Maximize Your Dispensary Digital Marketing for eCommerce Success

If you’re noticing stagnant eCommerce sales, it’s time to wake up—your dispensary’s digital marketing strategy needs an upgrade. The thing is, organic marketing is an expensive long-term investment that won't pay out until the 4-6 month mark. The good news is that your organic marketing “starter pack” is free. Almost anyone can set up a basic marketing funnel without spending a dime. And you should maximize every free tool you can—social media, SEO, email marketing, and community engagement. But when your internally driven efforts plateau, it’s a clear signal to pivot. Here are the warning signs that tell you,  “It’s time to level up your marketing strategy.” 

Signs Your Dispensary Digital Marketing Isn't Working

Looking for "signs of digital marketing failure" will be scary for you. Don’t let that fear keep you from improving your results. Below are the most accurate indicators of dispensary digital marketing funnel failure. We’ll provide direct feedback on what’s not working so you can pivot before little issues become too costly.

You’re Seeing a Low Return on Investment 

How much are you expecting to get back on your marketing investment? And how much are you actually getting? If you’re spending money on marketing but not seeing sales, that’s a huge problem. (And if you can’t measure your ROI or track which sales should be attributed to which marketing channels, that’s also a problem.)

Pivot: Ensure your tracking pixels are set up, and Google Analytics is fully operational, with all of your marketing tools communicating seamlessly. This is what it means to be data-driven: actively monitoring the numbers and letting them guide your decisions. Don’t just set it and forget it. Stay engaged with your data to continuously optimize and refine your strategy. 

Explore MediaJel’s Campaign Attribution Platform

No One’s Engaging With Your Social Posts

Are you engaging with your audience and offering value, or are you simply talking at them? Are you building a community or just pushing out discounts and talking about your knowledgeable staff?  If you’re taking the time to create and post thoughtful content to Instagram and other social networks and still aren’t getting followers or engagement, it’s time to revisit your social media marketing plan.

Pivot: Focus on what sets you apart—develop your unique value proposition and lean into it. Remember, in this space, your account could be taken down at any time, so make every interaction count by asking them to join your mailing list.

‍Learn about cannabis social media marketing

You Have Traffic, But They Aren’t Sticking Around

Did you invest in bulk backlinks? Have you been focusing on SEO quality control? If you’re seeing a lot of traffic but a high bounce rate, it’s likely that your SEO strategy is outdated. Your site is attracting unqualified traffic—users who aren’t likely to convert. This is hurting your conversion rates and damaging your domain authority. We often see this with legacy brands that rely on bulk backlinks without ensuring quality control.

Pivot: First, you have to ask yourself what a qualified buyer looks like and how that is aligned with your cannabis marketing strategy. Simply, it should be someone genuinely interested in your product, but finding that person can get a little more complicated. When you hit the nail on the head, you’ll see about a 5-7% conversion rate in cannabis, though 2-4% is typical for other markets.

‍Align Your Marketing Strategy to Your Cannabis Audiences

You Have Traffic, But Visitors Aren’t Buying

Does your website look professional? Can people check out easily on your platform? If your conversion rate is low, but people stick around for 1-4 minutes, your website could be the culprit. This combo indicates that your user experience is turning people off or making it difficult to complete an order.

Pivot: Refine your checkout process so it is easy to use with zero friction and product information clearly communicates quality. Organize products for easy browsing into categories; don’t clutter your site like a coupon catalog. Instead, guide visitors with intuitive navigation. And don’t forget trust-building content. Authority-building elements like reviews, certifications, and informative blog articles establish your credibility.

16 Tips to Optimize Website Conversion Rates for Your Cannabis Dispensary

Your Traffic is Running Dry

Are you relying on Weedmaps for traffic? Not seeing your website on Google – ever? If you aren’t getting website traffic at all or if your website traffic has declined, you need to consider which marketing channels you’re utilizing to get visitors to your site.

Pivot: When you don’t rank on Google for your own company name or “dispensary in your city,” your business is virtually invisible to potential customers.Investing in SEO helps your business appear in relevant online searches, driving organic traffic that sustains long-term growth. However, building up SEO can take time. In the short term, Google Ads are a lock-and-key solution to secure immediate visibility on Google SERPs. 

Pro Tip: When choosing a name for your business, make sure your name is unique. If it is too close to another business name, you may never make it to number one search result status as someone else is already in that top spot. 

Get a Refresher Course on Dispensary SEO

You’re Sliding Down Google’s Rankings

Are you seeing more local competition? When you run a Google search for “[your city] dispensary,” where do you rank? If your shop isn’t one of the top three results, then you likely aren’t getting much organic traffic. According to a study by Backlinko, the top three organic search results on Google collectively receive 54.4% of all clicks. 

Pivot: Cover all aspects of SEO, beginning with a robust on-site architecture. Optimize your pages with accurate metadata and evaluate your backlink profile for quality and relevance. Although view-through behavior and brand lift from programmatic ads can provide sales, most customers will still turn to Google to search for your brand, making SEO the lifeblood of your website.

‍Get a MediaJel Expert to do your SEO instead

Don’t Waste Your Budget on Ads Until You’ve Addressed These Digital Marketing Red Flags

Running ads too soon will only drain your resources. To truly accelerate growth, you need to build and optimize your cannabis ecommerce funnel to ensure you are attracting customers, generating revenue and remarketing to nurture and retain loyal clientele. ‍

Cannabis Dispensary Digital Marketing Agency

MediaJel is the premier digital marketing agency for dispensaries. We specialize in digital marketing agency for cannabis dispensary retailers. Ask yourself, “How do dispensaries advertise?” We know how competitive the dispensary marketing space can be, which is why we’ve developed strategies that help you stand out online. From boosting your SEO to running highly targeted ads, we leverage cutting-edge tools and data-driven insights to bring you more customers and drive real sales. Let us show you how MediaJel can set your dispensary up for sustainable growth and long-term success. We have more dispensary advertising ideas to discuss.

Contact us today to learn more!

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