Dispensary Events: Digital Marketing Tips

If you’re running a dispensary and looking to boost attendance at your events, mastering digital marketing is key. Here’s what you need to know in a nutshell:

Understand Your Audience: Tailor your marketing to fit the interests and locations of potential attendees.
Use Social Media: Create buzz with engaging content, contests, and influencer partnerships.
Email Marketing: Send targeted emails with personalized offers and event details.
SEO: Optimize your website and content with relevant keywords to improve visibility.
Content Quality: Offer valuable and interesting content to engage your audience.
Collaborate: Partner with influencers and brands to expand your reach.
Navigate Legalities: Stay compliant with advertising regulations and privacy laws.
Engage Post-Event: Keep the conversation going with recaps and user-generated content.

By focusing on these areas, you can effectively spread the word about your dispensary events and attract more attendees.

Segmentation for Precision

When getting the word out about your events, it’s smart to think about who exactly you want to come:

Educational events: Aim for folks interested in learning about cannabis, like newcomers or medical patients seeking advice. Reach out to regular customers and look at what they buy to figure out what they might want to learn.
Community events: Focus on people living nearby, community groups, and loyal customers who want to connect more with your dispensary and others. Use social media and emails that target people in the area.
Product launches: Look at customers who already like similar items or brands. Use what you know about them to make sure your messages hit the mark.

Picking your audience based on what they like, where they are, and if they’re likely to come can make your event promos more effective.

Leveraging Audience Insights

Use what you know to shape how you talk about your events online:

Look at which events had lots of people and which social media posts got a lot of likes or shares. This tells you what works.
Check out surveys to see what kinds of events or topics people are interested in.
Keep an eye on what people are saying about you online to catch their interests or concerns.
Pay attention to what people buy when they visit your dispensary to understand what products they prefer.

Keeping your audience in mind when planning your digital marketing for events is key. Make sure your events and messages match what they’re interested in for the best turnout.

Strategic Digital Marketing Approaches

Let’s talk about how to spread the word about your dispensary’s events using online tools. We’ll cover social media, email, and how to show up in search results. Here’s how to get more people excited and coming to your events.

Make special pages for your events and post countdowns to get people excited.
Show pictures or videos from past events so people know what to expect.
Have contests or giveaways to get more people talking and sharing.
Use fun filters and stickers on Instagram and Snapchat for your event.
Ask people with a lot of followers to help tell others about your event.

Utilizing Email Marketing Effectively

Send emails to different groups based on where they live or if they’ve come to your events before.
Plan a series of emails to announce your event, remind people, and give them the details.
Make your emails more personal by talking about things they like or have bought before.
Give special deals to people who get your emails to encourage them to sign up.

Enhancing Visibility with SEO

Use important words like "cannabis events [city]" in your website titles and descriptions.
Make sure your website has the right titles, descriptions, and images for search engines.
Link to your event from blog posts and put it on event and cannabis websites.
Keep your business profiles on Google and Apple Maps updated with your event details.

By mixing these approaches, you can get the word out about your dispensary events. Remember, it’s all about making it personal, offering something special, and keeping your messages consistent across different online places.

Content is Key

Making sure you have interesting and useful content is really important if you want people to pay attention to your dispensary events. Good content shows you know your stuff and gives people more than just an invite.

Learn Something New

Share tips and how-tos to show you’re an expert. Think about making a cool chart about different types of cannabis or a video on how to use certain products.
Have a Q&A session during your event and put the video online later. Let folks send in questions before it starts to kick off the conversation.
Put together a simple list of cannabis terms. Post it online and have some copies ready at your events.
Talk to people who’ve been coming to your dispensary for a while and share their stories online.
Write about what happened at past events, including photos and links to any useful info that was given out.

Fun Stuff to Do

Get people to post about your event on social media. Come up with a unique hashtag and maybe even a contest for the best post.
Set up a place where people can take pictures with cool props and share them right away.
Run a contest for the best cannabis recipe or something similar, either before or after your event.
Create a game card for things to do leading up to the event, like "Posted on Facebook" or "Joined a Contest".
Make quick quizzes or polls about things related to your event. These are fun ways to get people involved.

Good content and online activities help keep people interested in your events, both before and after they happen.

Collaboration and Partnerships

Working together with influencers, experts, and other brands that fit well with your dispensary can really help get more people interested in your events. Here’s why it’s a good idea:

Expand Your Audience

When you team up with influencers and experts, you get to share your event with their followers too. Look for people on social media, bloggers, or industry experts who already have the attention of the kind of people you want at your event. You could offer them something nice in return for talking about your event or even showing up. For instance, you could work with a well-known cannabis chef for a cooking show or have a health expert talk about the benefits of medical marijuana. Their fans might become interested in your event.

Add Credibility

Having well-known experts or brands join your event makes it seem more important and trustworthy. If you bring in respected brands that you sell or invite known experts for talks, people will see your event as more valuable.

Unite Complementary Audiences

Try to find partners whose fans might be different from yours but would still enjoy your event. Maybe a vape brand’s followers aren’t the same as those interested in edibles. By bringing these groups together, you can attract a larger crowd and create a sense of community.

