Running a cannabis dispensaries is like building a rocket while being strapped to it. There’s no owner’s manual, everything happens at lightning speed, and gravity constantly tries to pull you down. Eventually, every operator faces the big question:
“How do we sell more weed?”
At altseo.agency partners, we address this question daily for our dispensary owners by identifying their SEO/SEM needs and tailoring solutions to boost their visibility. But dispensary marketing goes beyond just exceptional SEO. What else are you doing to promote your shop?
While SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can increase visibility and drive traffic to your website and dispensary, the customer’s experience once they’ve found you is critical. Dispensaries that consistently outperform their competition excel in these key areas:
- Compelling Branding
- Optimized Website
- Menu Functionality
- Search Engine Optimization
- Paid Media Campaigns
- Social Media
- Google Business Profile
- Special Events
- WeedMaps Strategy
- The Brand Experience
- Marketing ROI
We mentioned there was no owner’s manual. That was true until we wrote this one. Welcome to The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Dispensary Marketing. We hope it helps. If you have more questions about dispensary marketing plan, feel free to reach out. We’re always here for you.
Crafting a Captivating Weed Stores Brand
The competition in the cannabis market is fierce, with a plethora of licensed dispensaries, delivery services, and black market operators vying for customers. Look around and ask yourself:
“Why should someone shop at my dispensary?”
If you can’t answer this crucial question, your brand lacks a clear identity. While marketing strategies like content marketing can introduce your dispensary to potential customers, you won’t sell more weed if you can’t convey why your dispensary is the best choice.
Branding is a complex task, with varying opinions on what makes a identity successful. To simplify, we liken brands to superheroes. Superheroes embody everything an effective name should:
- Superheroes are instantly recognizable.
- Superheroes are unique.
- Superheroes are needed.
- Superheroes are (usually) loved.
By answering “The Superhero Questions,” you can provide likely buyers with a clear understanding of why they should choose your dispensary. This approach will help you stand out in the crowded cannabis market and implement effective advertising approaches to grow your business.
What is your origin story?
Everyone loves a compelling story. Share yours to connect with your audience.
What are your core values?
Your ethos gives people something to support. Cannabis is a culture. Speak to it. Shared values create community.
What are your unique strengths?
People can buy cannabis products anywhere. What makes you unique? What do you excel at?
How are you instantly recognizable?
If your brand (name/logo/colors/style) isn’t instantly recognizable, refine it until it is. Then, keep reinforcing it through your content. Be fresh, original, and consistent.
How do you cater to the unique needs of your community?
Cannabis consumers vary widely. The trendy store that thrives in Venice Beach might fail in a blue-collar Michigan suburb. The same goes for your menu. Tailor your offerings to meet your community’s needs, or someone else will.
Once you’ve answered these questions, solidify your approach with a Brand Style Guide to keep your team aligned and ensure your effective cannabis marketing strategy remains consistent across all products and services. This comprehensive approach will help you stand out when it comes to marketing your dispensary.
How to Optimize a Dispensary Website 2024
To develop a successful media plan, your dispensary website should be straightforward and easy to navigate while also being rich in content. Ensure that the branding on your website aligns seamlessly with your physical location, including colors, fonts, style, and overall attitude. Any inconsistency can confuse your customer base and weaken your trademark identity.
The Importance of a Name for Your Cannabis Business
Your dispensary’s name has a significant impact on SEO. Key terms like “Dispensary” and “Dispensary Near Me” are among the most searched phrases for cannabis retailers. Including “Dispensary” and, if applicable, “Weed Delivery” in your business name and store signage can provide a considerable advantage when users search for a dispensary in the area. This strategy will help your cannabis business stand out and attract more customers looking for their preferred strain nearby.
Optimizing Your Website Header for Effective Search Engine Marketing
Your website header (H1) is a crucial piece of digital real estate. It’s the first thing visitors and Google see when they land on your site, so it should be written as live text in the top header space of your homepage and convey essential information about your abel.
Your header should include at least a few of the following elements:
- Brand name
- Dispensary location
- The brand’s ethos or unique selling point
- The word “Dispensary” and/or “Delivery”
Clarity is essential; lack of clarity can be detrimental. You don’t want a poorly crafted header that confuses Google into thinking your site sells floral arrangements. This misstep actually happened once. Yikes. Properly optimizing your header is key to effective search engine marketing for your cannabis business.
