Starting a business is an exciting and challenging endeavor. It can be quite a fulfilling experience for those with passion and drive. It’s this passion that is behind many cannabis dispensary businesses. As a dispensary, you can serve your local community by providing individuals with a high-quality product that may ease their pain, help them experience more joy, or allow them much-needed relaxation.
Yet, expanding or getting any business off the ground requires hard work. As a dispensary owner, one of the first big operations you need to work on is getting the word out about your business. Luckily, you’re not the first person to tackle this challenge. Plenty of resources exist to help you create a dispensary internet marketing plan to spread the word about your business and reach your target audience. Here are a few tips to get you started.
1. Know What You Can and Can’t Do
While cannabis legality is expanding across the U.S., some states still have strict limits on how you can buy, sell, and advertise. Look into your state’s laws to understand their limitations before you start your dispensary internet marketing plan. Remember that you may have to make adjustments to stay legal in other states as well, including adding language about where you can and cannot ship cannabis products.
2. Identify Your Target Markets
All marketing plans start in the same place: understanding who you are marketing to. Consider who your current customers are or, if you have yet to open, who would be your ideal customer. Categories to think about include geographic location, age range, lifestyle, and shopping/buying behavior.
Once you have an idea of your overall customer demographics, use them to make up a few “personas.” These are imaginary people that represent one of your target audience groups. For example, you may come up with “Devon'' who is a 32-year-old man living in the city, working at a high-pressure job, and enjoys surfing and checking out up-and-coming bands in his free time. “Devon” would represent a broad category of one type of customer you expect to frequent your dispensary.
3. List Your Unique Selling Properties (USPs)
The next step in your dispensary internet marketing plan is to think about what makes you stand out among other similar businesses. Thanks to the internet, consumers have a wide variety of options when looking for the product they want. What is it that makes your dispensary unique? It could be anything from your quality control to discounts to locally sourced products. Work with your team to create a list and use that to build out your marketing message.
4. Understand Your Ideal Pricing
A big part of your marketing is having a price that works for you and your customers. You certainly want to make a profit to pay your employees, business rentals, and materials, but you also want to make things affordable for your customers. Research similar businesses in your area to understand what pricing customers expect and use that information to create competitive prices.
5. Decide Where to Put Your Marketing Fund
There are a few ways to use your dispensary's internet marketing funds. Decide which is best based on how your target audience will find you. Diversify your spending and market in a few ways. Be careful not to spread yourself too thin! Find a balance between diversifying your reach and running quality campaigns on the best platforms.
Some of the best platforms for dispensary internet marketing include:
- Content marketing with blogs, infographics, or other online pieces
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
- PPC (pay-per-click) ads on search engines
- Retargeting ads on popular sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram
- Influencer promotions via social media
Setting Your Dispensary Up for Success
As you work to get your business off the ground with your dispensary internet marketing plan, you need to ensure you can keep up with growing demand. That means hiring the right team and connecting with the best suppliers to keep you well-stocked.
Since 2016, The Cones Factory has been an industry leader in pre roll cones, tubes, and packaging. We even offer custom pre rolls at competitive prices, low minimum orders, and with a rapid turnaround. Each food-grade certified pre roll is sustainably produced and can get your custom pre rolls to you in less than four weeks.
If you’re looking for a committed partner to put your dispensary needs first, you must check out The Cones Factory. Browse our collections and make your first order today.
