What is Digital Marketing 

Every dispensary needs marketing to showcase their products and attract new customers and there is no better way than digital marketing. According to Hubspot, Digital marketing encompasses all marketing efforts that use an electronic device or the internet. Businesses leverage digital channels such as search engines, social media, email, and other websites to connect with current and prospective customers. 

Grow Your Dispensary With Our Results Oriented Digital Marketing

The cool thing about the cannabis and marijuana industry is that this industry as a whole is new and is ripe with opportunities.  

“It isn’t often that you see an entirely new market emerge on the scene,” said Tim Calkins, Clinical Professor of Marketing at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. “Cannabis will become a market dominated by strong, vibrant brands.”

This means that if you do not have a strong brand you will be left in the dust.

Why You Need an Effective Dispensary Digital Marketing Plan

Just like anything else you need a plan to be sucessful and dispensary marketing is no different. There is a tremendous amount of competion in the marijuana dispensary industry. The marijuana industry is set to be worth billions and this has attracted every Tom Dick and Harry.  In fact there are over 1500 dispensaries spread throught the USA [Source].

At the federal level marijuana is still illegal. This offers unique challenges that other business does not. For instance, 2 of the largest publishers Facebook and Google do not allow paid ads on their platform. As a dispensary what are you supposed to do? This is where our dispensary digital marketing agency comes in. We know the marijuana and cannabis landscape and can help navigate this online for you to increase your dispensary and grow your revenues.   

8 Digital Marketing & Advertising Strategies for Dispensaries

Related Page: How to market your dispensary 

If you are running a dispensary you may know by know that creating a marketing plan can be challenging. The cannabis industry poses challenges from regulations to publishers not allowing marijuana ads on their platform. For savvy entrepreneurs a dispensary can be a lucrative business. There are numerous ways to market your dispensary from billboards, social media, content marketing and programatic marketing. Managing all of these channels can be a headache and time consuming. You do not need to be scared because below we are going to list the top digital marketing strategies for marijuana dispensaries. 

Dispensary Digital Marketing & Advertising Strategy #1:  Organic Social Media Marketing

Since Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram do not allow paid ads on their platform you need to focus your MMJ marketing strategy on organic growth. This means posting quality content, connecting with your ideal audience and engaging in meaningful conversations with them. Your marijuana dispensary social media page should showcase your brand and its unique persona however try not to be salesy and post prices because this is often what triggers marijuana accounts to get banned.

Dispensary Digital Marketing & Advertising Strategy #2: Local SEO

Local SEO is about optimizing your website to increase its organic ranking in search results. Now more than ever people go to Google and search engines to lookup a marijuana dispensary near me or a cannabis company which they would like to try out.   The great thing about local SEO is that it is totally organic. You do not need to pay for clicks like you would in pay per click advertising. This makes SEO a great channel for marketing your cannabis or MMJ dispensary.

Dispensary Digital Marketing & Advertising Strategy #3: Programmatic Marketing

Programmatic marketing is seen as the future of advertising on the web, with Google targeting 60% of digital advertising budgets spent on Programmatic by next year. According to Forrester, programmatic will account for the majority of all digital advertising spending over the next few years [Source]. Check out Adistry and Mantis they are both cannabis and marijuana-friendly.

Dispensary Digital Marketing & Advertising Strategy #4: Educate With Your Content Don’t Sell

Because the cannabis and marijuana industry are still new many people are still trying to educate and learn more about the subject. This is the perfect opportunity for your MMJ dispensary to connect with these people. Your content strategy should be focused on creating content that is educational by nature and not salesy. For example you could publish an article or social media post on which strain or product is great for sleep. This will establish your marijuana brand as an expert in the industry and seperate you from the pack.

Dispensary Digital Marketing & Advertising Strategy #5: Influencer Marketing for the Win

Influencer marketing is a relatively new channel. This marketing works by working with influencers on social media who have a large following and can influence their audience with your brand. With influencer marketing not all influencers are created equal. You really want to focus on quality over quantity.

Some tips on choosing infuencers for dispensaries, cannabis and marijuana. When choosing an influencer to work with for your marijuana brand or dispensary you want to choose those that have a targeted following with high engagement.  Another tip when choosing an influencer is you don’t need to work with the largest influeners on social media as these campaigns can be costly. Consider working with micro influencers.  A micro influencer is an influencer with under 20,000 followers. These accounts have super dedicated followings and super high engagement rates. By following our tips you ensure you are reaching the most targeted people and will get the best return on your investment.

Dispensary Digital Marketing & Advertising Strategy #6: Email Marketing

Email marketing is a tried and tested digital marketing strategy that still works. Email marketing isn’t as sexy as other marketing strategies and is often overlooked. However email marketing is not going anywhere. People check their emails many times per day; by email marketing you can stay on top of your audiences mind and entice them to visit your dispensary. The key here is to work on building your email list so that you have an audience to send offers and updates to. The great thing about having a marijuana dispensary is that you can collect emails from your customers when they first sign up.

Dispensary Digital Marketing & Advertising Strategy #7: Marijuana Publications

The marijuana industry is booming and there are tons of marijuana publications online where you can market your dispensary. These magazines cater specifically to marijuana enthusiasts and is a perfect spot to market and drive more traffic to your dispensary. The cool thing about marijuana publications is that they are less restrictive than many of the top publishers. To get featured in a marijuana publication the best way is to reach out to the desired publication by email and let them know you are interested.

Dispensary Digital Marketing & Advertising Strategy #8: Customer Reviews

Reviews are everywhere on Google, Yelp and many sites like weedmaps.When you want to go to a new restraunt what is the first thing you do? Go to yelp or google to check out reviews. Your potential customers are doing the same thing researching online reviews to see which marijuana dispensary they want to check out. Focus on providing the best service you can do and ask your customers to review you. The dispensaries that provide a solid service, products and have a review management system in place are the ones who will rise to the top. The reason is many of the review sites like yelp, google and facebook run on an algorithm that is heavily based on reviews. The more 5 star reviews you have the better your dispensary is going to rank in these sites. We also specialize as a marijuana marketing agency and a cbd marketing agency in addition to our dispensary marketing services.

Dispensary Digital Marketing & Advertising Strategy #8: Programmatic Advertising

Programmatic advertising is another channel for dispensaries to market themselves online. In case you do not know what programmatic advertising is its advertising primiarily through display ads on other industry websites. The cool thing about programmatic advertising is that it is super targeted. The programmatic advertising networks that we work with cater to marijuana dispensaries so you do not have to worry about your ads being rejected or accounts being banned.