Last month, Cannabis Dispensary explored five ways implementing video marketing at your dispensary could increase sales. Here, we offer five additional tips on how implementing video can help you increase your customer base, brand your shop and stand out from the competition.
1. Make Filming an Event
We are witnessing an increased number of dispensaries utilizing video to showcase their products, staff and overall shop aesthetics. However, on filming day, instead of clearing out the store, staging your staff in the perfect locations and capturing the standard sweeping shots, turn it into an event. Hold a giant sale and publicize the filming on social media. [Editor's note: See "Social Media Do's and Don'ts" from our March/April edition for more insight on social media best practices.] It’s an opportunity to shift away from the standard store video and instead demonstrate how popular and busy your store is, showing your audience that your location is a “must visit.” If you run a recreational dispensary, have your crew set up a second camera during the shoot to capture a time-lapse video to emphasize how many people come through the store on a daily basis. Plus, we’ve found a lot of cannabis fans love to post photos and videos of themselves at cannabis events on social media. Allowing them access to your filming days could give your business even more love and attention. And of course, sales have the potential to skyrocket during special events.
2. Go Live
With Facebook, YouTube and Instagram all changing their algorithms to promote live video (i.e. live video is more likely to appear in a user's news feed and will generate broader reach for your brand), you’d be foolish not to take advantage of the increased organic reach. Whether it’s you as the dispensary owner/operator or one of your budtenders, perform a live broadcast daily—even if just for five minutes. Test different times of day to see when you generate the most viewers and consistently go live at those times. Discuss new products, important industry news or tell funny stories. Nobody ever went wrong making a business more relatable to its customers. If you avoid discussing sales, the social media platforms shouldn’t deactivate your accounts; however, enforcement can be random.
3. Promote Cannabis
Even in states where cannabis is recreationally legal, like my home state of California, it can still feel as if we’re sneaking around trying to get away with something. That will change with time, but mainstream companies adopting and promoting the 420 culture will accelerate the process. Totino’s, Chipotle, Jack in the Box and Ben and Jerry’s (notice a theme here?) are leading the way, creating campaigns appealing to the cannabis generation. Create a YouTube playlist of your favorite cannabis-themed commercials and broadcast them on tablets and screens throughout your dispensary. Support the brands that are supporting the industry and help speed up the normalization of cannabis within mainstream culture.
4. Product Demonstrations
In part one of this series, we discussed how videos can assist with general cannabis education, but educational videos can go beyond explaining the differences between sativa and indica strains. Dispensaries can easily create simple to follow, point-by-point product demonstration videos. Showcase your best-selling dab rig and explain how it works. Illustrate how to easily roll a joint or use a tabletop vaporizer. Create a quick cooking lesson teaching your customer how to use flower or concentrates to make edibles at home. Short, fast-paced videos that make cannabis more personally accessible will save your budtenders time explaining products and methodology, make the shopping experience more interactive and make your customer more likely to purchase a product they otherwise would have ignored.
5. Show Off Non-Cannabis Goods
If you’re a smart dispensary owner, you’re marketing your brand along with your products. Many dispensaries sell T-shirts, hats and printed products in addition to cannabis. Create videos that play alongside your menus showcasing these products. Promo items are great for sales margins—we all know your $20 T-shirt cost less than $5 to print. Make them part of packages to create higher average customer transactions. Make certain items free with a specific purchase amount (“Free T-shirt when you spend $150!”), driving customers to buy more than they might otherwise have planned to. Everyone likes a freebie.
Justin Simon is the founder and executive producer at Cannabest Productions, an industry producer of marketing videos for cannabis businesses. Follow the company on Instagram @CannabestProductions.
Top photo courtesy of Adobe Stock