Enhancing Website Navigation to Drive Dispensary Visits
Your website navigation should be designed to make it effortless for users to:
- Call the store or get directions to visit your dispensary
- Find your hours of operation
- Access and navigate the menu
- Order delivery or schedule a pick-up
- Find answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs)
- Discover specials and deals
- Read reviews
- Link to your social media profiles
Crafting Your Homepage Content
Whether you’re operating a single dispensary or multiple locations, your homepage should include the following elements to enhance your content marketing strategy:
- Directory information: Display your store hours, address, and phone number prominently at the top of the page. This makes it easier for your customers and Google to recognize you as a reliable business.
- Branded content: Expand on your header and build your brand’s identity by sharing your origin story, ethos, and unique qualities (your answers to the Superhero Questions).
- Product information: Include product embeds or links to best-sellers. The more shoppable your homepage is, the better.
- FAQs: Add additional content that helps Google pick up on important keywords and answers common customer questions.
City Pages
City pages are essential for enhancing your dispensary’s visibility in the areas you serve. These pages should feature geo-relevant content about the service area, including nearby attractions, activities, businesses, and other points of interest. By creating personalized connections with residents, city pages improve your local search rankings on Google and help attract new customers.
Product Pages
Product pages are crucial for showcasing your dispensary’s offerings. By optimizing these pages with unique descriptions, you can improve your Google ranking and increase brand visibility when interested individuals search for specific products in your area. Detailed product information, such as THC and CBD content, effects, cannabinoid and terpene profiles, and pricing, helps customers make informed decisions and encourages repeat purchases.
In addition to providing comprehensive product details, leverage Cannabis SEO best practices by integrating relevant keywords into product titles, descriptions, and tags. This strategic approach enhances searchability, making it easier for customers to find and purchase desired products on your website.
Maximizing Your Dispensary’s Impact Through Blogging
Establishing a blog page on your website enables you to share relevant topics, offer valuable resources, and cultivate relationships with potential customers. By incorporating keyword-rich posts and engaging marketing content, you can strengthen your SEO strategies, enhance website visibility, and increase foot traffic at your dispensary.
For instance, a dispensary blog might feature articles on cannabis industry updates, edible and topical recipes, product reviews, and customer testimonials. Encouraging customer interaction and sharing experiences not only builds credibility but also generates fresh content that can be shared across social media platforms, driving more traffic to your website.
Regardless of the content you choose to publish, ensure it is clear, concise, and optimized for SEO. Effective SEO writing ensures your content ranks high in relevant online searches, improves website visibility, and ultimately boosts conversions.
Building a comprehensive website with compelling, informative content is crucial for attracting visitors. Through strategically crafted headers, branded content, neighborhood pages, product descriptions, and blog posts, you can create an immersive user experience that strengthens your dispensary’s online presence.
Now, seize the opportunity to leverage your strengths by creating content that reflects your brand, tells compelling stories, and attracts customers to your dispensary.
Optimizing Cannabis Menu Functionality
We’ve previously explored how your menu reflects your brand. However, the functionality of your menu is equally crucial. Menu technology is advancing rapidly, so selecting the best menu technology for your dispensary requires a clear understanding of your operational needs and how different solutions address them.
Integration
It’s detrimental to your brand if a customer purchases a product online only to find it unavailable because your POS system didn’t sync with your menu. To prevent this, use a menu solution that synchronizes seamlessly with live inventory in your POS.
Moreover, ensuring that your POS system synchronizes live inventory with in-store menus and third-party marketing platforms like WeedMaps and Leafly is essential for consistency and customer satisfaction.
SEO Benefits
As cannabis consumers become more discerning, the search volume for specific brands, products, and categories is rising. Therefore, optimizing your menu can enhance your SEO performance, helping your website rank higher for these categories on search engines like Google.
E-Commerce Challenges
Unlike other industries where e-commerce solutions like Shopify and Woocommerce are readily available, the cannabis industry faces unique challenges.
Choosing the Right Dispensary Menu Tech
Various dispensary menu solutions offer different functionalities in integration, SEO, and e-commerce.
Iframe Menus
These are widely used due to their simplicity; you can easily embed them on your website with a code snippet. They integrate well with POS platforms but lack SEO value because Google cannot index their content. There are also concerns about data ownership, so legal review of provider contracts is advisable to protect your customer assets.
