The cannabis market is expected to rise from $10.3 billion in 2018 to $39.4 billion by 2024 given the increased legalization of its use. There is wide acceptance of medical marijuana and products infused with cannabidiol (or CBD, which is non-psychoactive) that fueled the demand of its market. Talking to the experts, it is clearly understood that there will soon be a strong and vibrant market of dispensary marketing in Los Angeles.
Marijuana dispensaries exist because federal law prevents the prescription and filling of cannabis at pharmacies. If you need any form of cannabis product, you need go to a marijuana dispensary. Depending on the state you live in, there are recreational and medical marijuana dispensaries. This blog will highlight on the various sections of dispensary marketing services and its aspects for a better understanding of the matter.
Medical and recreational dispensaries are available to customers. Medical cannabis clinics primarily serve patients 18 and older, as well as patients with caregivers who have a marijuana recommendation or card issued by a doctor certified to suggest cannabis, depending on local laws and regulations. Adults aged 21 and up are typically served by recreational cannabis dispensaries.
What is a Marijuana Dispensary?
The first public marijuana dispensary in the US was opened at San Francisco under the name Cannabis Buyers Club which was operated by late Dennis Peron when it started in 1992. Hundreds of medical dispensaries sprouted since then in and around California and today, when you look around, there is dispensary marketing almost across half the country.
How to enter a medical marijuana dispensary?
Before entering any medical marijuana store, they will generally ask for some papers. This is why, it is always better to get your suggestion from the experts of dispensary marketing services before visiting a store. There’s evidently more security as you enter a medical marijuana dispensary, which is in the wake of the products being sold inside the store. Another reason that results in higher security garb in the medical marijuana dispensaries is that the stores hold on a lot of cash because the transactions often do not take place through banks. Normally, you have to check in with a receptionist upon entering before being allowed inside the dispensing area.
Your ID and a medical marijuana recommendation or ID card from a doctor will be requested by the receptionist. You may be requested to submit proof of residency if your ID is from another state. Medical marijuana consumers can take advantage of special offers and discounts at many dispensaries. Anyone who smokes on a daily basis may find that acquiring a medical marijuana card saves them money in the long run.
What Is A Recreational Dispensary?
Anyone over the age of 21 can legally purchase cannabis goods in a recreational marijuana dispensary. Medical and recreational cannabis supplies may be wholly distinct or virtually identical depending on the state. You won’t have to pay for a medical marijuana recommendation if you go to a recreational dispensary. Recreational taxation, on the other hand, are putting a burden on the legal market in some jurisdictions. Medical marijuana is tax-free or has a reduced tax in various states. As a result, some people’s medicinal marijuana recommendations are being renewed.
How to enter a recreational dispensary?
The process of entering recreational marijuana dispensary is simpler than getting into a medical marijuana dispensary. However, you still have to show the ID proof of your age. If the dispensary has both medical and recreational marijuana, the receptionist will ask you for the purpose of your visit. Often, those visiting for the first time for medical marijuana need to register with the receptionist before getting in. Once you enter, the rest of the process is simple.
What products are at dispensaries?
Legal dispensaries get their marijuana from licensed and legal producers and suppliers. State-by-state and country-by-country, the legal frameworks and regulatory structures that regulate this system differ. However, in order to remain legal, the government must license and oversee the entire supply chain via which dispensaries obtain their cannabis.
The items available in a dispensary will differ from one state to the next. States like New York, for example, prohibit dispensaries from selling smokable flowers. Only cannabis derivatives such as tinctures and vape pen cartridges are available.
Cannabis will be available in flower form as well as concentrated forms such as kief, BHO, sauce, budder, RSO, CO2, and everything else found in a medical dispensary. If you prefer a longer high without the smoke, there are edibles available.
How digital marketing can help your dispensary?
Despite its precarious federal position, the legal cannabis industry employs over 10,000 people in 33 medical and 13 medical/recreational jurisdictions. The industry is booming, with revenues exceeding $14 billion in 2019 and expected to reach $25 billion by 2024. While cannabis has spawned cottage industries across the country, the enterprises can be broken down into the following categories –
- Dispensaries
They are generally small and local businesses which has budget constraints for dispensary marketing Los Angeles but would like to drive foot traffic and eventually improve the revenue. Because, well, most of what’s out there seems unfathomably pricey (who knows how much a billboard costs, anyway?) dispensaries suffer terribly with advertising. Alternatively it could be non-existent. As a result, to cross-sell and promote repeat business, many businesses rely significantly on email and SMS for their dispensary marketing strategies. While this increases customer lifetime value (CLV) through dispensary marketing services in Los Angeles, it has little effect on net new customers.
- Consumer-packaged goods or CPG
Cannabis, like any other business, has its own set of consumer products competing for shelf space and client loyalty. While consumer packaged goods, or CPG, companies are currently limited to mature recreational markets, their popularity will definitely grow in the future – more so because the rights to launch big brands in nascent markets are sold off and, that gives way to interstate commerce.
The capacity to establish and target an audience with dispensary marketing in Los Angeles across brand-safe digital assets is critical for these firms, but it’s also a tremendous hurdle. On the digital front, there is a lack of availability and accessibility of Marijuana Dispensary marketing. Worse, CPG companies rely on second-hand or anecdotal data to assess the effectiveness of digital initiatives aimed at increasing foot traffic in clinics that carry their products. As a result, CPG firms are discerning spenders who must rely significantly on secondary metrics (impressions, brand lift, and so on) to determine success.
- Multi-state operators
Often referred to as MSO, these are the large publicly traded entities and are multi-state operators. Not just they do operate the dispensaries across the country but also have own in-house CPG brands to boot. They have a team of dispensary marketing agency who can create the proper strategies for the digital campaigning of the product. This is when complex, compliant, omni-channel media strategies are required. It is now when they need to apply for the direct ads which can be from national or local levels.
