Times have changed and so has marketing to modern-day stoners. If you’re like most dispensary owners, you’ve probably seen the movies. You know, the ones where the pot smoker is a lazy, unemployed slacker who spends his days on the couch watching cartoons and eating junk food. Well, we’re here to tell you that those days have evolved.
Modern-day weed lovers don’t necessarily fit the picture of how Fez, Hyde, and Eric from That 70’s Show would appear. In fact, there are a variety of forbidden greens consumer categories that remain unidentified.
One of the main keys to having a successful dispensary is to be able to identify and market towards your genre of smokers effectively. Achieving this will allow you to market with intent, and produce likely some of your best customers!
In this article, we’ll discuss how to identify your dispensary’s potential clientele, and how to make the most of your marketing efforts.
Let’s begin.
Who should you consider as your dispensary’s potential clientele?
In other words, who should you look for when considering how to go forth marketing to modern-day stoners. There are a few key things to consider when trying to identify your dispensary’s potential clientele.
Here is a list of the most common weed connoisseur categories and how to identify them:
The mentor, or the companion
The mentor stoner likes to learn everything there is to know about marijuana. With this stoner buddy, you’ll be exposed to a slew of new phrases relating to cannabis, information about the various strains, specific details about each kind of cannabinoid, terpenes profiles, and more. Always have your mind open to learning something new with this stoner friend.
Mentor smokers are the types of people who will have marijuana-related gear or experiments to try out at their disposal. In reality, you’ll most certainly have your best experiences with them since cannabis experts can be quite demanding when it comes to quality.
The botanist
Considerably more laid back, botanist stoners are some of the most peaceful beings you’ll ever encounter. A botanist smoker is one who aims to make the consumption experience as gentle, and pure as possible.
What exactly does this imply? Nothing harmful will ever contaminate your joints, bowls, concentrates, or edibles. What do you mean by contamination, you might ask. It’s anything that inhibits marijuana’s strength or threatens its relationship with a user’s experience.
The heavy hitters
Heavy hitters are going to be the smokers who you would consider ‘big fans of marijuana’. These are the individuals who always accept a joint, no matter the circumstance. Even if it becomes difficult to physically continue smoking, the heavy hitter stoner will never deny the opportunity to “get a little higher”.
While others tend to space out in their high, heavy hitters tend to have an enormous appetite for marijuana. Heavy hitters appear to always take everything in stride. That is, no amount of forbidden greens will ever overpower their tolerance.
The newbie, or lightweight
We were all once lightweight stoners who experienced the highs of our lives with even the tiniest amount of weed. But after time, the human body trains itself to build a tolerance to the influence of cannabis. Only some of us remain what we would call, ‘lifetime lightweights’.
The intensity of your cannabis highs is determined by a variety of factors. But if you don’t use marijuana on a regular basis, it stands to reason that you will feel more powerful effects than those who smoke more frequently.
The acute, or artsy smoker
The artistic smoker is someone who enjoys using marijuana to complement their art or intellectual passions. This includes whether they are in the performing arts, literature, film and video production, philosophy, or any other field.
Many painters, musicians, photographers, filmmakers, intellectuals, and others like smoking marijuana as a source of inspiration. Acute smokers typically have a peculiar mentality in a sober state. This only enables their creativity to grow stronger when they indulge in the potency of THC.
The moocher
Moochers are often high as a kite thanks to their generous pals who are always providing the greens. It tends to be more often than not that a moocher smoker won’t return any ‘high’ favors. That’s why they’re known as freeloaders, essentially living off of everyone else’s stash (how rude).
Effective strategies for marketing to modern-day stoners
So, do you anticipate visits from any of the stoner categories we mentioned above? Like using a GPS for weed lovers, not to stress. There actually is a method that will market specifically to each and every smoker. Consider the following:
Marketing to modern-day stoners: the mentor
If you want to market your dispensary to someone who likes to think they know all things marijuana, you’ll need to be pretty savvy yourself. But first, you’ll need to make sure your dispensary has an impressive selection of products. Remember quality is always over quantity.
Marketing to this type of smoker implies you’ll need to have the ability to talk intelligently about all things cannabis. Securing this mental gate key gives way for your employees to also do the same.
As far as marketing goes, take away these tips to successfully market to a mentor:
- Use intelligent wording in your advertisements on social media.
