Harnessing Geo-Targeted Ad Technology for Location-Based Cannabis Marketing

With Ted Montanus, VP of Global Strategy at MediaJel

In the dynamic landscape of regulated marketing, precision and personalization are the keys to success. Enter the realm of advanced location-based cannabis marketing techniques that reshape how cannabis businesses connect with their audiences.

Whether you are interested in boosting brand awareness and prospecting for new customers around your store or targeting vast influxes of tourists for short-term revenue, location-based targeting techniques allow cannabis brands, retailers, and delivery businesses to deliver content and advertisements based on consumer geographic locations. How will that help, you ask?

Increase store visits and sales by serving ads tailored to audiences interested in your products that live or work near your retail location.
Boost short-term revenue and connect with cannabis tourists visiting your town from across the nation.
Retarget consumers nationwide using look-back audiences of cannabis enthusiasts who attended a conference, sporting event, or music festival.

We’ll discuss these topics and more with Ted Montanus, Vice President of Global Strategy at MediaJel, in our upcoming webinar. Ted is an experienced advertising technology and digital media professional. Specializing in strategic partnerships, business development, and sales, he also provides expert consulting services in retail and media.

Join us for an engaging webinar where we’ll delve into the incredible world of location-based cannabis marketing and the targeting and messaging possibilities available using geo-targeted technology.

During our 60-minute webinar, you’ll discover:

The differences between geofencing and geoframing, plus campaign strategies that increase revenue.
Radius Targeting, Competitor Targeting, and Landmark Targeting strategies and the enticing offers we recommend using.
How to create finely tuned audience segments by combining location data with demographic insights to ensure messages resonate.

In an era where personalization is paramount, learn to engage with consumers ready to purchase using messaging tailored to their geographical location and browsing behavior.

Webinar Highlights

Geoframing: Geography Plus Timeframe

03:12 – 04:57: Jake Litke, CEO of MediaJel, explains the concept of geoframing, which combines geography and timeframe. MediaJel builds a geoframed audiences based on cannabis consumers’ device behavior within a specific timeframe, typically the last few days. He mentions that MediaJel has every cannabis dispensary in the US geoframed, meaning we have drawn boundaries around each physical location to capture device IDs of cannabis audiences who have opted in for advertising. This allows MediaJel to create a geospatial audience and run cannabis advertising campaigns to target those audiences within a specific radius. He adds that the radius varies by location: in a rural area, it’s going to be larger, and in a dense area, it’s going to be smaller. Combining geography and timeframe builds a powerful dataset.

Building on the concept of geoframing, we can layer additional factors such as demographics, age, income, gender, and even propensity towards specific activities like concert attendance. This allows for a wide range of options in terms of geography and the specific targeting criteria advertisers can choose to use. For instance, cannabis advertisers can create audiences based on their cannabis brand affinity, or they can target specific age groups in certain geographic areas.

Optimizing Cannabis Ad Creative for Different Markets

12:45 – 15:52: Edward Montanus, VP of Global Strategy at MediaJel, discusses the diverse and fragmented nature of the cannabis market when operating across state lines. He highlights that each state has its own unique culture, consumer habits, and interests. He recommends that cannabis businesses develop a propensity model based on the majority profiles of each state’s population. Cannabis marketers can create a deeper layer of propensity, but the tricky part is aligning the messaging based on each community.

Ted gives an example of a California cannabis dispensary with multiple locations in a concentrated area. Despite their closeness, the cannabis consumer behavior and demographics around each location were vastly different. He stresses the necessity for cannabis brands to tailor their messaging to each community. Ted also points out the importance of adapting to each area’s cultural and regional preferences, using the example of the color preferences between Michigan and Ohio.

Additionally, Ted discusses the growing role of geo-targeting and propensity modeling in the cannabis industry, drawing parallels with early adopters like Walgreens, Lowe’s, and Home Depot. He mentions that these companies initially used propensity modeling technology to identify which audiences to exclude rather than target, particularly in urban areas with many renters.

Personalizing Messaging and Cannabis Campaigns to Target Individual Behaviors

16:49 – 19:22: Jake explains the strategic use of demographic information in targeted cannabis marketing campaigns, drawing parallels between Home Depot and Lowe’s consumer demographics and the regional adaptability seen in alcohol branding.

He points out that Lowe’s tends to attract a higher-income and predominantly female demographic, while Home Depot attracts the opposite. Understanding consumer demographics allows for more personalized and effective messaging in cannabis marketing campaigns.

Jake mentions the regional adaptation of alcohol brands like Guinness and Bacardi, which tailor their advertising content to be regionally relevant. He suggests that similar strategies can be applied to cannabis digital marketing campaigns to target individual consumer behaviors rather than just geographic locations.

Jake uses the example of college sports to illustrate this point. For instance, during a big conference game between two rival schools, a marketer can serve different creative content to fans from each school, using different color schemes or catchphrases.

DemoGraph, MediaJel’s programmatic advertising platform, can layer in over a thousand characteristics without collecting any personally identifiable information (PII). Knowing the location of each audience member can help you decide when and where to serve ads and determine which creative content to serve.