SEO Optimized Menus
Platforms like Dispense and Tymber offer solutions that are slightly more complex to integrate than iframes but allow Google to crawl and index menu content. This improves SEO performance, enabling your site to rank for specific product and brand keywords, enhancing visibility in search results. Providers like Dutchie offer options to make menus indexable through development efforts.
Custom Menus
While costly, custom menus offer superior integration, SEO optimization, and alleviate data ownership concerns.
Full-Service Software
Recent consolidations, such as Blaze acquiring Tymber, offer comprehensive cannabis software solutions designed specifically for dispensaries. These platforms integrate menu management, e-commerce capabilities, and marketing solutions into a unified system, providing a robust solution for dispensary operations.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
It’s crucial: If potential clients can’t find you in their Google searches, they won’t find their way to your dispensary. A robust SEO strategy is essential to enhance visibility and increase sales of cannabis products. To achieve this, partnering with a reputable digital marketing agency is key.
How to Select the Right Cannabis SEO Agency
You’ve likely encountered enticing offers for $500 a month promising vague services with no clear commitment to results. Avoid falling for such pitches.
A word of advice before diving in:
Never engage with an SEO agency unless they are transparent about their methods, rationale, and provide a clear timeline with expected outcomes for your investment.
How Herb Retailers SEO Boosts Visibility
SEO enhances your website’s visibility by optimizing it for highly searched keywords relevant to dispensaries, including:
- Dispensary
- Dispensary Near Me
- Marijuana Dispensary
- Weed
- Cannabis brands and products
- Cannabis categories (Flower, Tinctures, etc.)
Aside from improving your website’s position in regular search results (SERPs), every dispensary aims to rank in the “Local Pack,” the top three results of Google Business Profile (GBP) listings. Continue reading to discover how to effectively manage your GBP for optimized results and increased visibility.
Google Business Profile (GBP) Rankings
Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Rankings
Three crucial factors impact your Google ranking:
- Proximity: Your physical location relative to the search query.
- Relevance: How well your website aligns with the most searched keywords.
- Prominence: How often your brand is referenced by authoritative sources in the industry.
When these factors are effectively managed, your website begins ranking for targeted keywords. Eventually, your website may appear at the top of future patrons’ search results. Achieving this can be immensely rewarding—akin to gaining an extra $100,000 in monthly revenue.
But don’t just take our word for it. Our SEO performance case study provides concrete evidence. Remember, transparency is key.
Google Business Profile (GBP) Essentials
Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is pivotal in today’s digital landscape, functioning not just as a directory but as a robust social platform. With Google’s algorithm assigning it high domain authority, GBP plays a crucial role in local SEO rankings within the cannabis industry. Integrating GBP into your dispensary’s promotional tactics is essential for improving local search visibility and complying with local regulations.
Beyond enhancing search engine optimization, GBP offers numerous advantages:
- Facilitates zero-click searches
- Provides a centralized source of essential information
- Consolidates images and reviews for easy access
- Enables customer engagement through reviews, photo uploads, edits, and feedback
- Utilized on Google Maps for convenient navigation
Setting Up Your Google Business Profile (GBP)
Setting up your GBP account is a simple process. Here’s what you’ll need to begin:
- Business address
- Business phone number
- Business website
To get started, visit google.com/business and follow the setup instructions.
Managing Your Google Business Profile (GBP)
Managing your GBP effectively involves treating it like a social platform. Regular engagement, updating with new images, and maintaining accurate information are key practices to maximize digital search promotion benefits and customer engagement.
Regular Photo Updates
Frequent uploads of photos showcasing your store and products enhance your profile’s visibility on Google Maps.
Engagement Guidelines
Respond promptly and thoughtfully to user inquiries, comments, and reviews. Aim to reply within the first hour or two, and certainly within a day, demonstrating your commitment to customer service, which Google values highly.
Handling Reviews
For positive reviews, express gratitude. Address negative reviews with a genuine apology and a proactive solution. If you suspect a review is fake or spam, involve your team in flagging it as inappropriate or reporting it to Google.
Handling Potential GBP Suspensions
Given the nature of cannabis-related businesses, there’s a possibility that Google or competitors may flag your GBP account, potentially leading to suspension. If this occurs, it can be disruptive, but it’s a common challenge. The best approach is to ensure that your GBP’s name aligns precisely with your DBA and store signage. In case of suspension, services like Steady Demand specialize in managing and restoring your profile, offering assistance to regain full activity.
Paid Media
Paid media presents unique challenges in the cannabis industry due to federal restrictions. However, dispensaries that navigate these challenges effectively can gain a significant edge over competitors.
