Cannabis and its related products have been for a long time considered illegal by many countries and thus its use has been minimal. However, recent discoveries on its medicinal value and ‘unlawful’ huge revenues have made governments to lift the ban albeit with some restrictions. To curb abuse of cannabis, governments have allowed creations of cannabis dispensaries to allow people to acquire the products for either recreational or medicinal purposes. To sustain such dispensaries, strategic marketing designs are essential. Such strategies may include:
Attraction- for them to come, you must attract. Attraction thus forms the foundation of success of any business. Being a tightly regulated sector and further considered by many media properties as dangerous, this business finds advertising a great hurdle to overcome.
Thanks to technology, this hurdle is overtaken by events. Customer attraction has gone digital and most businesses are making a kill out of it. Rightful use of search engines, social media, blogging, website creation and video display helps in directing clients to dispensaries. even though this comes at a fee (website creation and maintenance), the returns far much outweigh the initial cost. Good branding, relevant marketing content and excellent advertising display are key in making a greater cannabis dispensary.
Occasionally, it is appropriate to venture into local marketing through spoken word as this may help in attracting the neighboring localities itno the dispensary.it further creates an opportunity to interact and engage the locals and get feedbacks about the products.
Interaction – once you attract a client, it is an uphill task to engage such clients and here is where most businesses fail. Interaction is crucial in getting clients opinion about your products. Engaging clients in different platforms enable them to develop a sense of belonging and identify with a particular product. This can happen either digitally or physically. Blogs, social media, newsletters and event exhibitions are of essence in engaging. Through these, trust, loyalty and mutual respect is built between the clients and service providers. It also gives the dispensary opportunity to improve on the quality of their services and products.
Retention– successful businesses always strive to have lifelong clients. They always reach out to their clients either publicly or privately through e-mails or cell phones. These communications may involve new products, new prices or offers to their special clients. With such special arrangements, clients will always feel at home with a particular dispensary.
Integrity is key in the long existence and success of any business. Being an arena full of government restrictions, intimidation and occasionally blackmails, it takes a lot of honesty and sincerity to thrive here. Through online reputation management and reviews, cannabis dispensaries should regularly participate in their evaluation of their brand reputation either digitally (social media, blog posts, spoken words or photos). Through this, they interact with clients, address their concerns and improve on the quality of services. They do damage control or prevention through this evaluation.
Conclusion
Cannabis dispensary marketing is no kids play and just like marketing in other fields, it needs a lot of creativity and patience to overcome some hurdles.
