If you are an entrepreneur or in charge of digital marketing for a dispensary, we have prepared some advertising guidelines to help you get started and reach your audience.
Statistically, advertising through Google is fundamental to the success of any business.
This is because local advertising is extremely potent. Users of all demographics are massively using local searches to find businesses, products, and services in their immediate area. This is substantiated by ever-improving algorithms on Google’s side that is getting progressively better at showing the most optimal local business listings.
50% of all searches inside Google are targeted at local businesses, meaning with effective Google ad placements, your ad could appear to an enormous amount of people every single day. What it takes to get there on your side is a proper business listing, website or a landing page, and a correctly set up ads campaign.
First steps to establishing an online presence
Before we get started with Google ads, it’s highly recommended that you claim your Google my Business listing right away, if you haven’t. Just the listing alone will benefit your business tremendously in both local SEO terms, as well as your marketing efforts.
You may wonder how does an SEO tactic help with ads. It doesn’t do so directly, but it’s essential to keep in mind that many of your future customers will be retargeted, reintroduced, or redirected towards your listing at some point, securing you that warm lead even if the campaign’s landing page didn’t instantly convert.
As we mentioned in our article about advertising a CBD product through Google Ads, there are various rules in place for creating and placing ads. The full list of requirements for advertisements can be found easily on the Google Ads policy page.
It might be challenging at first to get the desired ad copy approved, as the ads are scanned by algorithms that will sometimes flag CBD or dispensary related advertisements. This happens because of the connection to illegal and recreational drugs, as well as advertising laws, so you will need to adjust your focus keywords and ad copy a couple of times. The same is true for other major advertising platforms such as YouTube or Facebook.
The Choice between Search ads and Display ads
The Search ads appear inside the search results as clickable search results, just like the ones from the standard search. For your dispensary, running Search Ads would let you display textual ads based on the search keywords of your potential customers. The advantage here is that this format targets searchers based on what they search, and your Search Ad will look just like a result they were expecting.
Display Ads, on the other hand, will show visual banner-type ads at the side of the search results, and on various webpages, those the algorithms deem best suited.
Having a banner about your dispensary show up on a vast network of pages may seem appealing, but keep in mind users generally don’t respond as well to display ads, often ignore them completely, find them intrusive, and you can’t convey a specific message with a display ad.
A Search Ad is much more powerful in that sense, as it allows you to answer the exact search query of users.
However, if your dispensary is somewhat of an established brand in your local area, going with display ads may raise brand awareness more than any other campaign type. We recommend starting out with Search Ads, and you can find an introductory article about advertising your CBD products here.
In Conclusion – Start simple and stay ahead of competitors.
Online marketing is full of opportunities, but try to stay ahead of the curve. Businesses are becoming increasingly aware of SEO, business listings, and online ads. You should adopt the techniques we talk about early and optimize your marketing efforts with time.
Google Ads are great, and all the statistics point in that direction. Remember, 30% of local searches end up in a purchase, and 90% of users check out a business online before visiting in person. Even if your dispensary doesn’t have a physical storefront and is merely an online store, all the same rules apply.
The Growhouse team is available to assist you in any of your digital marketing needs.
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