In the digital landscape, building trust is crucial, especially since online conversion rates for paid media are generally low. Many users hesitate to click through ads to browse menus and make purchases.
However, conversion rates can improve when targeting customers who are already familiar with your brand. Implementing retargeting ads and developing funnels aimed at capturing SMS and email contacts are effective retention strategies.
Social Networks
Most social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, have strict policies prohibiting cannabis ads. These bans are rigorously enforced across these platforms. However, leveraging influencers can be an effective way to navigate these restrictions and still reach your target audience on these social networks. Influencers can promote your cannabis brand or dispensary through their content, bypassing traditional ad limitations while engaging their followers authentically.
Google Ads
Google Ads policies also restrict ads related to recreational drugs. However, there are strategies to place ads that appear when users search for terms like “Weed Store Los Angeles” or even when they search for competitor names.
The key lies in crafting ads that avoid explicit mentions of cannabis or dispensaries. Success hinges on using language that hints at your offerings without using prohibited terms that could trigger policy violations.
Your landing page plays a crucial role. It must be compliant and ideally hosted on your main domain. In cases where compliance is challenging, using a separate domain without cannabis references is recommended, directing users to your menu from there.
Youtube Ads
Youtube, as the world’s largest video search engine owned by Google, prohibits ads related to recreational drugs but provides avenues for running cannabis-related ads before videos.
Moreover, Youtube offers robust targeting options:
- Interest-based targeting
- Video content category targeting
- Remarketing to users who visited specific websites
These features make Youtube Ads an effective tool for increasing brand visibility and reaching targeted audiences.
Banner Ads
Another avenue for paid media is banner advertising, facilitated often through programmatic systems that automate the buying and selling of ad space.
While traditional banner ads may seem dated, innovations like Social Display (Spaceback) can refresh their effectiveness. They excel in reinforcing brand awareness and retention by repeatedly exposing your content to audiences familiar with your brand or those who have visited your dispensary.
Outdoor Advertising
Outdoor advertising represents the more conventional form of paid media. Billboards, especially, have been a staple for cannabis marketing, embraced eagerly by the industry. Today, cannabis billboards are ubiquitous in states where cannabis is legal, offering prominent visibility.
Although billboards can be costly, their effectiveness increases significantly with strategic placement and appropriate budget allocation. Companies like Swing Media also offer cost-effective options through remnant inventory sales.
Beyond traditional billboards, outdoor advertising spans a range of formats, from Gas Station TVs to Mobile LED Trucks. For those seeking streamlined management across diverse outdoor advertising channels, platforms like Onscreen.ai provide valuable assistance.
Leveraging Weedmaps and Leafly in Your Marketing Campaign
Weedmaps and Leafly are powerful search engines that offer directories of dispensary locations, including up-to-date menus and reviews, as well as listings for brands and delivery services. These outlets allow consumers to place online orders for products from dispensaries or delivery services directly through their websites.
Utilizing Weedmaps and Leafly can be an effective marketing tactic. However, it’s important to remember that these platforms also compete with your cannabis brand or dispensary for customers. Therefore, while they can enhance your marketing campaign, strategic use is crucial to ensure they complement rather than compete with your direct customer engagement efforts.
The Benefit of Marketing with Weedmaps
Weedmaps is a go-to search engine and app for many cannabis customers, offering one of the few marketing platforms that provide a guaranteed, immediate return on investment. They handle the heavy lifting of marketing and web search enhancement, ensuring your products are visible to potential customers. Simply paying for their service can lead to increased sales, making it an enticing option for many dispensaries.
The Problem with Marketing through Weedmaps
Despite its benefits, Weedmaps can also pose challenges. They invest heavily in digital search promotion to appear first when target audience search for cannabis in your area. When you pay for Weedmaps, you fund their efforts to attract your prospective clients to their stage. This means every dollar spent on Weedmaps is a dollar not invested in your own SEO and Paid Media efforts to draw customers directly to your site. This approach isn’t sustainable long-term, as your goal should be to have customers visit your website, not Weedmaps.
Effective Weedmaps Strategy
To optimize your dispensary marketing strategy, use Weedmaps strategically. For a new dispensary, consider starting with a significant investment in Weedmaps for immediate visibility, then gradually reduce spending as your own search engine optimization efforts begin to attract organic traffic. Another tactic is “chumming,” where you periodically increase your Weedmaps spend to boost sales, then decrease it once returns start to diminish. Balancing Weedmaps with traditional cannabis advertising and other branding methods will help create a more robust and sustainable strategy for attracting cannabis customers.
