The cannabis industry is still relatively new, but with the movement to legalize cannabis for medical and recreational use sweeping across North America and much of the western world, the industry is blossoming.
More states are moving to legalize weed and capitalize on this growing industry that provides well-paid jobs, increases tax revenue, and boosts economic activity.
It’s an excellent time to have a cannabusiness in the US or Canada.
Even with the chaos of 2020 and COVID-19 hitting the economy hard, this market sector saw impressive growth.
It also seems recession-proof; high inflation rates and increased interest rates have yet to dampen consumer confidence in this sector.
A Global Newswire article from September 2020 citing the BDSA forecast global cannabis sales would reach $19.7 Billion, up 38% over 2019 sales of $14.8 Billion.
Perhaps all these lockdowns and the rising anxiety levels have driven sales for the relaxing marijuana plant and paraphernalia.
However, as cannabis in the USA is still illegal at a federal level, restrictions on financing loans and legal services and online promotions mean that starting in this industry can be fraught with difficulties, especially for those without significant financial resources to rely on.
Supposing you’ve already navigated the business licenses set up shop and are ready to start selling, you’ll need to attract a slew of new customers to generate sales to turn a profit and make your business viable. But one of the most significant drawbacks that can make or break you is attracting new customers through promoting your business online.
Paid advertisements, whether through social services like Instagram and Facebook or search engines like Google or Bing, are all closed off to this industry. Even when filtered targeting ensures that those who can legally buy your products will see your advertisement, these platforms won’t run your ads. Even if you don’t sell cannabis, they will lock you out of the largest online marketing platforms.
So you will have to rely on optimizing your website and thinking outside the box when raising brand awareness and running promotions.
1 Website Structure and Setup
The biggest mistake most people make when setting up a webpage is to rush in and start making pages without thinking about how they link and connect or how the user experience is for navigating those pages and finding the products they want. Take some time and draw a diagram of the intended site’s structure. You want to structure your website and set it up to be SEO-friendly.
The structure of your website plays an essential part in how effective your SEO will be.
Each main page should have relevant supporting pages under them.
For example, check the Lookah headshop; the main category, “Vaporizers,” has the subcategories Dab & Wax Pen, Portable Electric Dab Rigs, Dry Herb Vaporizer, etc.
Beneath that are subcategories or products as needed.
This sort of webpage design is called a silo structure.
The more important pages, the category pages, should be the level beneath your home page. Then subcategories and products, respectively, would be under those.
Let’s assume we have set up a new headshop in Denver and will have an online presence for the business as well as serve walk-in customers.
A silo structure for the webpage may look a little similar to the diagram below. With main page -> category -> subcategory-> products.
A clean design makes it easier for your site to be indexed by search engines; this means better ranking and more traffic.
Ensure you name each page according to the primary keywords you want it to rank for, and fill out the metadata for each page. This metadata signals to Google what each page is about. Name pictures on the site with relevant keywords.
2 Get Your Website Indexed
Search engines like Google and Bing index webpages by reading the source code of the site and sending bots, sometimes called spiders, to crawl the site and check where all the links go to. In order to have your site indexed, you should register with the search engine consoles and add the site directory (a list of all the pages on your site) to the search engine to be crawled and indexed. Some website development and web hosting services will provide these services for you, but if not, making a sitemap and sending it to the main search engines to get your site listed is a simple task you can do yourself. For Google, set up a Google Search Console account. Select the sitemap menu under the index section. Then upload or add the URL for the sitemap of your webpage and click submit. It can take anywhere from two to six weeks to get your page indexed. But there are ways to speed this process up, such as link building.
3 SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Since you can’t get to the top of search results and be found by customers through paid ads, you need to optimize your website to maximize the traffic you can obtain from search engines. The good news is that this traffic is free, and you don’t need to spend big bucks to access it. The bad news is that there is only so much of it, and plenty of competitors are vying for the same rankings.
To get any significant traffic from search engine queries, you must be on the first page, ideally in the top three results.
When it comes to getting an edge over your competitors and ranking on the first page for cannabis keyword queries, content is king. Whether it’s a product page, a category page, the about us page, or a blog article, each page of your website should target set “keyword phrases.” It should also be the most informative and authoritative source of information for that keyword phrase.
