So you need to design a website, an email, or really anything for a cannabis dispensary…
You immediately reach deep into your bag of marketing tricks that have never failed you in the past. You’re visualizing social media posts and stories, you’re already thinking about how to put together a brand or ecommerce site using popular tools, and you’re salivating at the thought of how much success you’ll have using Google Ads, because that’s what you know, to drive traffic to your soon to be realized incredible creation.
What you may not realize, is that if you haven’t done all your homework on dangers to steer clear of while marketing cannabis online, you’re in for a very rude awakening.
Let me help ease the tension by telling you what I wish someone could have told me.
Number 1
Know that none of the big tech companies want to party with you.
Planning on Stripe to collect online payments for ecommerce? Think again.
Want to advertise a sale price on an Instagram post? Prepare to be booted out of your account.
The short and skinny here is that cannabis is federally illegal. End of story. Because of that none of the big tech companies want anything to do with you. There are many reasons for this, but it all boils down to them avoiding any liability of illegal action.
If they host content related to cannabis sales, they are in the lawyers eyes, a possible accessory to a crime and they will avoid you like the plague.
How to turn this around:
- Use open-source hosting ecommerce platforms like WooCommerce or even better, build a bespoke React-based store that fits your needs and branding.
- Partner with one of the few cannabis friendly ERP systems like Dutchie or iHeartJane
- Don’t put any sale information or words like ‘Buy Now’ in your Social Media posts. This will get your account banned.
- Look into using platforms like Mantis and Surfside to handle your performance marketing needs instead of Google AdSense. They are more or less based on AdSense. You’ll easily adapt.
Number 2
Know compliance requirements back and forth.
You may have helped grow the biggest brand in California, and may believe you know all the rules, but think again. The laws and regulations for how cannabis products can be presented online vary wildly from state to state. Assume nothing. Ever. Live by this as law.
In California for example, you can have beautiful packaging as long as it has the proper and very specific warning labels.
In Florida on the other hand, all cannabis products come in a bland white tube, box, or pouch. No branding outside a 1 color black logo can be shown.
In Florida, we get lame packaging in reality, but can still show any packaging we want on the website. This is a nice loophole to take advantage of.
In New Jersey, you get neither. You can’t even show fancy steezed out packaging online. Only the true product itself (think JUST the flower, or cartridge).
Know these things before you start or risk wasting budget and time.
How to make it work for you:
- Understand the requirements for the state(s) you’ll be working within.
- Know different states have different requirements. Know these requirements soup to nuts.
- Talk about go to market plans with the team to make sure you are ahead of it all. These days laws are evolving as fast as our marketing objectives. Look away for a second and you’ll miss it.
- Anticipate, plan, and build for the inevitable changes.
- Learn how to talk, specifically, about product properties. Do you know what COA’s are? If not, learn now. They are something you will need to understand to find creative ways to sell products online.
Number 3
Don’t underestimate the power of good product photography.
If you’re reading this article, then you have to have at least checked out the landscape and have an idea of what’s out there.
In my opinion it’s a huge dumpster fire of terrible table-top shots, inconsistent photo angles, god awful compositing, and people using straight up stock photography.
Whether you’re reselling third-party products from select vendors, or composing a bespoke and targeted house of brands, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is using boring, inconsistent product photos.
Any decent chef will tell you that people eat with their eyes first. Cannabis is no different. Hell, any product is no different.
It you’re reselling third-party brands and using the vendor supplied photos, you’re presenting those products exactly like everyone else.
There is nothing about you that is special. There is no reason to buy from you over the competitor because in the consumers eye, you’re just as terrible as they are.
Remember that South Park episode where it was an election between a douche and a turd sandwich? I bet you told yourself you would be neither. Don’t let yourself down now.
The 2 main things to pay attention to are:
Number 1: Accept that great photography will make you stand out in a sea of the same.
All 1 gram cartridges look the same. Make yours look appetizing and branded.
Lean in to the lifestyle of your customers. It can be a major differentiator
Number 2: Understand that great imagery builds trustworthiness & legitimacy when it’s consistent.
If you display consistent amazing photos, it means you care enough to take them. Which puts your shop above others
It exudes an external impression that you care about how your customers perceive not just the products, but you and your dispensary as a whole.
This is innately understood by human brains. Think of it this way… I want to buy my wife a Louis Vouiton purse.
Where does it look more legitimate— in a display window at Saks Fifth Avenue, or tossed on a table amidst other sub-par quality products at a flea market.
It could be the exact same purse, true to form, but one will always be sketchier than the other. One will be sold for much more than the other. One of those businesses will have return customers, and one will not.
How to make it work for you:
- You can take great product shots, even on a budget. Focus less on staging and more on just taking a nice, clean shot with even light.
- Use the exact same setup and camera angle for every product. Avoid the flea market table look. A consistent style, even basic, will give your brand a leg up on competitors and grow your legitimacy.
- Know and understand all your competitors are using the vendor supplied photography. Look for creative ways to use this stuff to make engaging banner and promo art that always directs back to and follows your brand styles.
Take my advice, or at least learn from my mistakes.
Anyone who tells you they haven’t made at least one of the mistakes listed above is either a liar or has never had the opportunity to make said mistake.
This article barely scrapes the surface of the many more caveats, twists, and turns you’ll ultimately encounter, but if I can help shine even the faintest light that helps you navigate the maze of marketing cannabis online, then that puts a smile on this designer’s face.