Social Media
In the realm of marketing in the cannabis industry, social media stands out as a unique venue where you can directly engage with your audience and share content that shapes your brand identity. Despite its potential, it is also one of the most challenging channels to master.
Leveraging digital advertising on social media allows for direct communication with your followers, enabling you to build a strong brand presence. However, due to stringent regulations and restrictions, navigating these platforms can be quite difficult. It’s essential to develop creative strategies to effectively use social media for your cannabis marketing efforts.
Cannabis Content
Social media platforms are flooded with cannabis content, yet cannabis-related posts are technically prohibited. Enforcement of this ban is inconsistent; while some brands manage to get verified, others face suspension or account shutdowns for violating content policies. When this happens, it can be devastating—months or even years of effort and engagement can disappear overnight. To mitigate this risk, it’s prudent to maintain a backup page and diversify your marketing mix with other strategies, such as influencer partnerships, email marketing, and comprehensive marketing campaigns.
Lifestyle Content
One effective workaround to the social media ban on cannabis content is to focus on lifestyle content. Develop marketing ideas that highlight aspects of your brand or resonate with your community. By integrating lifestyle themes into your social media strategy, you can create engaging content that avoids direct references to cannabis, thus reducing the risk of account issues.
By incorporating lifestyle content, influencer collaborations, and email marketing into your overall marketing campaign, you can create a robust marketing mix that maximizes reach while adhering to forum guidelines.
Special Events
Organizing special events can significantly enhance community engagement, increase brand awareness, and drive dispensary sales. The right event can introduce your dispensary to a new audience and improve your overall cannabis marketing efforts. Examples of impactful special events include:
- Holiday toy drives
- Charity events
- Pet adoptions
- 420 or 710 celebrations
- Holiday celebrations
- New brand or product launches
- Live music performances
- Comedy shows
These events should feature key brands from your menu. Collaborating with these brands can drive sales and awareness for both their products and your dispensary. Leveraging these brand relationships can also enhance your loyalty program and strengthen your marketing campaign. Always utilize these partnerships to amplify your marketing tactics and achieve better results.
The Brand Experience: Everything You Need to Know
This is crucial. No amount of money spent on dispensary marketing or paid advertising will matter if customers don’t enjoy shopping at your dispensary.
We could elaborate extensively, but this isn’t an operations manual. The key takeaway is to create a memorable shopping experience that encourages repeat visits. As Jeff Bezos famously said, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
Your marketing approach should ensure that your customers have positive things to say about you. Incorporate various promotional strategies such as email marketing and loyalty programs to engage your customers. Focus on delivering exceptional service, an inviting atmosphere, and a seamless shopping experience. This strategy will complement your marketing campaign efforts and foster customer loyalty, ultimately driving your dispensary’s sales and success.
Maximizing Your Dispensary’s ROI: Different Marketing Approaches
Marketing your dispensary is intricate, involving multiple platforms that often operate in isolation. To help your dispensary by providing a comprehensive strategy, it’s crucial not only to execute marketing efforts but also to track the return on investment (ROI) for each medium. This way, you can identify what works, what doesn’t, and what needs adjustment.
Tracking ROI with Your POS
Most point-of-sale (POS) systems can track the marketing source as part of their reporting. For this data to be accurate, train your staff to ask customers the right questions and correctly enter the source information.
Tracking ROI with Google Analytics
With a sophisticated dispensary online menu, you can start tracking revenue from online orders through Google Analytics. Additionally, you can monitor other revenue-driving metrics, such as email/SMS sign-ups, direction requests, and phone calls. Ensure your Google Analytics 4 account is properly set up to capture this data effectively.
For those with more resources or who work with specialized agencies, a robust dashboard can be used to track all your metrics comprehensively.
Tracking ROI on Other Platforms
Other marketing platforms might track ROI but are typically limited to their specific services. WeedMaps, for instance, offers basic reporting. Messaging and data outlet like Happy Cabbage and Alpine IQ have similar capabilities, as do Paid Media and SEM services.
The bottom line is understanding where your marketing budget is spent and what returns it generates. Without this insight, you won’t know what’s effective, making your efforts akin to whistling in the dark. By employing different customer engagement practices and tracking their ROI, you can optimize your dispensary sales methodologies for better results.