Effective marketing is central to the success of any small business, and cannabis dispensaries are no different. Building awareness of your brand and creating messaging that resonates with your target audience can have a tremendous impact on your bottom line. Here are five tips from the experts on how to efficiently and effectively market your cannabis dispensary.
Legal Compliance
Each state has its own set of laws and regulations pertaining to cannabis marketing.
“It’s very important to stay informed and understand marijuana dispensary marketing regulations before you jump into building a brand and speaking to potential customers. Dispensaries have a bit more wiggle room as they are advertising a business to consumers rather than a specific product. To gain a more comprehensive view on advertising your marijuana business using outdoor signage, TV and radio, print, and digital/social media, review Leafly’s state-by-state guide. Familiarizing yourself with these laws will allow you to craft enticing campaigns while staying legal.”
Formal Marketing Strategy
A well thought out formal plan is necessary for successful and efficient campaigns.
“Engaging in marketing tactics like social media posts and in-store events is great. But without a concrete strategy in place to guide those tactics and — just as importantly — gauge their success, your marketing will not be nearly as effective as it could be. Your cannabis retail marketing strategy should clearly define your dispensary’s value proposition, your target customers, and your competition. From there, you’ll be able to craft targeted marketing messages that speak directly to your ideal customers.”
Consistent Branding
Consistent, eye-catching branding is what will separate you from similar competitors.
“Through effective and consistent branding, you create a first impression of your dispensary. This sets the tone for all future interactions with your company and gives the public something other than your name to remember you by. Branding will also create an expectation of the quality of product or service you provide, and help draw in your target audience. A cannabis dispensary with locations that are well thought out and consistently designed will give customers the same experience, leading to more satisfied customers!”
Social Media Brand Ambassadors
Leveraging social media marketing has become vital in every line of business.
“Social media isn’t just about publishing your own content, pushing it out to the masses, and hoping people will engage with it and share it. Social media is also about encouraging other people to publish and share content about your brand and business (i.e., pulling content about your brand from other people). You can recruit brand ambassadors among your most loyal customers or hire brand ambassadors who are already influential with your target audience online (i.e., national and global celebrities or “online” celebrities) to create user-generated content about your brand.”
Building Your Online Presence
Your ability to be easily found online will have a direct impact on your bottom line.
“If you’re operating a cannabis dispensary or plan to in the near future, one of the most important things you can do to attract new customers is to take control of your online search presence starting with online review sites like Google (i.e., your Google My Business Page), Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Facebook. When you’re looking to try a new restaurant or find a mechanic, what do you do? You might get a recommendation from friends or family, but you probably also do a “near me” search on Google, Bing, Yelp, or OpenTable.”
Just like any other department, marketing costs should be accurately tracked, and a means to determine your return on investment should be established. As your cannabis company matures and expands, these costs and tracking your return will only become more complex. Sage Intacct can help you track marketing expenses and calculate return on investment for each campaign.
