How To Market Your Dispensary Effectively To Everyone and Every Age Group
An exciting fact about being involved in the cannabis and CBD business is that there are millions of new people interested in potentially buying your new products and services. The challenge is how to market your dispensary to a brand new market.
A problem that exists with marketing in cannabis industry is that some industry leaders seem to be marketing to everyone indistinguishably, rather than segmenting marketing to unique cannabis consumers and cohorts.
For example, some licenced producers and dispensaries focus their marketing strategy towards millennials and forget about middle aged Generation X stoners, curious silver haired baby boomers, and the silent generation.
It’s highly apparent in plenty of CBD advertising geared to an athletic or active lifestyle. We’ve all seen these posts promoting pain management post work out’s, after long hikes, or whatever.
Sure, this type of advertising would work super well in promoting your dispensary on Snapchat and Instagram, but you’re ignoring a huge and highly lucrative older demographic on Facebook and LinkedIn, who are need of opioid alternatives for pain management and other ailments.
Marijuana Business Magazine reports that the best way to market your dispensary is to ensure your cannabis marketing, advertising, and customer outreach focus on the following audience segments:
- Millennials (ages 18-37) *19+ in Canada. 21+ in the United States
- Generation X (ages 38-54)
- Baby Boomers (ages 55-74)
- The Silent Generation (ages 75-94)
We broke down 5 similar cannabis consumer segments in this article Why Your Dispensary Marketing Plan Must Put Your Target Consumers First.
This post will discuss how you can market your dispensary using age-specific marketing, advertising, and consumer outreach strategies to convert these main consumer target segments in to repeat customers.
1. How To Market Your Dispensary To Millennials
Marketing your dispensary’s cannabis and CBD products to millennials is relatively easy using social media, as long as you remain compliant. There’s always the possibility of having your cannabis account
This demographic is all over Snapchat & Instagram every day and in order to keep these potential customers engaged your dispensary marketing strategy should include high-quality, informative, and educational cannabis and CBD content each day.
According to Chuck Underwood, founder and principal of The Generational Imperative, “what will work in dispensaries and in generic marketing and advertising is a really cut-the-crap, give-it-to-me-straight educational campaign”.
Millennials are unique to the other 3 cannabis marketing segments in that they are the early adopters to all new technology. These people are an empowered and engaged demographic who expect dispensaries and other businesses to demonstrate social responsibility and to support causes.
This generation is very health conscious and may not enjoy smoking cannabis but instead may flock to edibles and infused beverages.
How Your Dispensary Can Reach Millennials
Your dispensary’s social media content management should include daily posts that resonate group dynamics, team player aesthetic, with upbeat and optimistic tone in its copy.
Include Snapchat and Instagram as primary social media platforms in your dispensary marketing plan. Include branded video and high quality photos of your cannabis strains, CBD products, and your budtenders inside your retail store.
In addition to videos and photos in your daily Instagram posts, you should include an Instagram story every day with at least 3-cards total.
You can publish and post more video on Instagram outside or the users feed because Instagram also offers live streaming as well as long-form video on IGTV.
The key to marketing your dispensary on social media is to always be up-to-date, familiar, and in tune with the platforms that millennials use. Understand how they use them and the type of content that motivates them to take action.
It’s super important to note the interests and behaviours above and segment your dispensary advertising strategy accordingly. Your advertising copy and creative needs to align directly
2. How To Market Your Dispensary To Generation X
The Generation X cannabis consumer is unique because they are more skeptical of marketing and brand messaging. This group prefers evidence-based marketing material and transparency both in the brand and its claims.
Social media can help market your dispensary to this demographic just as well as it helps you market to millennials. However, this demographic will favour Facebook over Snapchat but will also use Instagram and LinkedIn.
Since this group reacts well to nostalgia than most other consumer segments, social media posts like #ThrowbackThursday and #FlashbackFriday can get your dispensary a ton of reach and a boost in engagement if used with the right content on the right platforms.
In addition to nostalgic content types, educational content will make a difference with this generation because they’ve been inundated with anti-cannabis propaganda their whole lives.
Other behaviours to note about Generation X that will help market your dispensary are the fact that they put family first, value self-reliance and/or individualism. Your dispensary’s advertising content needs to match these beliefs in order to successfully convert this demographic.
How You Dispensary Can Reach Generation X
This is the Facebook section of your dispensary marketing plan. If
Gen X likes to verify advertising claims from any brand, especially cannabis brands, with their own trusted sources. Facebook effectively allows for this by showing “social proof” that your friends likes or follows a cannabis business page or recently commented on a CBD related post.
In addition to digital media, Gen X still relies on mainstream media like print, newspapers, television, and radio for their daily information. So traditional advertising for your dispensary could work for you if you’re able to produce dispensary advertising creative that will be approved.
