Tip 1: Set a Clear Goal
Do you want to drive traffic to your website? Get more clicks on your menu? Have more people order online?
For a successful Google Ads campaign, you must set a measurable goal that you can work towards.
This goal can be different for your various stores since we can set your ads to only run in certain geographic areas.
Without it, though, you’re just launching campaigns and hoping that something works.
Tip 2: Steer Clear of Cannabis, Marijuana & Related Words
Google Ads is still anti-cannabis, so you want to share your message without using words like dispensary and cannabis.
You’ll also want to avoid sounding like a used car salesman. Use your brand messaging and share your unique value proposition to draw attention to your ad.
This can be hard, but we know it’s possible. We consistently create high-quality ads for our clients that abide by Google’s guidelines.
Tip 3: Use Keywords.
Keywords are crucial for creating relevant ads and ensuring that your ads will show up when a customer does a related search. If you don’t use good keywords, you’ll either waste money on ads that don’t work or Google won’t bother showing your ads because they won’t be relevant to the right search terms.
You’ll need to research keywords to determine the right keywords to monetize. This is a balancing act between finding highly relevant keywords and the words that Google will let you use.
Tip 4: Get a Copywriter
If you want copy that’s going to attract clicks, invest in a copywriter.
Remember, you’re paying to have your ad appear at the top of search results. Don’t waste that opportunity with crappy text. Hire someone who knows how to write attention-grabbing copy so that you can get more clicks.
This copywriter should be familiar with Google Ads’ restrictions so that your copy meets their guidelines and your account doesn’t get shut down. This isn’t hyperbole—we all know that cannabis is a highly regulated industry. It’s also regulated online. If you try to run an ad and mention the word marijuana, guess what? You’re going to have your ad shut down.
At MediaJel, we know the ins-and-outs of advertising on Google and have copywriters on staff to ensure that we get you the clicks you want.
Tip 5: Create Special Offers
Google ads are limited in the number of characters you can use. Get the most out of your ad by sharing an enticing deal and telling your customers how to take advantage of it.
This can be a special deal for first-time customers or just a coupon code for ordering online. Make it something that customers will want to take advantage of immediately, like a discount off of their order.
Tip 6: Don’t Spend Too Little
You have to spend money to make money, right? To get the most out of your Ads campaign, you need to set your ad spend high enough so that you can actually get results that you can analyze and then improve upon.
You should spend at least $1,000 per each location to begin to see results more quickly. Depending on the competition in the area, this number could be higher. Because you bid on keywords with Google Ads, if someone else is already using the keywords you want, then you need to bid higher than them or create more relevant ads in order to get that top spot.
We like to test a variety of ads to determine which structure works best in different markets so that you can get the most value for your ad spend. To do this, though, you need to invest enough money so that there’s enough data to make decisions.
Tip 7: Track metrics
To make sure that your ads are working and helping you achieve your goal, tracking relevant metrics is a must. Otherwise, you’re shooting arrows with no target in sight.
The metrics you want to track may be different based on your goal, but some of the most valuable metrics include
- Cost-per-click
- Click-thru rate
- Conversion rate
- Quality score
- Ad rank
Analyzing these metrics is going to be what helps you determine the effectiveness of your campaign. Was it successful, or a failure? Plus, those same metrics can also help you learn from failure so that you can create a better campaign in the future.
To capture even more relevant data, create a Google Analytics account.
Tip 8: Actively Manage Your Campaign
Since you’re tracking metrics, you can use them to analyze the effectiveness of your campaigns and adjust them so they’ll do better. It’s crucial to monitor and actively manage your campaign to maintain a high quality score, but it takes time and commitment.
You can run A/B testing to see if certain words lead to more clicks, if different offers are more compelling, or if a particular landing page generates more orders.
This is a time-consuming process, but it is essential for making your ads better and extracting the maximum value from your investment.
This is something that we handle for our clients, and it has paid off in high ROI for them.
Here’s the thing—Google Ads is not a set it and forget it tool. Unless you just want to hand money to Google, you need to actively manage the campaigns and optimize them as you get more data. Otherwise, you’re just putting out ads and spending money without checking that you’re actually getting a return.
Our Google Ads management service helps you get the most out of your ad budget and turns that money into sales. Because of our experience, we’ve been able to quickly spot when ads were no longer effective and change them so that our client wasn’t wasting money on campaigns that no longer worked. By continually checking on campaigns, we can make adjustments the moment we start seeing a dip. This allows us to maintain such a big ROI for our clients.
Tip 9: Create a Landing Page
Where you send customers is just as important as your ad. Creating a customized landing page for your campaign can drive more sales and allow you to better track the effectiveness of your campaigns. Your landing page can even feature a coupon code to further drive conversions.
This is another service we provide our clients. We work with them to determine what type of page they want. This will make tracking the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaign easier.
Tip 10: Combine with SMS
By combining your Google Ads with text opt-ins, you can nurture relationships and create loyal customers.
For example:
“Get a special code to save a percentage off your first order! Text a “code” to 555-555.”
Combining these services helps build your compliant SMS list, so you can nurture these customers and create a relationship with them. In addition, you won’t have to spend money in the future to capture the same customer again.
Start Your Google Ads Campaign Now!
For the most part, your competition isn’t doing this, so capitalize on it before the cost goes up.
By starting now, your dispensary can be ahead of the competition and start building momentum so that when other dispensaries start, it’ll be too late because you’ll have mastered the game.
Plus, you can actually bid on your competitions’ branded search terms and show up in ads when customers try to find them online.
Ready to learn more? Contact us and let’s talk about how to get more sales for your dispensary.
