The cannabis industry is a fast-paced industry, and recently delivery has taken the industry by storm. Especially since COVID, delivery is crucial. If you’re a cannabis delivery service or a dispensary using one, then keep reading to find out which marketing tools and marketing strategies you can implement today to improve your overall marketing plan and boost revenues.
Since the beginning of the cannabis legalization wave that spurred the industry, the industry has been evolving at a rapid pace, and we mean rapid: in just 4 years, from 2016 to 2020, annual sales have jumped from about 6 billion in 2016 to 16 billion in 2020 according to Statista.
2020 has been an especially interesting year for the cannabis industry (and everybody else as well) mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic which has impacted the cannabis industry in a very unique way. As opposed to some industries, the cannabis industry has been lucky enough to dodge many of the negative effects of the pandemic and has even managed to continue its growth.
What has changed for the cannabis industry is the way in which people prefer to get their cannabis: Delivery. The epidemic has helped accelerate many cannabis delivery businesses and has even helped encourage some states that previously didn’t allow delivery to now allow delivery. And with changes like these come changes in the marketing efforts of dispensaries and delivery services alike.
In light of the demand for cannabis delivery, and with the market becoming more and more saturated by the day, marketing trends are changing too, so it’s important to know which digital advertising tools are best for driving revenues for a cannabis delivery service in 2020.
In this article, we will be looking at the best digital advertising tools for cannabis delivery services. In this, we’ll be talking about online marketing and digital advertising tools such as text message marketing, Google Ads, search engine marketing, social media, and more. Each of these can be easily implemented into your digital marketing strategy and can do wonders for your business.
Ready to toss your traditional marketing strategy and optimize your marketing strategy for 2020? Then keep reading!
Text message marketing
As a cannabis delivery service or a cannabis dispensary, text message marketing is your best friend because not only is it extremely effective with a 98% open rate, but it also allows you to remain completely compliant with cannabis law as long as you abide by the general laws and regulations regulating text message marketing. Not only that, but compared to other similar strategies such as email-marketing which has an open rate between 15%-25%, text message marketing is the clear best choice. This makes text message marketing one of the most important digital-marketing tactics out there if you’re looking to boost ROI, engage with customers, and drive revenues in a digital age.
What makes text message marketing so effective? It’s immediate and it is sent directly to your customers’ cell phones. Just think about it, when you receive a text, regardless of who it is, what do you do? You probably open it if anything just to clear the notification. And often do you have your phone on you throughout the day? If you’re like the majority of people, your answer is probably all the time. This is why text message marketing is so effective.
This makes a text message marketing campaign perfect for sending out daily deals, after-order messages, newsletter, and so much more. On top of this, with springbig’s autoconnects you can make it even more effective with springbig’s autoconnects which allow you to automate your whole text message marketing operation while also segmenting your customers based on interests, actions, and so much more!
As a delivery service, utilizing search engines, especially Google’s business services, is a must if you want to put your advertisements in front of your target audience. In this, Google Ads and Google MyBusiness are two crucial tools that your delivery service will need to utilize.
Similar to having a physical store, where customers largely use google to find information about your dispensary, customers do the same to find information about delivery services which is why it is imperative to utilize both Google Ads and Google MyBusiness.
Google Ads is useful because it helps put your service in front of those looking for it. That is, it will put your business’s advertisements at the top of the search results before all of the other organic search results that pop up. In this way, when customers search “cannabis delivery” or something similar, your business will be one of the first to come up.
On top of this, Google MyBusiness is extremely important for similar reasons in that having a comprehensive business account on Google will help you be found by those looking for your services and will also help customers form what is likely their first impression of your business. While this won’t guarantee your business will appear towards the top of the search results, it will greatly help customers looking for information about your business find what they need and will also help your business stand out among the rest in the sea of results that will undoubtedly pop up.
That’s not to mentions things such as Google Analytics which can help you track the effectiveness of your advertisements so that you can see what’s working for you and what’s not.
Search engine optimization
SEO is an extremely important tactic for all businesses as it has the potential to drive substantial traffic to your business. In fact, almost 93% of global internet traffic comes from google. If you’re not appearing on the first page of the search results, then you will more than likely not be found. A study found that only 0.78% of users from the second page click on results from the second page of google.
To make sure that your business or content is appearing at the top of the search results, you’ll want to make sure that your content is targeting the right keywords and that you’re posting the right type of content among other things.
social media marketing
Social networks will be extremely important in improving your cannabis delivery service’s online brand awareness and organic reach as social media is one of the most important marketing channels to tap into.
For starters, simply building your following up on social media platforms can help you truly make a name for your business as well as portray your businesses values as social media gives you the valuable chance to portray what you want your customers to see. In this, you can do things such as educate your customers with educational posts, update customers on developments within your business, and engage with customers through things such as polls and special giveaways.
Building your following is only the beginning though, as you’ll undoubtedly want to leverage other paid advertisement strategies on social media, especially influencer marketing. An influencer can do wonders for your business as they have a unique way of influencing their audiences’ actions.
Other tools to drive revenues
Loyalty rewards programs
While we usually talk about loyalty rewards programs in the context of cannabis dispensaries, they can also be used as a way to retain customers of a cannabis delivery service.
Loyalty rewards programs are extremely effective at retaining customers, which can be 5 to 25 times less expensive than marketing to a new one. On top of this, repeat customs are known to spend more per purchase.
Here at springbig, we can help you set up and run your loyalty program for your cannabis dispensary service. While we can’t go into detail here, you can click here to get a feelfor how springbig can set you up for success in customer retention and loyalty programs.
Brands by springbig
Brands by springbig is another great tool that while originally intended for dispensaries, could easily be applied to a cannabis delivery service.
As a delivery service, you’re delivering all kinds of different brands daily, so why not leverage that and allow these brands to sponsor some of your text message marketing campaigns? In this way, you get your marketing paid for and the brand gets valuable exposure that can help it boost sales and speed up sell-through rates. To learn more about Brands by springbig click here.
Recap
If you’ve taken anything from this, it should be that with the cannabis industry changing so rapidly and with consumers demanding delivery, leveraging online advertising tools is a must. With COVID changing the lives of all of us, including cannabis consumers, demand for delivery has skyrocketed, and even after the pandemic, delivery will undoubtedly continue to be a vital service for the cannabis industry.
In this evermore saturated market, it will be crucial to leverage advertising tools like text message marketing, Google Ads, search engine marketing, social media, and springbig’s loyalty program platform as well as Brands by springbig.
