cannabis dispensary marketing

3 min read

5 Affordable Dispensary Marketing Tricks

October 23, 2017

Medical marijuana dispensaries are finding more creative ways to reach their patients using low-cost marketing campaigns. Digital marketing and social media have given cannabis businesses the power to use their online presence to attract new customers.

Before spending your entire advertising budget on expensive print or outdoor advertising, first try these cost-effective techniques to entice potential clientele.

Social Media

Creating social media channels is great way to raise brand awareness absolutely free. When used correctly, your dispensary will be able engage your target audience, gain new followers, drive website traffic, and improve your Google ranking.

It is well worth hiring an experienced social media marketing coordinator to help manage your social presence. These channels require constant engagement and updating to remain relevant and increase your business traffic.

Create A Blog

While maintaining a blog may seem like a lot of work, it is well worth the time investment. It is very simple to add a blog to your existing dispensary website, and writing a few posts every week will increase the number of website visits.

Assigning posts to your experienced budtenders will transform your blog into a valuable information resource and help cultivate your online community. Featured posts from guest writers who are experts in certain areas will attract more attention and set your dispensary apart.  

Branding Partnerships

Every dispensary should try partnering with well-known brands to maximize their exposure. This can be accomplished in several ways: social media takeovers, guest blog posts, and shared email campaigns. This type of cross-promotion is very common and a great inexpensive technique to reach a new audience. 

Partnering with product brands, publications, or other similar blogs can be extremely beneficial for both parties. Before reaching out, be sure to come up with a concrete plan as to how the partnership will play out.

Targeted Email Marketing

Notifying your patients of upcoming deals, discounts, product launches, and special events using email marketing is a great way to get the word out. An advanced dispensary POS system is able to add tags to specific groups of patients that can then be targeted for specific promotions. Creating contact categories such as veterans, senior citizens, cancer patients, or social followers will allow you to craft deals that cater to those specific groups.

These types of email campaigns see a significantly higher success rate. If your dispensary is just getting started, it’s definitely worth creating a promotion designed to grow your email contacts. Acquiring patient emails and phone numbers via your dispensary POS system makes it easy to send emails and SMS messages to help boost sales.

Digital Signage

Installing digital signage into your dispensary is a low cost investment that will pay huge dividends. Not only will this create valuable advertising space for new products and daily discounts but it can also help streamline operations with patient queues and menus. 

A smart dispensary POS system, such as IndicaOnline, offers the ability to target customers in real-time. You can market to awaiting patients based on their age, gender, and recent purchase history. This type of service is extremely affordable and for a limited time, IndicaOnline is offering this service for free on up to five devices