Businesses are changing their traditional marketing strategies because of the restrictions that surround marijuana marketing. The good news is that the recent legalization of marijuana for both medical and recreational purposes will result in unprecedented growth and profit.
At the same time, different state laws and tight advertising limitations online and offline are severely restricting visibility and vital businesses. Furthermore, the marijuana and cannabis marketing industries require creative marketing methods.
Here’s how you can accomplish it if you want to increase sales, raise the price of your brand, and raise awareness about your marijuana, legal cannabis product, and dispensary.
3 best marketing advice to grow your marijuana dispensary in the US
SEO – local, Google listing
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is essential for any business website that wants to be found in Google, Yahoo, and Bing’s organic search results. Google doesn’t know what relevant search terms to rank your website for if it isn’t properly optimized for search engines.
If your dispensary’s website lacks an appropriate SEO and keyword strategy, you could be missing out on many local searches and traffic.
Local SEO for dispensary marketing is not the same as a general SEO strategy for your website. For cannabis retail outlets, local SEO methods entail optimizing your website to appear on the local map for search queries related to finding a dispensary in your area.
The center of your local SEO strategy is your website and your dispensary’s Google My Business Page.
Within the world of local SEO, Google Maps is a dominant player. Local SEO assists you in securing your cannabis business’s position on Google search to attract visitors to your website and/or retail location.
Thus, on the GMB page your dispensary location, including email address, website URL, WhatsApp number, and several contact information should be valid. You can also add business hours for your customer’s convenience.
GMB listing also plays an important role in SEO. Choosing the right category in GMB helps in your dispensary’s appearance. If you choose the wrong category in the listing option, you may not appear appropriately for your customers and you may lose potential clients.
Thus, while choosing the right category also mention a few lines about your product range and the kind of cannabis sold in your dispensary – medical or recreational. The more valid info you give about your marijuana dispensary, the easier it is for Google to match it with the keywords and optimize your page.
Customer Reviews
Cannabis retail outlets and dispensaries should prioritize customer reviews. Online reviews are the most beneficial thing that has ever occurred to local companies, including your cannabis store.
If you run a cannabis dispensary or plan to do so shortly, one of the most important things you can do to attract new consumers is to manage your online search presence, starting with review sites like Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Facebook.
Customers might get a recommendation from friends or relatives, but they’re more than likely to use Google, Bing, or Yelp, to conduct a “near me” search. Above all most potential consumers rely on the customer’s voice. Therefore, you need to give priority to customer reviews.
However, many companies buy reviews, this can also fall against them if Google finds out that the reviews are fake. Most companies are penalized by Google and are blocked from the search engine. Also, if a brand gets too many negative reviews, Google goes ahead and blocks that company
Hence, stay loyal to your business and ensure that most of your reviews are positive. This can only be done by giving the best experience o your consumers. Even if you get few negative feedback, don’t retaliate. Rather stay calm and empathize with those comments. Try to work on it and resolve it. Once resolved request your consumers to change their comments.
Social media marketing – Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram
Traditional social media marketing methods (Facebook, TikTok) don’t help much in the marijuana dispensary sales, you’ll need to get creative with Instagram and Pinterest marketing.
Just organize your visual content properly. You must create and share extraordinary photos, infographics, videos, and GIFs, with the appropriate hashtags.
Always remember that people don’t have much time to spend on huge written blogs, they just want to know a few important facts that are helpful and useful. Graphics with minimal text work well with informative articles and grabs more attention.
Consider sharing images of marijuana-themed t-shirts, glasses, mugs, hats, and backpacks as well. Including such product images on Instagram and Pinterest will help you drive more visitors to your website. However, do remember that direct links to marijuana e-commerce sites, online stores, or product marketing pages are not accepted by these platforms.
You should also advertise marijuana products directly on social media like Facebook, Tik Tok, etc. upload some of your product pages and narrate your business in a video. This catches attention faster than any other mode of marketing.
Sum Up
Marijuana dispensary marketing is not difficult if you already have an amazing dispensary that is packed with features. You just need to brush up on your marketing skills and get creative. The 3 digital marketing strategies mentioned above are the finest ways of improving your dispensary’s name in the market.