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:

• 7 Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Dispo Using Emails

• Actionable Tips You Can Use Today

• 15 In-Store Promotion Ideas to Fill Your Dispensary (at the end)

Let’s Roll 🛼

When I first started in marketing, I couldn’t comprehend how emails could have such a massive impact on foot traffic for a brick-and-mortar store.

And especially in the cannabis industry (where we’re limited on the amount of promoting or advertising we can do already), getting folks into your store is the #1 priority.

Here’s 7 ways you can use your emails to drive traffic to your dispensary.

1. Exclusive In-Store Promotions:

Yeah, no sh*t.

But seriously, a full queue is what you want at your store. You have to make your promotions that are only redeemable in-store irresistible.

And that’s not just by giving a massive discount every time.

Incentives come in all forms (not just savings). In order to peak their interest in your promo, you need to promote something relevant to the individual.

Create promotions for different segments of your audience with the CTA being to stop in to your shop to receive the deal.

Use purchase history and product preferences from each segment to create bundle deals with similar products, BOGO, etc.

But the key is having different promos for different audience members.

Don’t promote tincture bundle deals to customers that only smoke flower.

Getting your customers in-store is the ultimate goal, so you need to put the time and energy into giving them a reason to stop by.

Relevancy > Savings

But….

Relevancy + Savings = $ales!

2. Event Invites:

Hosting community events is another obvious one, but there’s a caveat…

I’ve been to events hosted by local businesses that were boring af and obviously only had one intention: Making sales.

What people don’t realize is creating an enjoyable atmosphere where you’re providing entertainment, value, and benefiting your community will bring you more sales than a hundred billboards will.

I went to a cannabis event recently that had:

• Live music

• Pet adoptions

• Local artists

• Food trucks

• Raffles

• Spin-the-wheel for prizes

And then also had local cultivators, vendors, and awesome deals in-store all day.

The focus was more on the fun stuff, and not too pushy or salesy.

Unsurprisingly, they had a line out the door all damn day.

3. Personalized Product Recommendations:

Relevant product recommendations > Bulk discounts

It’s pretty easy to anticipate which products your customers might like using customer data you already have.

Some smokers like to try lots of different strains, brands, or consumption methods…

But most have certain preferences and stick to the same type of products with each purchase.

Analyze purchase history and usage intent to determine what products to recommend.

For the Wellness User: Recommend low-dose products that offer a full-range of cannabis relief without the psychoactive effects.

For the Recreational User: Upsell products similar to what they purchase on a regular basis; recommend concentrates to vape-smokers, point out deals on half oz to customers that buy 8ths regularly.

For the Medicinal User: Products known for their relief of chronic conditions; topicals for pain, high-CBD for stress, etc.

For the Connoisseur: Rare or craft strains (small batch), premium accessories, gourmet edibles.

The better you understand your customers desired outcome when buying weed, the more relevant and direct your product recommendations will be.

Which leads me to my next point…

4. Make Your CTA’s More Direct:

And by direct I mean direct them to your store!

Your CTA needs to tell them exactly what to do next.

Imagine a stranger approaches you asking for directions to a restaurant that you’ve been to a hundred times and you know exactly where it is.

• They have a problem (they’re lost)

• You have the solution (you know the way)

• You tell them exactly how to get there (offering solution)

You’re customers are the same. They have a problem, you have the solution, you tell them exactly how they can solve their problem.

Subject line presents a problem, your copy agitates the problem, your CTA solves the problem.

5. Loyalty Program Perks:

Loyalty programs are grossly underrated… Just look at some of these stats:

• 57% of consumers spend more on brands to which they are loyal. (Accenture)

• The average American consumer belongs to 16.7 customer loyalty programs. (Bond Brand Loyalty)

• 60% of loyal customers will purchase more frequently from their preferred companies (Hubspot).

Loyalty programs are a crucial element of your canna brand; loyal customers engage with content more, and make more purchases than “fair weather” fans.

Create an irresistible loyalty program for your customers filled with value, savings, and other exclusives.

Funnel your VIP customers through your dispo doors by creating personalized incentives encouraging in-person visits.

Want to hear more about the VIP treatment? Click here to learn how to identify and target your most valuable customers!

6. Show Them You’re Better:

Whatever it is that sets your brand apart from your competitors should be highlighted in each piece of content you produce.

Most of your customers prefer to have a “homebase” dispensary that they frequent. They’re looking for a reason to be loyal to one brand.

Imagine your applying for the job of being the first-choice dispensary for your customer; you have to show them that you’re the best dispo for the job!

What do you differently? What do you do BETTER?

It can be anything!

Example: There’s TONS of cannabis copywriters, marketers, ghostwriters, you name it.

In order to compete and stand out, I decided to create the most comprehensive cannabis marketing newsletter I could. I try to cover as much information in each piece I write in an attempt to be the best all-in-one cannabis marketing newsletter out there.

I regularly promote my newsletter on LinkedIn reiterating the sentiment that “I’ll teach you EVERYTHING you need to know about {topic}.”

That’s my value proposition. Find yours, and don’t shut up about it!

7. Feedback/Surveys:

Survey your customers post-visit; what did they like or not like? Use the responses to refine your customer experience.

Make the in-store experience comfortable, simple, and helpful!

Always ask your audience what you can be doing to improve their shopping experience. Your customers appreciate a brand that is trying their best to give them the best experience, and products possible!

To Wrap It All Up…

Followers and online engagement are great for brand awareness and virality, but in-store visits is what you need for your brand to thrive.

You already have this entire list of cannabis users who have shown at least a little bit of interest in your brand by signing up for regular contact.

You should be funneling those subscribers to your dispo everyday.

Each email you send is an opportunity to strengthen the relationship with your customers and drive them to your physical locations.

By focusing on tailored content, exclusive (relevant) offers, and engaging event invitations, you can transform your email list into a powerful tool for increasing in-store foot traffic.

Happy Promoting!

Steve

P.S. As promised, here’s 15 in-store promotion ideas for your cannabis brand!