Scalable Media Planning for Regulated Industries

The cannabis space isn’t a scrappy startup game anymore. The biggest CPG brands in the world are eyeing your turf—and they’re bringing deep pockets, polished media planning strategies, and zero patience for amateur hour.

If you “don’t believe in advertising”, you’re already falling behind. This isn’t about vanity metrics—it’s about building long-term demand, trust, and preference with your audience before someone else does, which means staying top of mind. 

What is media planning? It’s the process of identifying the right mix of channels, timing, budgets, and messaging to reach your target audience with maximum efficiency and impact. In regulated industries, smart media planning also accounts for compliance, limited inventory, and long buying cycles.

As the industry evolves, cannabis businesses must stop thinking small. You need scalable media plans that go beyond short-term ROI and embrace the full marketing funnel. That starts with a thoughtful, data-backed channel mix that aligns with how your customers actually discover, evaluate, and choose your brand.

Get serious. Get strategic. Or get left behind.

How to Build a Smart Channel Strategy

Don’t Just Run Ads—Build a Funnel.

‍Before choosing channels or spending a dime, you need to know who you’re talking to and why. Your media plan is only as strong as your understanding of your audience, your messaging, and how each touchpoint aligns with the digital marketing funnel.

We’ve already covered:

• Audience Segmentation – identifying who you're targeting
• Message Mapping – crafting content for each stage of the journey
• Channel Strategy – matching tactics to intent and compliance
  
  

If you skip these steps, you’re not scaling—you’re guessing. Revisit the foundations, then build a media mix that moves the needle.

Before diving into specific tactics by funnel stage below, make sure you’re aligned on what each stage represents and how it supports your customer’s buying journey. Visit our in-depth lesson on The Cannabis eCommerce Funnel to explore Awareness, Consideration, Conversion, and Advocacy stages in more detail.

Here’s a quick summary:

Awareness: Get in front of new audiences with SEO, content, and compliant paid channels.

Consideration: Build trust with educational content, personalized follow-ups, and strategic retargeting.

Conversion: Use urgency, optimized product pages, and performance campaigns to close the sale.

Advocacy: Use email, social media, and loyalty incentives to turn satisfied customers into repeat buyers and vocal brand promoters.

Building Scalable Media Plans for Regulated Businesses

As the cannabis industry expands, creating a media plan that scales with your business is more important than ever. Whether you're looking to reach new customers or deepen relationships with existing ones, the right mix of channels can make all the difference. Here's how to build a channel mix strategy that aligns with each stage of your customer's journey.

What Kind of Strategy Should You Prioritize?

This table aligns the service and strategy at each funnel stage to guide efforts toward optimizing the media mix effectively.

Adjusting for Market Conditions and Brand Evolution

As your brand grows and market conditions change, your media plan needs to adapt. Learning to adjust your strategies for seasonal trends, shifts in consumer behavior, or changes in product demand is key to staying competitive. You must learn how to be agile in your approach and adjust your spend, messaging, and channel mix as needed.

Cannabis Recession Marketing Tactics

Embracing an investor-focused mindset can transform the way you approach your marketing budget. In fluctuating markets, success lies in your ability to pivot quickly, reassess risk-to-reward scenarios, and fearlessly reallocate resources where needed.

Agility is key when developing your annual marketing budget. It's not just about playing it safe—successful cannabis CMOs are now embracing a mix of short-term, high-reward strategies alongside riskier long-term investments. Understanding market trends, shifting product demand, and broader economic forces will help you stay ahead, no matter the economic climate.

As a marketer, you must be able to:

• Flip the script on marketing as an expense, and start positioning yourself as a key driver of both short- and long-term business outcomes. Marketing is an investment!
• Know your metrics to back up your calculated, data-driven marketing plan, ensuring every investment is grounded in tangible value.
• Balance your marketing mix between quick-win tactics and long-term investments that secure your business's future.
• Scenario plan to safeguard your investments and capitalize on opportunities even in times of economic uncertainty.

Flip the Funnel on Its Head: Earning Your Way Up

With a strong foundation of trust and equity, it's time to shift your focus. Instead of just guiding customers through the digital marketing funnel, turn satisfied customers into brand advocates.

