The online digital marketplace is fickle when it comes to marijuana dispensary advertising. Cannabis-related businesses are blacklisted from advertising their products on Facebook, Twitter, and Google AdWords. Since marijuana is still not legal on the federal level, marijuana dispensaries have to come up with creative ways to attract new customers.
Although dispensaries can gain popular interest in the form of event sponsorships and print ads through local alt periodicals, consumers’ thirst for information is rapidly outpacing the amount of valuable content there is online. That’s where marijuana dispensary blogs come in.
Growing Pains
Since dispensaries don’t have the resources of traditional marketing through broadcasting or billboards, marijuana dispensaries have to act as nomads, navigating the barren landscape of cannabis digital marketing.
Online marijuana directories are currently dominating organic search traffic for people who are researching strains, locations, reviews, and more. The consistency with which people interact with those sites and share their content is what is driving traffic away from your localized searches toward their overarching presence.
The Power of SEO
Search engine optimization is customer-centric and imperative to reaching your desired audience. Through keyword research, you can target what search terms people look for online. Then you can start creating content in the form of blog posts, ebooks, videos, podcasts and other forms of digital media. The more pages you have to index on search engines, the easier your marijuana dispensary is to find. By providing high-quality blog posts on your site, potential customers can feed off of that and turn to you when they want to make their next purchase.
Become a Thought Leader
According to benchmark data from HubSpot, companies that published 16 or more blog posts per month received up to 3.5x more traffic than companies that posted up to 4 posts per month. The blog market is untapped real estate of potential. Discover how your dispensary stands apart from the rest. Whether you’re committed to providing organic products or providing a plethora of edible options, leverage that unique driving force online so that people who are searching for it find you.
Not only should you be delivering consistent content, but you should be positioning yourself as a thought leader in your industry. As a marijuana dispensary, it is your duty to know what strain does what and be at the forefront of your industry’s developments. Through an appeal to emotion and mastery of your craft, visitors will respect your opinion and begin engaging with your content.
Leverage Directories
Leveraging your presence on directories such as MERRY JANE has powerful consequences for promoting your cannabis business. MERRY JANE lists dispensary locations, specials, announcements, contact information, and a menu of your different strains and products. Optimizing your dispensary by updating on these sites can direct more traffic to your blog and convert more leads.
Marijuana dispensaries, especially, are heavily impacted by negative stereotypes and continue to perpetuate it, sometimes unwittingly, through the use of casual vernacular. Phrases like “getting stoned” or “getting ripped” only diminish the clout and authority of a site. It is true that these phrases (and other slang) have become synonymous with smoking cannabis, but when delivering your message through blog posts, the language you use and your delivery method is key to the audience’s perception of your industry.
It’s important to know who your buyers are, where they shop, what their search terms are, and where they search for it. Legitimizing your marijuana dispensary through a blog is a great first step toward driving more traffic to your site, converting visitors into customers, and creating brand ambassadors that will promote your business through word of mouth. In this ever-evolving ecosystem of attracting marijuana consumers, experimentation and consistency is key.