How to have the perfect marketing channels?
- Paid search
Although paid search can be a very efficient technique for non-cannabis businesses to recruit new clients, cannabis businesses are now unable to use it. “Ads for substances that alter mental state for the purpose of recreation or otherwise involve ‘highs’” are not allowed, according to Google’s ad policy. The most common terms that are used colloquially are rejected by Google when used in paid search. This is why, the experts of dispensary marketing strategies need to cap the terms in their search-related endeavors at SEO and GMB optimization till the time Google gives the green signal.
- Paid social
In the B2C industry, social media has allegedly replaced blogs as one of the most important platforms for digital marketers to express their message successfully to a specific target group. Cannabis is no different. However, many social media platforms are following in the footsteps of Google’s ad-free policy. While cannabis businesses can use social media to engage and communicate with their consumers, promoting cannabis through Instagram and Facebook ads is still against Facebook’s advertising policy. There are exceptional targeting options in Facebook (although there are many states which needs proper assurance that 70+% of their audience is 21+) which truly helps in brand building. Facebook business pages and Facebook Messenger are equally important like GMB and particularly important invaluable customer services tool. However, be careful if you are selling cannabis or orally administered CBD.
- Programmatic advertising
Imagine being able to zoom out and observe in real time what (nearly) everyone on the internet is doing. If you could target specific people depending on the information they consume and where/when they consume it, that would be ideal. While the term soup in which it’s mired (DMP, VTC, SSP, DSP, etc.) may make it sound terrifyingly complicated, programmatic is basically just digital ad buying on steroids. It began as a way to purchase inventory on websites that no one else wanted; placements that publishers couldn’t sell for top price were offloaded and sold at a discount in a real-time auction.
The unrivaled hyper-local targeting capability to a dispensary owner is a great option because you can pair programmatic with your email and SMS campaigns. They can work as effective retargeting funnels. If you’re a CPG company, being able to create an ideal customer profile using third-party data makes it easier to get your target consumer into dispensaries that carry your products.
- Email marketing
For cannabis businesses, email marketing is one of the most successful marketing platforms since it allows them to deliver their message without limitations. If a company can entice customers to join their email list by offering a bargain or discount to subscribers (either during an in-store purchase or through a CTA on their website), it can be a great approach to generate leads and push marketing to existing or prospective customers.
- Content/SEO
Using educationally leaning search terms in 2021 seems a fool’s choice if you are trying to get the website rank for mid funnel. If you are trying to form a content marketing program around the such terms like – ‘what’s a sativa, do you get high with edibles’, there is possibility at the local level. Optimizing local SEO by creating and updating a GMB account, soliciting excellent reviews and backlinks, and ensuring local keywords exist in your metadata, copy, and URLs can be the difference between discoverability and certain death, just as it can be for any other local business.
Dispensary marketing strategies for 2024
Cannabis dispensary operators, like other businesses, face the difficult chore of promoting and marketing their business. Despite the fact that medical marijuana is permitted in nearly all states, it remains illegal under federal law. As a result, most major media properties will not allow cannabis-related firms to advertise on their websites. As a result, these businesses will have to hunt for marketing options elsewhere. Fortunately, a cannabis owner can take various steps to effectively market their dispensary in 2024.
Using social media, search engines, display advertising, and directories, digital marketing gives business owners with various channels to acquire new clients.
- Target audience
Identifying the consumer base is one of the first steps in marketing a dispensary. It is critical for business owners to understand their consumers’ interests and the types of things they prefer to buy when they go shopping. People who have gotten a prescription from their physician due to a qualifying sickness or health condition are the target audience for most cannabis dispensaries that supply medicinal cannabis. A company’s ability to cater to potential and present consumers improves when they know who they’re marketing to.
- Competitor Research
The act of identifying and assessing a company’s competitors in order to better understand their pros and cons is known as competitive analysis. A competitor study can provide answers to critical issues such who the top competitors are for a dispensary, what marketing techniques they use, and how well the competitors do.
- Fast & User-Friendly Website
In business marketing, having a fast and user-friendly website is essential. The general design of the website, as well as the positioning of call-to-actions (CTAs), can all have an impact on how long a visitor stays on the site and whether or not they complete a desired activity. Users expect websites to load quickly, provide detailed information about the products and services they offer, and be simple to browse and read. The layout of the site should be simple and uncluttered, with easy-to-find contact information.
- Informative Service Pages
Visitors can be converted into leads with the help of well-written service pages. When a visitor is interested in the services that a company provides, they will most likely go to the website’s service pages. If the information they receive is inadequate or non-existent, the customer may become dissatisfied and seek out a competition. A simple and clear headline, structured material that is easy to follow, and factual information that can be trusted should all be included on an informative service page. The information should also be engaging and appealing to the reader.
- Using social media platforms
In this day and age, businesses must have a solid social media marketing strategy. Consider what social media platforms the company is currently using, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Then think over whether these platforms are optimized, which means they have content, videos, photographs, a bio, and a connection back to the website. Following the optimization of all social media accounts, content should be shared on a regular basis throughout these channels. In an ideal world, a company’s content should be released on a regular basis. This keeps the target audience interested in the company and aware of the services it provides.
- Optimize A Google My Business Account
Having a Google My Business account ensures that if someone is looking for a dispensary in a specific region, they can see the company’s presence on both Google Search and Google Maps. Setting up a Google My Business account might also aid a company’s local SEO efforts. Google My Business listings include identifying information about a company, such as contact information and business hours, that can be helpful to potential consumers and clients.
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