If not, your dispensary marketing plan could include a direct mail campaign. Eighty-six percent of Generation X people check their snail mail every day and 68% use coupons that they received on the mail.
Regardless of the medium you choose, digital marketing or a traditional dispensary marketing strategy, your dispensary marketing plan should include fact-based messaging on the wellness and therapeutic uses of cannabis with an emphasis on discreation and ease of use.
Other dispensary marketing messaging to consider as Generation X ages is that cannabis may be used as an alternative to alcohol for this demo. In the same way, prescription and over the counter medications could easily be replaced by CBD oil for Gen X.
3. How To Market Your Dispensary To Baby Boomers
Have you thought about marketing your dispensary to baby boomers? By now you can see that marketing cannabis or CBD to everyone is ineffective.
Age-specific dispensary marketing is the key.
Marketing your dispensary to boomers requires a different approach to cannabis marketing than one would implement with there former 2 generations.
For example, Boomers do not want to be reminded of their age so lifestyle marketing needs to be strategic.
The following words should never be used in any of your dispensary advertising targeted to baby boomers:
- Senior citizen
- Retiree
- Aging
- Golden years
Silveryears Prime time - Mature
Also, avoid slang, intimidating cannabis related jargon which can include complicated names of your strains.
Instead, focus on this group’s interests in active and healthy lifestyles without reminding them if their age. Always avoid negativity and cynicism when speaking to boomers.
This generation also regards cannabis with a looser attitude because of their association to the 1960s, Woodstock, and peace and love era.
Boomers are known to have a strong worth ethic, they are optimistic, and when trust is built with a brand, they are super brand loyal.
This demo has the “forever young” attitude and, similar to millennials, being empowered and engaged is important to boomers.
How You Dispensary Can Reach Baby Boomers
Since baby boomers are known to be users who research extensively before buying products, we highly recommend search engine optimization (SEO) for every cannabis marketing strategy, including for dispensary marketing.
Baby boomers are actively searching Google and Bing for information related to the health benefits cannabis and CBD oil. Your content needs to be found on Page 1 of these search queries.
SEO allows your dispensary to be known as experts in cannabis and CBD products if your website content shows up regularly for cannabis, CBD, and weed related searches. Plus, SEO generates awesome awareness of your dispensary online.
Publishing highly relevant blog content that is SEO optimized with a keyword strategy is the way to get your website found on Page 1 for dispensary related searches.
Facebook is the other best social media platform to reach baby boomers with your dispensary marketing.
This demo are the most frequent and active users of Facebook than any other generation. They are also more likely than other generations to share information on Facebook.
Similar to millennials, video content works really well with baby boomers. 27% of boomers regularly watch video on Facebook each day.
Post relevant, fun, informational video content from inside your dispensary to effectively reach this group.
4. How To Market Your Dispensary To The Silent Generation
You may think there are some similarities with the silent generation and baby boomers. You may be right.
However, it’s most important to note the differences between these two generations to effectively be able to market your dispensary to them.
Dedication, sacrifice and patriotism are most important to the silent generation.
This generation is the most traditional and conservative than all other generations. They also have a much higher respect for authority and can be more hesitant to accept social change like cannabis legalization.
The good news is that this older demographic is eager to try new things.
They are a cost-conscious generation but at the same time are also more free-spending than any generation that has come before.
This customer is actually much different from the baby boomers when it comes to marketing your dispensary or cannabis marketing overall.
Is this demo interested in smoking flower? Would they favour edibles over concentrates? Or is this demo only interested in the health benefits of CBD?
You need to be most careful with marketing your dispensary to the silent generation because they will not support brands whos advertising promotes counter-culture, control, and/or rebelliousness.
Also, references to protests and drugs, like cannabis legalization, will not resonate with this generation.
How You Dispensary Can Reach The Silent Generation
You can use social media to promote your dispensary to the silent generation if you use Facebook and Facebook only. Almost 59% of this generation is active on Facebook.
These people are the most active consumers of mainstream media and are most likley to read and respond to print advertising.
It will be a challenge to market to this group but your dispensary marketing can be effective if you produce unique creative and ad copy targeting this group and serve it to them using Facebook.
Keep the messaging of your content related to celebrating family values, a hard work ethic, and fond childhood memories of this generations specifically.
We Can Help You Market Your Dispensary
Are you ready to start a cannabis digital marketing strategy to promote your dispensary?
If so, we can help you craft a unique dispensary marketing strategy for each of the 4 market segments listed above.
Our experienced team of cannabis marketers can help your dispensary by providing managed services that include social media management, social media advertising, content marketing, and Google advertising.
We’re also super skilled at custom website development and SEO.
If you have a project in mind, please contact us using the form below.
We’re ready to help you grow!
[download_1]
[linked_image_1]
