Do you own a marijuana dispensary? If so, you’re most likely always looking for awesome marijuana marketing ideas to try out so you can grow your brand awareness and gain new customers.
In this article, we’ll give you tons of local and advertising strategies that are perfect for marijuana dispensaries. We’ll tell you how to get the most out of each idea, too, so you can get big-budget results for little to no cost.
7 Local Marijuana Marketing Ideas
Let’s be honest, promoting a marijuana dispensary isn’t the same as promoting other local businesses. You have to be creative but also abide by a few more guidelines than normal to prevent yourself from upsetting the wrong crowd.
Below we’ve broken down 7 local marijuana marketing ideas that we know you can have a ton of success with. They’re all budget-friendly ideas, too, so you won’t break the bank by using any of the 7 that we’ve listed.
- Community Events
Depending on where you live, there may be tons of local community events that you can get involved with to help promote your business. Things like food fairs, festivals, and other large gatherings are a great way to get your name out there in your local community.
The best part? These local events are often begging for local businesses to get involved. That means that any kind of entry fee will be quite affordable, and possibly nonexistent, which is a huge plus.
Of course, if you live in a small town, finding community events to get involved with can be tricky. And many events may not want to work with a marijuana dispensary, which is an unfortunate reality.
But if you can find some to take advantage of, they’re an effective (and fun) way to grow your brand awareness in a hurry.
- Geo-Targeted Ads
We’re going to be talking a ton about online advertising later on in this article. But one online advertising idea that is worth mentioning now is geo-targeted ads, as they’re a great way to market your business to locals.
Using geo-targeted ads, you can promote your business online to people who live in your area. That means that you won’t waste money advertising to people who live in different states, which of course is a good thing.
The best part? All the impressions that you get using a service like Google Ads to promote your business are 100% free. You only pay when someone clicks your ad, which means you can use this marketing strategy without hurting your wallet.
- Local-Exclusive Benefits
Do you live in a town that flourishes off of tourism? If so, there’s a good chance that 75% or more of your business comes from people who are only visiting the area.
While focusing on tourists is a no-brainer, you still want to be able to attract plenty of local customers, too. So, to make your business more inviting to locals, you can offer local-exclusive benefits to customers who live nearby.
You don’t have to offer locals anything crazy, either, to get positive results. Something as simple as a 15% discount for locals who show their ID at checkout is more than enough to get the job done.
- Local SEO
Speaking of locals, a great way to let them know that your business exists is to invest in local SEO. Local SEO will make it that much easier for people in your area to find your business using search engines like Google, which of course is quite important.
Don’t know a lot about local SEO? Don’t worry! Simply signing up your business for Google My Business is more than enough to improve your local SEO strategy today.
With that being said, to get big-time results, investing in the help of a local SEO expert is more than a good idea.
- Merch Store
One thing that people absolutely love is t-shirts and other types of swag. If you’re looking for a fun way to promote your business to locals, all while making some cash in the process, consider opening up a merch store today.
Odds are someone on your team has a few fun ideas for some t-shirts. Make them funny, and be sure to include your branding information on them, so you can get the local advertising that you’re looking for.
The best part? You can sell merch online, as well as in your store, to make it easier to move products off your shelves. That means that it can be both a local and online marketing strategy for your business, which is pretty cool.
- Radio and TV Ads
Another creative way to promote your local business is to advertise on local TV or radio.
We’ll be honest, TV ads can add up in price rather quickly. But radio ads are more affordable now than ever before, which makes them a great resource for small businesses to take advantage of.
Our advice? Find your local alternative rock radio station and call them up about advertising prices. You may be surprised to find out that you can get some primetime ad spots without spending too much cash.
- Storefront Signage
Does your business have a physical store that people can come and visit in person? If so, you’re most likely not taking advantage of your storefront, which is an easy (and effective) marketing opportunity that is going to waste.
Sure, this only works if you have a store that is located in an area that gets tons of foot traffic. And you may be limited to what you can and can’t do with your storefront design-wise, which is worth noting.
But going all out to make your storefront loud and noticeable, if you can, is very much worth considering. That way you can catch the attention of people who walk or drive by daily, letting them know that your business exists.
