When it comes to marketing in the cannabis industry, innovation is key. As a still-budding industry laden with strict regulations, marketers need to creatively exploit all available channels to effectively reach their target audience. One such potent tool is SMS Marketing – an often underutilized, but highly impactful avenue for promoting your cannabis business.
Why SMS Marketing?
At first glance, SMS marketing might appear antiquated in a world dominated by social media and email marketing. However, statistics reveal an entirely different story.
As per reports, SMS open rates are a whopping 98%, and the response rate stands at 45%. These figures dwarf the email open rate (20%) and response rate (6%).
Clearly, SMS marketing provides a powerful medium to communicate directly with your customers, driving engagement and ultimately increasing sales.
A short, well-crafted text message can effectively grab attention amidst the digital noise. This strategy is even more effective for the cannabis industry, given the specific limitations and regulations that hinder other forms of marketing.
Here’s how SMS marketing can truly sow seeds of growth for your cannabis business:
- Direct Communication: SMS provides a direct line to your customers. Unlike other platforms where your message could get lost in the clutter, a text message is personal and immediate. This opens a world of opportunities for announcing new products, flash sales, or simply nudging customers back to your store.
- Personalization: SMS allows you to call your customers by their name, creating a sense of connection. This personalized touch helps build trust and loyalty, strengthening your relationship with your customer and increasing the likelihood of repeat business.
Data-Driven Marketing: SMS marketing provides a rich source of data to gauge your customers’ preferences. By tracking the response to your messages, you can gain invaluable insights into what works best for your audience.
Dos and Don’ts Cheat Sheet
Walking the tightrope of SMS marketing in the cannabis industry requires a careful balance to ensure you don’t veer into the territory of spam.
To help navigate this, here is your cheat sheet for what you can and cannot do:
DOs
- Obtain explicit consent before sending any marketing texts.
- Personalize your messages with the recipient’s name.
- Include clear and compelling Calls-To-Action (CTAs) to guide the recipient.
- Encourage recipients to save your number, boosting familiarity and reducing the chance of being marked as spam.
- Maintain regularity in your messaging without overwhelming the recipient.
DON’T
- Don’t ever send messages to numbers that have opted out. Not only is this a breach of trust, it’s also against the law.
- Don’t resort to aggressive promotional content that might turn off your recipients.
- Don’t send messages at inappropriate times, like late at night or early in the morning. Respect your customers’ time and privacy.
- Don’t ignore the feedback or responses you receive from your SMS marketing. Engage and respond to create a better customer experience.
SMS marketing, while filled with promise, demands a careful and respectful approach to the recipient’s personal space. When done right, it can yield tremendous returns by providing a direct, personal, and interactive channel to your customers.
Change Your Business with SMS Messaging
In this rapidly growing industry, businesses that innovate and adapt are the ones that thrive. So why not integrate SMS marketing into your strategy? Look for a technology partner that combines loyalty program with email and SMS.
Make sure to plant your seeds in multiple channels and let data guide you towards what works best. With this approach, your cannabis business will not only survive, but thrive.
- About the Author
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Darlene is a search marketer, analyst, speaker, trainer, and owner of DriveTraffic Digital Marketing. She has been working in the digital marketing industry since the mid 90s and has narrowed her specialty to SEO, Google Ads and Google Analytics. She is especially interested in Google’s new Search Generative Experience and how businesses will need to adapt to remain visible. Want to see how DriveTraffic can help? Let’s chat!