If you have an online headshop selling bongs, you want to target all the keywords about bongs and describe the differences, pros, cons, etc., of each type of bong you sell. Making and adding authoritative content to each category and subcategory page, along with pictures, will help those pages rank for the relevant keywords prospective customers will search for when looking for your products online.
4 Creating Great Content
Great content will keep delivering free traffic to your site indefinitely and should offer the following.
· It provides data that isn’t available elsewhere.
· It is easy to read and understand yet comprehensive enough to cover all user questions on the topic.
· It satisfies the users’ intent when they type a query into a search engine and click through to your content.
To create this content, you have to think like your customers. What do they want to know about? What questions do they have about your services or products?
Try to create evergreen content; by this, we mean content that won’t expire after a time. It is great to write articles about new product launches or local news about cannabis legislation and what that means for your community, but evergreen content is timeless. A couple of examples of such articles could be “how to clean a bong,” “how to roll the perfect joint,” “how to get reclaim from a dab rig.”
The basics of these example articles will be the same today as last year and still be relevant in five years’ time, so you won’t need to go back and update them, and the information won’t become outdated and redundant.
5 Get Links and Citations from Business Directories
It may sound old-school, but people do actually use business directorates to find local businesses. As well as the big sites, you should also look for local directories such as the local Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau, and don’t forget the cannabis niche directories such as Leafly, WeedMaps, MedicalJane, etc. Many of these list dispensaries and other marijuana businesses and services for free.
Yelp Listing
Yelp averages over 178 million unique visitors every month. It’s good for local businesses with a brick-and-mortar location. Other search engines draw info from these, so it helps build out your online presence and authenticates your brand.
Google Listing
If you want to appear on the top of Google’s local search results, and who wouldn’t want that, you should be sure to register your web page and store on Google Business Pages.
Ensure you set up your correct address, phone number, and opening hours. This also shows on map results and offers directions to your site. Google allows users to review local businesses, so try to invite customers to leave you a rating by mentioning it to your customers when they visit your store and on email footers or social media accounts.
Bing Business Listing
Bing also allows you to set up a business listing in much the same way as Google does. These services are completely free, so be sure to take advantage of them.
Build as many local citations as possible for your business. Creating business directory listings will help people find you online, and any time people in the vicinity of your store search for your product or services in that area, e.g., “headshops near me” or “headshops in Denver,” you’ll have a good shot of being at the top of those results.
You should also reach out to blogs and other relevant web pages, asking to do a guest article for them or seeing if they can review your new product or brand. You may be able to get a mention on the local news website or contribute in forums to further increase brand awareness and get your name out there.
6 Social Media
If you run a cannabis business, then paid marketing on social media is probably a no-no. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t get great referrals from it.
Be careful about what pictures and descriptions you use, as Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms have been known to disable the pages for legal dispensaries and other companies in the past without much explanation.
You should avoid listing any products or services “for sale” on your social media pages and don’t mention prices or offer services in private or public chats in case the platform interprets this as you trying to sell on their site, which would typically result in a ban.
However, it is a great place to share articles you have published, as well as pictures of your products, where appropriate.
Just ensure you keep your posts informational in nature rather than commercial, and you should be fine. When setting up your social media pages, be sure to add all your business info, such as an address, website, and contact details.
Running a social media account can be difficult. If you don’t check in and post regularly, then you may find it hard to build a community and get followers.
Rather than opening an account on every conceivable platform, focus on one or two accounts that best fit your niche. Facebook and Instagram are good for showing off products like bongs and vapes, while LinkedIn is better for business services and products such as law services and logistic fulfillment.
Influencers
To help build your online presence and get more followers, you may want to enlist the help of social influences. Some of these can demand a high fee, while others may be willing to promote your site for free or for heavily discounted products. This can help you reach a larger audience and showcase your products to them.
Final Thoughts.
Hopefully, this article has given you some insights into marketing your cannabis business online. It’s not a complete marketing guide, and we didn’t even touch on things like email marketing campaigns or building an affiliate program. However, this should get you started on the path to success.
You will know how to improve your local search rankings and get organic traffic from search queries. For more insights into SEO ranking, I’d recommend looking at the free information on SEMrush Acadamy as well as familiarizing yourself with the Google webmaster guidelines. Set up a Google Analytics account, and be sure to check your progress so you can see and track the results of changes you make.