By creating exceptional experiences and using strategies like cannabis loyalty and referral programs and community engagement, you can leverage happy customers to attract new ones. Happy customers become your best promoters, helping grow your brand organically.

When to Scale: Once you've refined your funnel and improved conversions, it's a great time to consider scaling. Use your enhanced conversion rates as a benchmark to justify increasing your ad spend. Invest more in channels that are performing well, and keep building on the trust and loyalty you've established. This approach ensures that you're not just expanding your reach but doing so with a solid, proven strategy in place.

Tailored Media Plan

When it comes to programmatic advertising, the strategies we recommend will vary depending on your business's growth journey and your specific objectives for each quarter. Whether you're just starting out, expanding into new markets, or focusing on retention and revenue growth, your cannabis marketing needs will evolve, and so should your approach.

Understanding your quarterly goals, such as driving awareness in a new market, increasing conversions, or building customer loyalty, helps you craft a plan that is not only targeted but also adaptable to where you are right now and where you want to go next.

To give you some ideas, here are a few programmatic strategies tailored to different business models in the cannabis space:

• Cannabis Dispensary: Focus on driving local foot traffic and increasing customer retention.
• Hemp-Derived Brand: Build brand awareness and promote sales across multiple states.
• Multi-State Operator (MSO): Drive brand consistency and compliance across multiple states.
• Cannabis Delivery Service: Increase delivery orders and highlight convenience.

Each strategy is designed to meet the unique needs of these business types while being flexible enough to scale as your goals shift.

Cannabis Dispensary

Objective: Drive local foot traffic and increase customer retention.

Main Problems to Solve:

• Competitors Discounting Into The Ground
• Over-reliance on Third Party Platforms like Weedmaps
• Limited In-House Marketing Resources
• Low Customer Retention

Targeting Strategy:

• Geotargeting: Use geotargeting to capture nearby consumers and focus on local audiences within a certain radius of the dispensary that align with your store brand and value proposition.
• First-Party Data: Use customer data from loyalty programs and POS systems for retargeting and personalized offers.
• Contextual Targeting: Display ads on websites and apps that feature cannabis-related content, reaching consumers interested in cannabis products.

Channel Mix:

• Display Ads (Prospecting): Highlight promotions like first-time customer discounts to introduce the dispensary to new local customers.
• CTV Ads: Run Connected TV ads targeting local households, showcasing your dispensary and its unique offerings.
• DOOH (Digital Out-of-Home): Place digital billboards near high-traffic areas to boost brand awareness and attract customers.
• Retargeting Ads: Retarget website visitors with display ads to encourage repeat purchases and promote loyalty programs.

Key Tactics:

• Loyalty Programs: Leverage first-party data for retargeting campaigns to re-engage loyal customers with exclusive offers.
• Seasonal Promotions: Run geo-targeted programmatic ads during high-demand periods, such as 4/20 campaigns or other local events.

Cannabis Multi-State Operators (MSO)

Campaign Objective: Dominating market share with enhanced media strategies and exploring new, highly targeted channels tailored to specific regions. Maximize reach and stay ahead by continually optimizing and expanding into untapped markets.

Main Problems to Solve:

• State By State Compliance & Understanding Regional Audience Nuances
• Effective Go-To-Market Strategy
• Reaching Right-Fit Audiences & Building Trust With Diverse Customer Base
• Managing Economic Headwinds & Market Trends
• Creating Omnichannel Experiences
• Identifya Reliable ROAS
• Marketing Support and Account Management
• Access to quality ad inventory

Targeting Strategy:

• Geographic Targeting by State: Tailor campaigns based on state-specific cannabis regulations and customer preferences.
• Cross-Device Targeting: Reach users across mobile, desktop, and CTV, ensuring consistent messaging as they interact with your brand.
• Data-Driven Targeting: Use purchase behavior data from each market to build hyper-targeted segments for personalized ad experiences.

