Welcome to High On Marketing - A weekly newsletter where I show you how to strengthen your email marketing strategy for your cannabis brand. Learn how to nurture your audience, increase retention rates, and sell more weed.

Today’s Email:

• 5 Step Strategy For Converting Followers Into Customers

• How To Optimize Each Step Of Your Sales Funnel

• What You Can Do Today

Let’s Roll 🛼

Every marketer talks about AIDA. The universal framework for creating compelling content.

Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.

But they’re missing one crucial element; and that is “R” - Retention.

Today I’ll be showing you how you can use AIDA(R) to create a sales funnel for your cannabis marketing strategy.

This strategy is intended to turn followers into customers, and take your audience on a journey from introduction of your brand, all the way to post-purchase where you ensure that they’ll come back!

Let’s get started⬇️

1. Awareness:

Purpose: The first step is to make potential customers aware of your brand and what you offer. It's about casting a wide net to attract as many interested people as possible.

Examples and Strategy:

• Social Media Campaigns: Your social media pages should be used to get people to your website. Learn to post about your products/brand without actually posting about them; get your audience curious, then encourage them to “Discover More”.

• Local SEO and Google My Business: Optimize your online presence so local customers can easily find your dispensary when searching for cannabis products online.

• Community Events: Sponsor local events or host educational workshops about cannabis, showcasing your expertise and building community relations. My favorite dispensary in MD does pop-up events all the time with their local growers. Always brings in a crowd.

2. Interest:

Purpose: Once you've caught the attention of potential customers, the next step is to build their interest in your products and brand. This phase is about educating your audience and showcasing your value proposition.

Examples and Strategy:

• Educational Content: Share blog posts or videos on your website and social media about the benefits of cannabis, how to choose strains, or the latest industry trends. Be careful to not use any terms that’ll get your account banned.

• Email Newsletters: Offer a subscription to an email newsletter that provides exclusive content, industry insights, or special offers, encouraging followers to engage with your brand.

3. Desire:

Purpose: Transform interest into a concrete desire to visit your dispensary. Highlight what sets you apart and create an emotional connection with your audience.

Examples and Strategy:

• Exclusive Offers: Promote in-store exclusive products, discounts, or loyalty programs through your digital channels, emphasizing the benefits of visiting your dispensary.

• Customer Testimonials and Reviews: Share positive experiences from other customers to build trust and showcase the quality of your products and customer service.

• Behind the Scenes: Offer a virtual tour of your dispensary on your website or social media, giving potential customers a taste of the shopping experience they can expect.

4. Action:

Purpose: The final push to convert interest into action, encouraging followers to physically visit your dispensary and make a purchase.

Examples and Strategy:

• In-Store Events: Host events, workshops, or meet-and-greets at your dispensary to draw people in. Promote these events widely across all your digital platforms.

• Click-and-Collect Reservations: While you can't sell cannabis products online, you can allow customers to reserve products to pick up in-store.

• Location-Based Promotions: Use geo-targeting through social media ads or SMS marketing to send special offers to people near your dispensary, encouraging them to stop by.

5. Retention:

Purpose: Once you create customers, the focus shifts to retaining them. Satisfied customers are more likely to return and can become brand advocates.

Examples and Strategy:

• Loyalty Programs: Offer a loyalty program that rewards customers for their purchases with discounts, freebies, or access to exclusive products.

• Feedback Loops: Encourage customers to leave reviews and feedback, and show that you value this input by responding and making adjustments as needed.

• Community Engagement: Continue engaging with your community through social media, email newsletters, and in-store events, keeping your brand top of mind and fostering a sense of belonging among your customers.

Remember, your social media accounts can get banned at anytime for talking about cannabis; you should be trying to get people to sign up for your newsletter where you own your audience.

That’s where the real exclusive offers are😉

Learn the secrets to creating loyal cannabis customers here!

I like to think about sales funnels like I’m taking a trip to the grocery store.

In some stores (Walmart sometimes)

• You’re greeted by an employee upon entry

• Asked if you need help finding anything

• Assisted in locating products

• Rang up by an employee

• “Have a nice day” when you leave

It’s a pretty basic example, but your sales funnel should work similarly.

Your customers are on a journey and you’re there to assist them every step of the way.

What You Can Do Today:

Start by auditing your top of funnel (TOFU) content - this is gonna primarily be your social media posts.

We can’t promote cannabis products on social media directly; so you need to establish your brand as a reliable source of information and goings-on in the canna-verse.

You need to learn how to hook your followers in and leave them wanting more.

This is where some experimentation and testing comes in:

Create content that tailors to a common pain point felt by cannabis users (anxiety, depression, insomnia, pain).

• Nighttime routine to help you fall asleep

• 5 minute breathing exercise for anxiety

• 5 ways to boost your buzz

Things that most cannabis users would find helpful and that you know will resonate with your audience.

Provide real value; that’s the key to building trust.

The people that find value in your content will be inclined to learn more about what your brand has to offer.

That’s where your CTA comes in:

“Click The Link In Our Bio To {achieve desirable outcome}”

This could be linked to a blog post, product page, email subscribe form, etc.

It’s about casting a wide net and separating followers from customers (both important)!

It’s also about consistency; come up with a strategy/schedule of high-value cannabis-related content, and stick to it.

If you do this, you’ll start funneling your audience into the next step of your sales process - Interest (the link in your bio).

Okay I’m done rambling.

Happy Funneling!

Steve

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