include:
Traffic
How many people are visiting your website or social media profiles? Use analytics tools like Google Analytics to see where your traffic is coming from and which content and campaigns are driving the most visitors. Look for upward trends in overall traffic as well as surges around the times you launch new marketing initiatives.
Conversions
Are those visitors taking the actions you want, like signing up for your newsletter, following you on social media, or making a purchase? Monitor sign-ups, follows, sales, and other conversions to see how well your marketing is resonating with your target audience. If conversions are low, you may need to optimize your messaging or calls-to-action.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
CAC measures how much it costs to acquire a new customer. By calculating the expenses incurred in marketing and sales efforts and dividing it by the number of new customers, you can determine the average cost of acquiring a customer. Optimizing your CAC is crucial for maximizing your marketing budget and improving overall profitability.
Engagement
Pay attention to how people are interacting with your content and brand. Look at metrics such as time on page, social media likes and shares, email open and click-through rates, and product reviews. Strong engagement signals that your content and campaigns are interesting and valuable to your audience. Use this data to produce more of the same.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
CLV measures the total value a customer brings to your business over their lifetime. By understanding the average revenue generated by a customer and their retention rate, you can optimize your marketing strategies to attract and retain high-value customers.
ROI
For cannabis companies, the ultimate measure of marketing success is revenue and profit. Track how much revenue and profit can be attributed to your marketing efforts. Look for campaigns and strategies that are producing the highest returns on investment (ROI) and double down on those—while revising or replacing underperforming initiatives.
Conclusion
You’ve learned some key secrets to successful cannabis marketing. The most important thing is to find a well-reputed Cannabis Marketing Agency. Here’s when Canna Folks comes to the rescue!
We build a brand with authenticity and personality and share high-quality content that educates and entertains. Our marijuana marketing experts use social media to engage with your audience and promote your business. We collaborate with influencers and run creative campaigns to skyrocket your sales.
As the cannabis industry experiences unprecedented growth, the competition has become increasingly intense. With the right marketing strategy focused on your niche audience, you can rise above the noise. What are you waiting for? Get in touch with us today!
