This is the second article in our two-part series on marketing your cannabis dispensary to the right people, in the right place, at the right time. In this piece, we discuss 4 cannabis dispensary marketing tips to help you reach 30% of the cannabis consuming market in the USA.
If you’d like to read Part 1, How To Market Your Dispensary To Baby Boomers, go here.
Cannabis Dispensary Marketing Tips For Selling Weed To Gen Xers
The first thing to understand about cannabis dispensary marketing, post-legalization, is that cannabis is a consumer packaged good and should be viewed as a CPG item when it comes to marketing your bud.
Cannabis dispensary marketing may sound super simple and easy to the uneducated and inexperienced, but anyone who’s in the game will disagree and with good reason.
If you’ve been trying to market legal cannabis – recreational or medical – you know all about the strict regulations with your online payment processor, coupled with the tight (read: ridiculous) advertising restrictions with Google or Facebook, makes marketing your cannabis dispensary a huge challenge.
However, the good news is that we’re going to breakdown how to market a cannabis retail store and online dispensary to Gen Xers.
This cohort/cannabis buyer personas is already primed to consume and enjoy cannabis on a medical or recreational level. If you’re not specifically targeting your marketing messages to people in these demos, you could be missing out on thousands of dollars of monthly revenue.
Continue reading to understand why it makes good sense to market your cannabis dispensary to these two consumer groups.
Here are 4 ways to market your online cannabis dispensary or retail store to Gen X.
How To Market Your Cannabis Dispensary To Gen Xers
In order to effectively market your cannabis store to Gen X, you need to first understand who these people are. So let’s define for yah purposes of this article who Gen x is.
According to cannabisreportworld.com, Gen X is sandwiched between baby boomers and millennials and grew up operating under the radar.
“As marketers drooled over those larger adjoining generations, Gen Xers went about their business, rejecting baby-boomer mindsets, perfecting latchkey-kid independence and resisting definition.”
Look at Gen Xers as people between 39 and 54 years of age in 2020, and that were born between 1965 and 1980.
Guess what? These people are now at the peak of their earning potential and spending power.
According to a 2017 Pew Research report, Gen X makes up 33% of the workforce in the USA. Cannabis data experts BDS Analytics says Gen X accounts for 30% of the cannabis-consuming public in fully legal states.
Sounds like a super great target demographic to focus your cannabis marketing on right?
Here are 4 reasons to focus your cannabis dispensary marketing on Gen Xers.
1. Gen X Value Their Personal Health & Wellness
This demographic is highly motivated by their personal health and wellness, especially with female Gen Xers.
The females in the cohort represent a huge opportunity for revenue for cannabis dispensaries that target their marketing messaging to females specifically.
Data from Jessica Lukas, vice president of consumer insights at BDS Analytics, revealed that Gen X is health-conscious.
“About 50% of them put a high priority on taking care of themselves, and 66% believe marijuana is healthier than alcohol,” she says. “It’s not surprising that cannabis is part of their personal health and personal wellness.”
Even better news is that the female cannabis customers in this demo are growing at double the rate of men. Jennifer McLaughlin, vice president of merchandising for cannabis operator Calyx Peak Companies says:
“Female cannabis consumers in this age group are growing at double the rate of men, they’re under pressure and stress, looking to have control of their health. They’re looking for their health and wellness go-to’s. Cannabis is falling into that group for them.”
Pro Tip: Use this data when creating your blog content marketing and when writing ad copy and optimizing audience targeting in your Google Ad campaigns.
2. The Gen X Cohort Represents The Average Cannabis Consumer
Check this out. Gen X aligns with the average for all cannabis consumers, across age groups.
The data from BDS Analytics breaks down the average cannabis customer in the USA in adult-use states:
- ~ 60% prefer inhalables
- ~ 30% prefer edibles
- ~ 10% prefer topicals
It looks pretty much exactly the same for Gen Xers, with just a slightly higher preference for edibles versus topicals. Interesting huh?
Lukas says this group is “kind of what you’d expect—a combination of consumption preferences and a combination of the reasons why they consume.”
Pro Tip: If you sell a variety of cannabis products and are targeting everyone, stop. Try to focus on edibles and target them specifically to Gen Xers. Create copy and creative that reflects the Gen X lifestyle and speaks to 39-54-year-olds.
3. Cannabis Consumption Habits Fit Gen X Needs & Preferences
When it comes to consuming cannabis every generation is different based on time day, day of the week, etc.
However, when it comes to needs, Gen X demands solutions for pain relief, stress management, and recreation. Cannabis can be their first choice if your marketing strategy is on point.
Data from BDS Analytics says that:
- 71% of Gen Xers in adult-use states consume cannabis for recreational & social reasons, with inhalables being their typical choice.
- 57% consume cannabis for health/medical reasons with topicals leading the way.
This demographic is certainly into smoking weed, but they are also more open-minded to trying THC edibles, and soon cannabis-infused beverages.
Pro Tip: This is the demo to market to if you’re trying to sell THC edibles online and if you’re planning on selling cannabis-infused beverages in your dispensary. When it comes to cannabis, Gen X is not tied to one type of consumption method.
4. Convenience and Clarity Matters to Gen X
Since this Gen X is the busiest generation of cannabis consumers, the most successful way to market your cannabis dispensary to this demographic is to add convenience to their purchase journey.
Make it as easy, seamless, and convenient for them as possible. This means ensuring a super good user experience on your cannabis dispensary website.
A smart dispensary marketing strategy will offer convenience-oriented services, like cannabis delivery or drive-thru dispensary options.
Gen X loves being able to order anything they want online and to have it delivered or to pick it up. They’re already doing this daily on Amazon, Uber, or with food delivery apps.
Once again, Gen X females find these types of convenience-oriented services attractive & appealing.
Pro Tip: Make sure your cannabis marketing messaging speaks to females in a clear, concise, and appealing manner and watch your sales soar.
We Can Help Execute Your Cannabis Dispensary Marketing Strategy
This was the 2nd article in a series. If you’d like to read part 1, please follow this link: 4 Tips To Market Cannabis To Baby Boomers.
If everything you read above sounds like something you’d like to implement in your brand’s cannabis dispensary marketing plan, we can help you.
Contact us for a free 30-minute phone conultation or email us to request a quote.
We’re Ready To Help You Grow!