6 Unique Marketing Tactics For Your Cannabis Dispensary

How are cannabis dispensaries across the country driving traffic through their doors aside from traditional marketing tactics like SEO, content, social media, and email? Standing out in the crowded marketplace takes creative thinking. Here are some tactics dispensaries are using to woo the crowds in:

Google My Business and Reviews

These are probably the two most important marketing strategies that dispensaries should use to capture new customers.?

95% of people search “dispensary near me” on their mobile phone and get directed to a Google My Business page. Your Google My Business page should be treated as an additional company website optimized with updated photos, new product info, promotions, and company information like hours and events. And make sure your dispensary ranks at the top of the search results by deploying SEO so you don’t miss a sale.

Be proactive in gathering reviews for your dispensary or products. Ask the brands you stock to promote your dispensary and solicit reviews. It’s common for someone to turn to a review to decide on which dispensary to patronize. Make it easy to leave one; QR code by the checkout with a link to your website, ask for a review in a post-purchase email, or in-store offer reward points as an incentive to leave a review.?

Be sure to stay ENGAGED with people who leave reviews to build momentum, humanize the brand, make personal connections, and provide top customer services by responding to their complaints or issues as quickly as possible.

Doing Well By Doing Good

Charitable donations are one of my favorite marketing tactics because it benefits both sides. It’s a great way to reach new audiences and build brand awareness, all while doing good.?

Allocate a portion of your marketing budget for philanthropic contributions that fit your target market, and cast a wide net by donating to several groups. Make it an annual giving event by announcing new recipients and embrace the cause by involving your employees and community.

Highlight the organizations that benefit from your charitable contributions on your website to demonstrate your company’s values.

The Farmers Wife dispensaries in Missouri maintains a partnership with a nonprofit organization called Ayden’s Alliance, which offers patient education events, caregiver matching, and pop-ups to help patients register for their medical cannabis cards. They even rented space next to two of their locations to do educational events and patient sign-ups- talk about driving traffic to your doorstep.

A few cannabis brands in Colorado teamed up with public health officials to host Covid vaccination sites and got multiple mentions in the press as sponsors of the event.

Send a press release to the local media outlets announcing your charitable partnership and do-gooding. Main-stream publications are still hesitant to allow advertising marijuana-related businesses, but reporting on businesses that support charitable causes is a chance to get local PR that is otherwise not available.?

Experiential Marketing:?

Make your store’s interior worthy of Instagram. Create an exceptional environment and shopping experience for your target customer that will trigger all of their senses to make it an unforgettable visit.

Elevate the shopping experience by hosting events such as Friday Food Trucks, Tuesday Treats with a Cupcake or Ice Cream Truck. How about a drive-in movie or shuffleboard in the parking lot?

Planet 13 in Las Vegas is an extreme example of the in-store experience, but the sky’s the limit!

Local Influencers:?

An influencer can be a locally known person who has “celebrity status” or a business with a robust customer base. Partnering with influencers will not only build brand recognition, but it is a way to get 3rd party endorsements, similar to the credibility of a review.

Think creatively on ways to partner with a local business to create an experiential event that will benefit both brands. For example, tap into yoga, pilates, or a meditation studio to create a memorable Zen experience through cross-marketing.

Use local social media influencers to promote “product drops” to get your customers excited and send them marching over to your dispensary.

Find who or what is popular with your community and sign them up to do influencer marketing.

Catered Events and Party Favors?

Let us cater your next party! Cannabaska, a dispensary in Alaska, offers discounted bulk orders and specially packaged cannabis-related party favors. They dedicate a whole page to it on their website and promote it through paid digital ads.?

It won’t be long before it’s normal to attend parties where trays of pre-rolls and bongs stuffed with weed are scattered about or passed around with a cannabis-infused appetizer.

Show Your Environmental Side.?

The cannabis community tends to be environmentally conscious, along with other things. The Catalyst Cannabis dispensary in Alaska is appealing to their environmentalist side with a “jar program” that is similar to a growler program – bring your flower jar back for a 10% discount on your next purchase. And it’s working.

There you have it! Six unique ways to drive traffic to your dispensary that is working for others.?

By Pam Chmiel – Marketing Director, Studio 420

ABOUT STUDIO 420

Studio 420 is a cannabis creative design agency specializing in branding, website design, web development, ecommerce and digital marketing solutions for the marijuana and CBD industry. Let us help GROW your cannabusiness!

Contact the Denver, Colorado studio for a no-obligation, project cost analysis at 303-653-9855 or [email protected].??