Channel Mix:

• CTV Ads: Use Connected TV ads to build brand recognition across multiple states, tailoring content to local market preferences.
• DOOH: Advertise across multiple digital billboards in key cities to increase visibility in new and emerging markets.
• Programmatic Audio: Leverage audio ads on podcasts and music platforms, targeting consumers in specific regions who are likely to purchase cannabis.
• Display Ads: Use data-driven programmatic display to promote new store openings, and exclusive offers, to retarget and retain customers, and feature product lines in each state.

Key Tactics:

• Localized Campaigns: Ensure ad creatives are compliant with local regulations and culturally relevant to each market.
• Customer Segmentation: Use segmentation data from each state to deliver personalized offers and relevant product ads.

Cannabis Delivery Service

Objective: Increase delivery orders and promote convenience.

Main Problems to Solve:

• New customer acquisition-focused
• Customer Retention
• Heavy Reliance on Third-Party Platforms like Weedmaps
• Competition with Dispensaries

Targeting Strategy:

• Geotargeting: Use hyperlocal targeting to advertise only within delivery zones, ensuring ad spend is maximized in areas where services are available.
• Behavioral Targeting: Target consumers based on purchase behavior and engagement with other delivery services.
• First-Party Data Retargeting: Retarget previous customers to encourage reorders with personalized offers and time-sensitive promotions.

Channel Mix:

• Mobile Display Ads: Utilize mobile display ads to reach on-the-go consumers, showcasing delivery service convenience and promotions.
• Online Video: Run short-form video ads that highlight the ease of ordering and fast delivery options, driving conversions.
• SMS Retargeting: Use programmatic ads paired with SMS campaigns to remind previous customers to reorder, using personalized discounts or time-sensitive deals.

Key Tactics:

• Prospecting and Retargeting Display Campaigns: prospect for cannabis users in your delivery zone and have an always-on display retention campaign.
• Geo-Fencing and DOOH: Target ads to consumers within proximity of a dispensary, promoting your delivery services as a convenient alternative.

CBD Brands

Objective: Increase consumer awareness, drive sales, and build long-term brand equity through compliant, precision-targeted digital advertising.

Main Problems to Solve:

• Highly Competitive Landscape
• Lack of a Clear Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
• Brand Differentiation
• Limited Knowledge of Marketing Channels
• Building Consumer Trust / Low Brand Quality Perception
• Remarketing Challenges
• Expensive GTM Strategies Required
• Brand Loyalty

Targeting Strategy:

• Audience Segmentation: Use demographic, interest-based, and behavioral data to target hemp consumers and need states within different regions.
• Lookalike Audiences: Build lookalike audiences from loyal customers to expand your reach to new prospects who are likely to engage.

Channel Mix:

• Programmatic Display Ads: Leverage programmatic display ads to reach a broad yet targeted audience, introducing your CBD products with compelling messaging focused on need-states.
• CTV and Programmatic Video: Use video ads to tell the story behind your brand, focusing on what makes your products unique. Run these ads on connected TV platforms.
• Native Ads: Publish educational articles or sponsored content, positioning your brand as a trusted authority in the space.
• Retargeting Ads: Retarget consumers who visited your website or product pages but didn't complete a purchase. Offer promotions or discounts to incentivize conversions.
• Social Media (Compliant Channels): Use compliant social media platforms to promote your brand and engage with your community, focusing on brand-building and product education.

Key Tactics:

• Clear UVP Communication: Refine and communicate your unique value proposition through all ad campaigns. Highlight what differentiates your brand, such as superior quality, sustainable practices, or innovative product formulas.
• Consumer Trust Campaigns: To build consumer trust, run campaigns emphasizing certifications, third-party lab testing, and customer testimonials.
• Remarketing Campaigns: Use email and SMS retargeting to remind customers of products they've viewed, offer exclusive discounts, and highlight new product offerings.
• Product Assortment Expansion: Promote a diverse product lineup (e.g., tinctures, gummies, topicals) to appeal to different consumer preferences and use cases.

You've learned how to define clear objectives, set measurable goals, and choose the right channels to grow your business. By incorporating these strategies, you're now equipped to drive awareness, boost revenue, and foster long-term customer retention.