Optimize Partnerships

Make sure you and your partners are on the same page about what you want from the event. Talk openly and set goals like how many people you want to come, how much you want to be talked about online, etc. Share the spotlight with your partners in all your event promotions and give them a visible role during the event itself.

By working with the right people and brands, you can reach more people, make your event seem more exciting and important, and bring together different kinds of cannabis fans. This can lead to more people coming to your events.

Navigating Legal Considerations

When you’re spreading the word about your dispensary events online, it’s super important to play by the rules. Here’s what you need to keep an eye on:

Age Verification

Make sure people prove they’re old enough (21+) before they can RSVP or see event details on your site.
You could use a system that checks their info against public records to confirm their age.
At the event, double-check everyone’s IDs. Scanners can help with this.

Responsible Messaging

Try not to use too many weed pictures in your event ads. Focus more on the learning or community aspect.
Talk more about what the event is for, not just about using cannabis.
Always remind people that only those 21+ with a valid ID can get cannabis.

Privacy Regulations

Only add people to your email or SMS lists if they say it’s okay. Don’t buy lists of contacts.
Make it easy for people to stop getting messages from you.
Have someone in charge of making sure you handle personal info correctly.

Advertising Rules

Check your local laws before you put your event on social media or other websites. Some places have strict rules.
Stay away from clear weed ads, like search ads or paying influencers to talk about your event.

Permitting & Zoning

Make sure you have the right permits for things like using the space, putting up signs, having speakers, or food trucks.
If you’re letting people use cannabis at your event, the place must follow specific rules about where it can be.

Talking to legal experts and keeping up with the rules can help make sure your digital marketing doesn’t get you in trouble. It’s all about being careful and making sure everyone has a good time, legally.

Post-Event Engagement

After your dispensary event is over, it’s important to keep the conversation going. This helps keep the excitement alive and makes sure people remember your event. Here’s how to do it:

Recaps and Highlights

Share a video or photo album on social media showing the best moments from your event. Ask people who went to tag themselves and share the memories.
Send a thank you email to everyone who came, with a summary of the event and any important information or resources they should have.
Write a blog post that talks about what happened at the event, what people learned, and include pictures or videos from attendees.

User-Generated Content

Have a contest on social media for the best photos or videos taken by attendees. Give away prizes to get more people to share.
Share good posts from people who went to your event on your own social media, and say thank you by tagging them. This makes people feel special and encourages others to join in next time.
Put together the best posts, photos, or feedback from attendees and show them off in your dispensary or on your website.

Lead Nurturing

Group event attendees by how interested they seem and send them emails with content that matches their interests.
Ask people what they thought of your event through a survey. Use what you learn to make your next event even better.
Give people who went to your event special offers, early access to new products, or exclusive deals to keep them interested in your dispensary.

Keeping in touch after an event is key to turning people who came into loyal fans and customers. Simple, personal, and creative follow-ups can make a big difference.

Conclusion

When you use smart online methods to tell people about your dispensary events, you can really boost the number of folks who show up. Mixing together things like social media, emails, and making sure your event pops up in online searches can help spread the word far and wide.

But remember, it’s super important to think about who you’re trying to reach. Use what you know about their likes and dislikes to make your messages hit home. And don’t forget to follow the rules about advertising cannabis events to avoid any trouble.

By keeping things creative, personal, and above board, you can make your dispensary’s events the talk of the town. This means not just throwing a great event, but also talking about it in the right way before, during, and after it happens.

If you manage to provide unique and valuable experiences consistently, you’ll see more and more cannabis fans eager to join your next event. This way, the excitement on the internet turns into real benefits for your business.

How can I promote my dispensary?

Here are some simple ways to get more people to know about your dispensary:

Start a program that rewards customers for coming back.
Use text messages to tell people about deals and get them to visit.
Create a referral program so happy customers can tell their friends.
Use social media platforms that are okay with cannabis content to share interesting posts.
Try retargeting ads to remind people who visited your website to come back.
Use paid search ads to show up when people search for things related to cannabis.

Mixing different online methods can help more people learn about your dispensary.

How can I increase my dispensary traffic?

To get more people to visit your dispensary:

Share fun and useful posts on social media like Instagram and Facebook.
Write blog posts that talk about cannabis products and what’s new.
Send out emails with special offers and news about your dispensary.
Use Google Ads to appear in searches for local cannabis topics.
Work with local media for joint promotions.
Organize events like product launches or holiday celebrations.

Using a variety of online ways to reach people where they already spend time helps bring them to your dispensary.

How much should a dispensary budget for marketing?

Dispensaries usually spend between 3% and 9% of their monthly sales on marketing. For example:

If you make $100K a month, you might spend $3K-$9K on marketing.
If you make $500K a month, your marketing budget might be $15K-$45K.

Your location, competition, and goals can affect how much you should spend. Starting out, try to use 6-8% of your sales for marketing so you can really spread the word. Watch closely to see what works best and put more money into those areas.

It’s smart to spread your marketing budget across different ways to reach people, whether they’re just learning about you or they’re already customers.