A holiday is approaching. Your inventory is ordered; your specials, promotions, and/or events are planned.
Now you need to make sure people know about these great deals.
Read on to learn how to promote dispensary specials to your customers this holiday season, both those you already have and those you wish to attract.
1. Share holiday deals on social media
Cannabis companies have a love/hate relationship with social media — and for good reason. Most social platforms make it difficult to be seen and connect with consumers.
Whether you like it or not, social media is valuable for promoting your business, events, and promotions.
Here’s a few tips for getting your dispensary holiday specials seen:
- Create graphics and share as posts, stories, even video (as reels or Tik Tok). Make them beautiful, yet descriptive, and cleanly branded. (Tip! No designer on staff? Use templates from Canva to get started.)
- Steer clear of photos that are overtly cannabis. Instead choose lifestyle photos or purely graphics.
- Post regularly and across all platforms you use. For ticket-based events, start your promos several weeks in advance. But for simple deals and promotions, start a week or two before, and be very vocal in the days leading up to the holiday.
- Respond to engagement. Comment on/like every comment, share, or re-post to further your reach.
2. Promote using digital signage
Marketing is often thought of as external or online. But you probably already have an important and impactful marketing channel running inside your store: digital signage.
Here’s some tips for making the most of your dispensary signage for holiday promos:
- Create custom media to highlight your deals and events, either images, gifs, or videos. Make sure they are clear, easy-to-read, and styled to match your store branding and aesthetic. If you already made social graphics using Canva, repurpose them here!
- Use each of your screens strategically throughout your store to convey the complete message. Perhaps some show your menu, while others highlight upcoming and current deals/events.
- Optimize your waiting room. Use digital signage to inform your customers about your deals and current inventory before they make it to the bud room for quicker, more satisfying transactions.
- Leverage tablets/interactive menus throughout your store to replace static and dated paper flyers. Highlight your deals, your menus, or both.
- Promote your house brands or high-margin products to increase profitability during highly discounted periods. You can also get graphics from your partner brands, like Wana, to further encourage purchases of specific cannabis products or product categories.
3. Use online channels to share deals
Take advantage of your online presence beyond social media to promote your upcoming holiday specials.
Here are some of the channels you can use to share details of your dispensary deals:
- Website – Add your upcoming dispensary holiday deals, promotions, or events to your site, either on a dedicated holiday landing page, as a featured section on the homepage, or as a banner on the top of the site. Make sure it’s visible and eye-catching, and provides all pertinent information.
- Ecommerce tools – Log into your ecommerce or marketplace tools, like Dutchie, Jane, Leafly, or Weedmaps, and add information about your upcoming holiday specials. While you’re in there, make sure your hours, ongoing specials, and store policies are all up-to-date.
Tip! Make a note to remove the specific holiday information everywhere immediately after the day has passed.
4. Communicate directly to customers
Attracting the attention of new customers is important, but don’t forget to share your dispensary’s holiday specials with existing customers directly.
Here’s how to promote dispensary specials directly to customers:
- Email – if you have customer email addresses, captured legally through a newsletter signup, loyalty program, or other initiative where explicit permission was given, you can send them emails notifying of your upcoming specials and promotions. Always include a way to opt-out of future communications.
- Text – similar to email, dispensaries may capture phone numbers for the purposes of sending SMS/text messages. An SMS crackdown in 2021 made it much harder to use text as a marketing channel, but it can still be done with cannabis-friendly messaging platforms. Note: customers must opt in twice to receive text messages.
Some states have strict laws against data capture. It’s your responsibility to know the laws before you capture their personal information.
5. Pay for ads or billboards
If the traditional owned and earned dispensary marketing strategies aren’t enough, consider putting some budget behind your holiday promotion efforts. Paid can help you reach a broader audience of potential customers.
Here’s a few ideas to get you started on how to promote dispensary specials using paid channels. (Note: not all are legal in every market).
- Paid ads – As mentioned in the social media tip, cannabis marketing is challenging. But there are some cases where paid promotions are allowed. LinkedIn, for one, allows cannabis brands to do advertising (both in the form of ads and promoted posts). Instagram and Facebook have less likelihood of getting ads approved, but it could work for scenarios where cannabis isn’t being sold or its consumption isn’t being promoted. It’s challenging to do traditional digital advertising as a cannabis company, but it isn’t impossible.
- Billboards – Some states allow dispensaries to advertise using billboards. Depending on your budget and location, this may be a viable option, though perhaps best reserved for general brand recognition instead of event or holiday-related advertising
- Local advertising – Depending on your store location, there may be local outlets to consider, such as an alternative weekly newspaper or magazine. Do your research and create a list of all local media who accept event information for their calendars, and those who have affordable advertising space. Consider putting an actual coupon on the ad to help track effectiveness of the print channel.
Tip! Advertising doesn’t have to be expensive. Look local and create relationships with cannabis-friendly media outlets.
Dispensary advertising is hard, but it’s vital to learn how to promote dispensary specials to get the word out about your holiday deals and events.
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Share on your social media channels
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Post to your website and ecommerce pages
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Email/text your customers
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Highlight deals/events on your in-store digital signage
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Look at paid to reach a broader audience
Seed Technology is the leader in in-store digital engagement for dispensaries. Our customizable, POS-integrated signage accurately shows your menu, plus custom media can highlight your products, specials, events, and more.