Running an online dispensary in 2022 is a smart move. Building your virtual storefront is easy enough with the multitude of different drag and drop websites available for use.
Marketing and advertising are another story, it takes years to learn the timeless strategies still effective to this date. You’ll have to also learn the methods used in recent years. Since there is so many angles to look at, we’ve created this short guide to show you some different options for marketing a dispensary online in the new year.
Build an Optimized Dispensary Website
Before you do anything, you’ll need to select the proper platform for hosting an online cannabis dispensary. Your dispensary needs to have certain elements to function and succeed. Design layout must be easy to navigate, with clarity, simplicity, and complimenting colors.
Your storefront must pop and stand out with crystal clear language letting people know they’re at the right spot. High-res quality images are required for a professional look and feel, with quick load times, and correctly installed third-party for store management. Other important factors include various tools to collect data from visitors, tracking utilities, and taking protective measures to protect you legally. When it comes to a store, less is more – that is the general rule. A well designed, high functioning online cannabis dispensary is easy to maintain and manage for an experienced team of web designers.
Social Media Marketing Through Education
Since cannabis can’t be directly advertised on Facebook, you’ll have to find other ways to market. A Fan Page is a must for your Dispensary, on it you can advertise shirts and merchandise not related to Cannabis, but sold in the dispensary. Other forms of marketing include funny memes on your fan page, when done correctly they will create viral marketing swarms, which are a great way to perform free advertising.
Educational posts, and eBooks, or blogs which focus on related topics are great for attracting leads. Blogs on grow strategies, top songs to listen to when getting high, or even stoney cookbooks perfect to get users attention. All the content will eventually lead to your dispensary online. An example would be if there was a new bill in the works against cannabis, running a survey on it – then directing users to read the full article on the dispensary blog is a great way to get visitors. There are countless ways to market on Facebook and other social media channels if you know what you’re doing.
Get Online Reviews to Your Store, Google, Yelp
A great way to encourage potential customers to purchase from your dispensary is through online reviews. Reviews can appear on Google, Yelp, social media, and your own store. Give people coupons for 5%-10% off if they right a positive review.
Numerous outstanding reviews helps your dispensary rank on the search engines, show up more on social media news feeds, and promotes your stores reputation. Over time, you’ll have thousands of reviews, leading more people to buy from you. People who leave reviews are also more likely to come back and buy from your store. It creates a type of psychological bond, as people feel they contributed to something which makes them feel attached.
Laser Targeted Local SEO Marketing
SEO is by far one the most effective of all marketing strategies when performed correctly. A solid SEO team can direct traffic to your dispensary faster, and more consistently than other forms of marketing in most cases. How it works is your store is built first, then your social media platforms. Once completed, they are populated with content and products.
Keywords are interjected after careful research is completed and linked to other domains owned by reputable SEO companies. Each social media page, your store front, and every page on your store, is capable of being listed on Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Even reviews on Yelp are useful for search engine optimization.
When done correctly, customers type in questions or specific words into a search engine search bar, and your appropriate pages will appear. Companies who perform the right keyword research, understand the back end, and front end of SEO, and know the right search terms to interject – can convert more cold traffic, than any other form of marketing or advertising.
Let’s say someone types in “Cannabis Dispensary with Cartridges, and Flower near me,” They then press enter, and up pops your dispensary information, the headline reads, Local Dispensary carries cartridges, and flower. It’s like you just answered their questions directly, and now look like a credible authority in their eyes. Marketing doesn’t get much better than that.
Email Marketing Campaigns for Previous and Potential Buyers
Once you get leads from all your online resources, you start building a relationship with them via email marketing. With completely automated systems, once they’re setup correctly, they run themselves for the most part. Of course, you’ll still need to go in and write emails for holidays, and special offers from time to time. A major benefit of email marketing is you can create different pathways within a campaign, to section out buyers, potential buyers, tire kickers, etc. Segmenting email lists allows for a lot of profits in terms of upsells and retargeting.
Podcasting on the Cannabis Industry
Lastly, to truly reach your customers, your audience, and even more – a podcast is an excellent way to advertise, and attract new listeners, eventually becoming customers. Engaging with your audience is an excellent way to build report, reputation, connection, and a high lifetime value of each customer. On the podcast you can talk about your dispensary, new strains, products, and merchandise you have. Cover industry related topics such as laws, and bills, and how the current season is going. Even tell stories about cannabis and have leading influencers or experts in the field on as guest. If done correctly, you can take your podcast global.