Leveraging MMS in Cannabis Marketing Campaigns

The cannabis industry is expanding rapidly as more and more states legalize the use of marijuana. This has led to an exponential increase in the number of cannabis dispensaries, brands, and distributors. Which can make it difficult for customers to choose where to buy their cannabis products, especially in urban dense cities.

The best method stands out from the competition is to use MMS marketing over SMS text marketing. SMS is fantastic, but first, let’s see how we can take it even further. Let’s define what MMS is and how business operators can leverage this critical technology to capture more revenue through your messaging campaigns.

What are the benefits of MMS marketing?

MMS stands for multimedia messaging service and allows you to send images, videos, and GIFs through text messages, as opposed to SMS which is text only.

MMS texting is a contemporary type of marketing that can be used to attract attention and generate engagement that converts inconsistent shoppers into repeat customers, directly through their cell phones.

Cannabis retailers can send a cannabis product-related image and message to your cannabis consumers as long as they abide by federal laws. As well as US carrier rules and the terms and conditions of the platforms you intend to market on.

Now let’s jump into how we can target campaigns to drive sales and engage with more clients using a cannabis-related SMS message, marketing to your cannabis consumers

How to stay compliant while text messaging

Text message marketing in the cannabis industry is not as simple as collecting a phone number and beginning to send product promotions through sending texting.

Businesses in the industry must be aware of both the federal law, terms and conditions and telecommunications companies blocking certain cannabis terms.

FCC Regulations

In the U.S., text messaging is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Cannabis businesses are not allowed to send MMS messages explicitly to consumers without their express written consent, ensuring their consumers opt-in.

Federal laws prohibit an unsolicited SMS & MMS cannabis-related message without express consent from the end recipient, consent is usually given in the form of an “opt-in” text sent by the consumer in response to the initial marketing message.

TCPA

Where springbig separates from short message service competitors is, that we are compliant and are the industry-leader for compliant message deliverability.

Let’s take a look at some of the federal requirements and how beneficial it is for compliant companies, helping you outlast non-compliant operations.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) regulates the use of automated phone calls and text messages.

In order to comply with the TCPA, you will need to get explicit consent from each individual before sending them any MMS content.

You also must have a system in place, so that people can easily opt-out of receiving future MMS or text-related content from you.

Phone Carriers & Restrictions

While some cell carriers like T Mobile, have restrictions on cannabis-related text marketing content. There are still many ways to reach your target audience with MMS texting tools and marketing. without violating these regulations.

Between springbigs stashboard and campaign caddie, you can rest assured that you will have the necessary insights to understand your clients and how they react to your in-phone promotions.

These integral parts of the springbig platform will show you certain buzzwords to avoid for SMS & MMS to your customers, helping you drastically to improve the delivery of your campaign.

By working with a reputable provider, like springbig, you can ensure that your messages are delivered to the right people, at the right time, encouraging them to buy your product and increase your revenue.

Our experience and expertise have allowed us to circumvent what certain states prohibit in marketing texts, ensuring extremely high deliverability for sending messages.

Best Practices for Sending Text Messages to your consumers

When planning your cannabis dispensary messaging campaigns, it’s important to keep a few things in mind.

1. Timing is everything. You want to send your text message when your customers are most likely to be engaged with the messages and cannabis products. Segmenting your promotions to your customers is vital, whether you’re focusing on THC or CBD products. Mainly because if the message is irrelevant the consumer may find it to be spam.
2. Content quality is key. Your MMS messages related to your product videos should be high-quality and relevant to your business and target audience.
3. The customer journey is important. Make sure your messaging campaigns are part of a cohesive customer experience that leads to conversions.

If you follow these best practices, you’ll be sure to see an increase in engagement and conversions from your MMS-related campaigns.

The Importance of cannabis websites

Dispensaries need to have a website that is clear, concise, and includes e-commerce calls to action.

• Boost SEO Ranking and Online Presence
  • By delivering a well-designed digital website, dispensaries can reach a larger audience and continue to build their customer base.
• Customer Convenience
  • Dispensary customers should be able to easily find what they are looking for on your website and be able to intuitively purchase the products they need. Since COVID-19 online sales for everything in retail including cannabis have only been increasing as the days go by and may soon become the primary sales channel for many markets.
• Increase Conversion Rates
  • ‘Calls to action on your landing page should be aesthetic, intuitive, and accessible while incentivizing links to your e-commerce store, to direct traffic to conversions.
• Dispensary Delivery Services
  • Delivery platforms are another consistent avenue of revenue, conveniently reaching a larger target market than your brick-and-mortar store. Increasing your client retention in the process. Just be sure to work out the cost of operation vs. potential revenue available. For example, dispensaries that have delivery can appeal to the non-driving audience, while painlessly driving customers to a data form to capture invaluable insights.
• Brand Image
  • Dispensary websites and the corresponding text messaging campaign needs to be designed with the user in mind. A system designed to create a positive experience that distributes a deal to customers coming back and repeat sales high.