With marijuana legalization spreading across the country the number of dispensaries that are opening is also on the rise.  With rapid growth comes some fierce competition and that means that storefronts and dispensaries need to market their businesses and get in front their customers.  Like any other business, customers of the marijuana industry do their research online.  You need to get your online marketing strategy in order and working with the right digital marketing firm can help you stand out online.  Here are the steps to market your dispensary online.

Start with Your Google Profile

You need to claim or set up your Google My Business listing, this will index your business and this is the first step in showing up in the Google Map results when someone searches for a dispensary in your area.  Here is where you can claim your Google My Business page.  Here are some tips on optimizing your page.

Create Your Social Media Accounts

Social media is how you build a relationship with new and existing customers; it can also do wonders to help your search engine rankings when done right.  Once you identify your target market then get on the platforms that they use.  At the very least you should be active on Facebook, it has the most engagement by far.  Most digital marketing firms will also advise you to use Google+ as well.  Now, you’re not going to get much in the way of engagement with Google+ but when you share your content here it will get indexed quickly.

Add Your Business to Relevant Directories

Online directories have essentially replaced the Yellow Pages, these are sites like Yelp, YP and Local.  There are also directories that are related to the cannabis industry like Leafly, you want to have an optimized listing on all of the high quality directories.

Install Google Analytics

If you want to know where your traffic is coming from and which strategies are working for you then you need a way to track your traffic.  Google Analytics is the easiest way to do this, and it is also free to use.  It is easy to install and it will tell you exactly which channels your traffic is coming from.  You can’t scale what you don’t measure.

Add Content Regularly

The fastest and easiest way to consistently add content to your website is with a blog.  You can use your blog to keep your customers aware of what is going on in the industry.  It can also be a way to let your customers know about upcoming promotions.

Encourage Reviews

Once you have added your business to Google My Business and sites like Yelp, encourage your customers to leave reviews of your products and services there.  Customers today are more inclined to look at the reviews of a business before deciding on whether or not to spend money there.  So good reviews are vital to your business continuing.