- Ensure dispensary employees are up to date with knowledge on store products.
- Frequently advertise new products, strains, smoking devices, rolling papers, etc.
- Emphasize key standout points among products.
- Participate in expositions to stay up to date with news
Marketing to modern-day stoners: the botanist
When it comes to marketing to the zen, botanist smoker, you must allow yourself to see through the eyes of Mother Nature. First of all, you’ll need to make sure that your dispensary interior, signage, and social platforms are designed with nature in mind.
Use natural materials like wood and stone, and incorporate plants and water features into the space. By using color schemes that are muted and calming, you will create a serene and peaceful atmosphere.
Next, you need to focus on your product selection. Make sure your dispensary carries a wide range of products that will appeal to those looking for a natural smoking experience. This includes items like glass pipes, bongs, vaporizers, and other smoking accessories.
As far as marketing goes, take away these tips to successfully market to a botanist:
- Emphasize the calming effects of products you carry in advertisements.
- Utilize various muted, calming color schemes on social media platforms.
- Experiment with different textures and natural materials in your store.
- Advertise the products you carry that pair well with cannabis.
Marketing to modern-day stoners: the heavy hitter
Marketing your dispensary to someone who you would consider marijuana’s biggest fan implies you’ll need to be ready to supply all the best deals.
The heavy hitter typically finds it hard to turn down an opportunity to save a pretty penny on good greens (with how ‘highly’ invested they are). This implies that if you’re the dispensary with all the best bundles, promotions, and/or deals you’re sure to get most of a heavy hitter’s business.
As far as marketing goes, take away these tips to successfully market to a heavy hitter:
- Create and advertise special promotions and sales frequently.
- Emphasize the potency of various strains on advertisements.
- Create product packages for purchase (multiple products in one).
- Generate and advertise deals for purchasing larger quantities.
Marketing to modern-day stoners: the newbie or lightweight
If your dispensary is marketing to a new smoker or someone who gets the most bang for their buck in small doses, your advertisement efforts should emphasize safety and guidance.
A new smoker can range from someone who is eager to experience a minor high, to an individual who is absolutely lost and confused. Truth in itself, every dispensary should be responsible to be advertising safety efforts and guidance.
But in regards to marketing, take away these tips to successfully market to a newbie or lightweight:
- Emphasize the safety of your products in advertisements.
- Include ‘how-to’ guides and demonstrations in social media posts.
- Consider selling a smoking starter kit for beginners.
- Post and advertise methods to avoid a bad high.
Marketing to modern-day stoners: the acute, or artsy smoker
When marketing to the acute, or artsy smoker, you are likely better off taking a creative approach yourself. This entails that you will need to put yourself in the shoes of someone who is able to expand their mind under the influence of cannabis.
The artsy smoker has the ability to put great creative thought into projects and work tasks. Whereas, the acute smoker, has the capability to pay great attention to detail.
When it comes to marketing, take away these tips to successfully market to an acute or artsy smoker:
- Create displays and advertise pairings of products that enhance the creative process.
- Suggest pairing store products with local creative art events in advertisements.
- Advertise the packaging of beautifully designed products.
- Consider creating a workspace/lounge environment within your dispensary.
- Suggest articles and blogs that support the use of cannabis in the creative process.
Marketing to modern-day stoners: the moocher
The mooching smoker is probably the easiest approach when it comes to marketing. The easiest method to get in the same headspace as a smoker who loves indulging in ultimately free cannabis is to purely advertise sales, sales, and more sales.
Use these tips to successfully market to a moocher:
- Advertise sales of any kind as frequently as possible.
- Consider offering and advertising free samples (in legal states of course).
- Create displays of strains, bongs, joints, etc. that are “so good, your friends will want their own”.
This whole approach in a sense
To have a successful dispensary, you need to be able to identify and market to your genre of smokers effectively. In other words, you need to have a delicate balance when communicating to your consumers via social media and advertisements. But with the right methods integrated, marketing to the modern-day stoner is absolutely achievable.
Any further concerns? Have a question?
Shoot us a message here at WeedBoost if you’re looking to build a website, integrate SEO (search engine optimization), need social media management, or simply want someone to talk to about this whole “cannabis thing”. We’re just a call away.
