March is traditionally the slowest sales month for marijuana retailers in the state of Colorado, according to Colorado MED (Marijuana Enforcement Division). This is a great time to rev up your marketing efforts. Great marketing can prevent slow sales months and keep customers coming back again and again.
Here are 5 marketing ideas to increase sales in your cannabis dispensary.
1. Get on Google Maps.
If you’re not on Google Maps yet, you’re losing sales. For many prospects, if a business does not show up on Google, it doesn’t exist. It takes less than 10 minutes to create a Google Business Account. Create a Google account for your business and sign in to Google Maps. Verify the information and ensure everything is correct, especially your address, phone number, and business hours.
Once you add your business, encourage your regular, happy customers to leave a review. This lets potential customers know who you are and why they should shop with you and boosts your dispensary’s SEO.
2. Implement patient loyalty programs.
Happy customers come back, especially if you ask them to. Loyalty programs are a way to indirectly ask your customers to shop with you regularly. Reward them for their loyalty. There are several ways to run a successful loyalty program, like offering cash off their next order or discounted product.
Think of your favorite stores that have loyalty programs. What do you like most about their programs? What doesn’t work? Think like a customer as you build your loyalty program. You’ll want to experiment and discover what works best for you.
3. Get on social media.
Social media is a powerful way to connect to your customers where they’re already hanging out. If you’re not on social media yet, don’t be overwhelmed.
The best strategy is to choose one social media channel, like Instagram, and build your business page and following there first. Pay attention to what type of posts engage your audience. Determine what type of information you will share, and be consistent. Be mindful of platform-specific restrictions, such as keeping pricing off of Instagram, to keep your accounts from being flagged as spam. Avoid showing actual consumption and be wary of commonly flagged hashtags, like #weed, #420, and #cannabiz.
Once you feel comfortable with one channel, create another, like Facebook. You can link your channels together and even use a third-party website like HootSuite or HubSpot to schedule posts and manage all your platforms in one place.
Soon, you’ll be a social media pro.
4. Get email marketing software.
I don’t know what you’ve heard, but trust me, email is not dead. Email is still a major communication channel between businesses and their customers. I just received a coupon from my favorite store via email, which triggered me to shop with this retailer.
Email is still a pretty inexpensive way to connect with your audience. There are so many options like Emma, MailChimp, Constant Contact, and many more. You can use your social media channels and an in-store sign-up sheet to collect email addresses. You can also add a pop-up form to your website asking customers to opt-in for a coupon or special deal.
The key to being successful with email is to ensure you send your prospects and customers the information they want. If you know your customers like edibles, talk about edibles. Announce new edible products. Provide discounts. Relay information on in-store events like pop-ups or sales. Segmenting your audience by their preferences will allow you to activate them during key times.
An effective rhythm of communication is to give, give, and sell. This means you want to send your audience helpful information, coupons, and freebies twice as much as you send an email selling them something.
5. Sample to your Customers
Be creative. Ask your favorite edible salesperson to get you some unmedicated products to give as samples for customers curious about the brand. This is a win-win. You get something for your customers while you market their products. Provide these samples in your waiting room and at your budtender stations.
Effective marketing equals more and more sales. These are just some powerful ways to help get customers in the door.