7 Online Marijuana Marketing Ideas
Now that we’ve discussed tons of ways to advertise your business to your community, it’s time to shift focus towards the web. Again, because you’re running a marijuana dispensary, there are some strategies that will be more effective than others.
With that in mind, being informative, in general, is always the best way to go. After all, people are always looking for credible information about marijuana. And if you can be that source of information, you increase your chances of getting their business, which is the overall goal here.
Below we’ve listed 7 online marijuana marketing ideas that we know will give you big-budget results. And again, they’re all budget-friendly, too, which means you won’t have to spend thousands to make them work for you.
- Blogging
It can be overstated how many people don’t know a lot about marijuana or the various health benefits related to it. Because of this, thousands of people are going online to read about it each day, which means a few big websites are getting tons of traffic.
While it can be hard to crack into a niche this competitive, blogging is a great way to drive traffic to your website. It also gives you resources to send to customers who have questions, helping you improve your customer service in the process.
It is worth mentioning that blogging is hard work. Somebody on your team has to know a lot about marijuana, as well as enjoy writing, to get results.
But if that sounds like you, or someone on your staff, blogging can be an excellent online advertising strategy.
- Email Marketing
The biggest downside to blogging is the fact that it can be hard to get eyes on your content. A great way to combat that issue, and deal with online users directly, is with email marketing.
Having a direct line of communication with your customers can be quite beneficial, for obvious reasons. And because emails are less intrusive than phone calls, you can reach out often without hassling your customers.
The best part? Thanks to technology, you can email thousands of people with the simple click of a button. That makes email marketing appealing for all small business owners, as it’s both effective and efficient.
- Infographics
Another creative way to be informative, while being fun about it, is to use infographics. Infographics are super effective and can be shared on your blog, social media accounts, or emails.
Simply put, people enjoy reading information more when it’s presented via an infographic. And because you can add your branding materials to these graphics, you can promote your business while you inform, which is an added bonus.
The best part? You can use tools like Canva to make awesome-looking graphics yourself, for free, without the help of a professional designer. That means that you won’t have to invest in anything, just your own time, to make infographics for your business.
- Online Store
We talked about having an online merch store earlier, but that’s not the only thing that you can sell online to make money. Selling all sorts of marijuana-themed items or products is a great way to earn some extra cash online, all while promoting your business.
Doing this also allows you to target customers that are outside of your area, which is a huge bonus. Sure, you’ll have to handle shipping and handling in-house. But if you price for that, you can still make the same amount of money per sale.
On top of that, you can drive traffic to your site, and even your store, by selling goods online. Because anything that gets your name and logo in front of people is a good thing, and an online store will certainly do that.
- Podcasts
Podcasts are quite popular nowadays and for good reason. You can listen to a podcast about any topic that you can think of on the way to work, or even while you work, to help keep you entertained.
So, if you know someone who has a podcast that you can use to promote your business, see if they’ll consider having you on. You can use that platform to be informative, as well as for promotional purposes, helping you grow your brand awareness with each listen.
If you really like podcasts yourself, starting your own could be something that you’re interested in. Startup costs for podcasts are low, although getting listeners, especially at first, can be tricky.
- Social Media Marketing
The most popular online marketing strategy is social media marketing. That means that, if your business doesn’t already have social media accounts on the major platforms, you need to fix that problem ASAP.
With that in mind, make sure that your branding is consistent across all social media platforms. Have the same username (if possible), and the same profile picture, so users can find you more easily on their platforms of choice.
- Video Content
Video content is the most engaging type of content on the web. So, if you want to keep users engaged while you promote your business, videos are very much the way to go.
Breaking in on something like YouTube can be quite hard. But if you’ve got someone on your team who you think can be a YouTube star, it’s worth giving it a shot.
At worst, you can use those videos on social media, or in your blog posts, helping you humanize your brand in the process.
Need More Help Promoting Your Business?
As you can see, there are tons of marijuana marketing ideas out there for you to choose from. Our advice? Pick two or three on this list and pursue them only, so you can increase your chances of finding success.
Looking for more marketing advice? Check back with our blog often for tons of useful tips and tricks.
