In 2022, the average American checked their phone every four minutes - that’s a 31% increase from 2021. Additionally, when people receive a text notification, 70% of Americans will check that notification within five minutes of receiving it. With society’s ever-growing reliance on their phones, why wouldn’t a business take advantage of a marketing approach that targets one of the most valuable items a consumer owns?
Businesses cannot be successful without developing strong customer relationships, and continuously finding innovative ways to keep those customers coming back. As industries like the cannabis industry become diluted with competitors, it’s vital to be proactive with customer engagement. One of the most effective tools for engaging with your customers in a cost-effective and personalized way to keep them coming back is through SMS marketing.
What is Text Message Marketing?
In layman terms, SMS marketing is when a business utilizes text messaging campaigns to share promotional deals with consumers, as well as relaying important information such as event details, appointment reminders, and other relevant information to engage with customers.
In the cannabis industry specifically, business owners are frequently running promotional campaigns for specials on products to draw customers back into their dispensary - but you will also see text message marketing being used for delivery reminders, status updates on online orders, and to relay special event details. The only limit of possibilities for this growing marketing tool is one’s own mind.
Consumers Choice
Unlike other forms of marketing, such as paid ads, social media, and email, consumers have to choose to opt in and opt out of SMS Marketing. There are many legal parameters for text message marketing that protect the consumer from being spammed, unlike with other marketing platforms. This gives the consumer the choice to sign up to begin with - and having that power as a customer has led to 91% of consumers wanting businesses they opt into to text them, especially when it comes to dollar-off and percentage-off deals.
SMS and MMS Marketing
The two main components of text message marketing are SMS (short message service) and MMS (multimedia messaging service), and it is essential to use both when creating text message based marketing campaigns. SMS is just your standard text message, but it becomes an MMS when you add a file such as a picture.
In the cannabis space, it’s important to know how to utilize both - and the ways to creatively market your business in an industry that is heavily regulated in terms of how you can advertise. Cannabis retailers have to be more strategic with SMS marketing, but through the subtle uses of MMS, coupled with creative wording, text message based marketing for your dispensary is one of the most effective tools available to you today.
Why it Works
The single biggest reason why cannabis retailers need to be implementing SMS marketing into their marketing strategies is because of the high consumer engagement rate of this tool. Most SMS marketing has a 98% average open rate, because people are almost always opening and reading their text messages - and 30% of customers make a purchase in response to these texts.
This is leading to a widespread behavioral shift towards SMS marketing throughout every industry, but in the cannabis field, it is becoming essential due to the limited ways to effectively market in this industry. However, most businesses aren’t using this highly responsive and engaging tool to connect with their clients - which is why it is so important for dispensaries to jump into this marketing option now.
Key Reasons to Add Text Message Marketing to Your Business
- Customer Engagement: This form of marketing makes it quick and easy to reach consumers - for both the business owner and the customer. Not only is text message marketing easily customizable for your business needs and promotions, but your marketing efforts are being directly sent to the consumer where they already are - on their phone! It’s also simple to relay the information that customers actually want to know about, as opposed to just email marketing in long form messages that can dilute some of these promotional efforts.
- Customizable & Easy to Use: In the cannabis industry, business owners, especially small business owners, aren’t wanting to spend a lot of money on in-house marketing teams and strategies - and why would they when there’s tools at their disposal that reduce the need for complex marketing strategies? Not only do companies like Blackleaf provide step-by-step support throughout the entire process, they also help you learn how to independently create effective SMS marketing campaigns that are personalized to your clientele. Your brand can be reflected to your consumers with personalized touches that don’t come across as spam. Get creative with your marketing strategy!
- Omnichannel Approach: Any great business takes advantage of the many tools at their disposal, and when customers are increasingly opting into text message based marketing for the brands they love, it’s a no-brainer. Emails, social media, and paid advertising aren’t going anywhere, but tapping into resources to diversify your customer base, while becoming innovative with your marketing strategies, is essential for business growth - especially when less businesses are using this newer marketing tool. This can help you stand out in the rapidly growing cannabis industry.
- Cost Effective Marketing: When you compare text message based marketing to social media paid ads, or even the time and effort spent on creating graphics and content for a weekly or monthly newsletter, SMS marketing is incredibly affordable. With SMS marketing, a business owner can create simple campaigns with platforms like Blackleaf that send out bulk messages where you can pay as you go - no contracts, hidden fees, and no spending lots of money on paid ads that require planning and analytic understanding.
Why Blackleaf?
While text message based marketing is thriving in many industries, and there are plenty of different platforms for businesses to use, it’s important to find an SMS marketing platform that specializes in the unique needs for business owners in the cannabis industry.
While affordability is a top priority for business owners, and our pricing structure is highly competitive, it’s also important to work with companies that understand all the facets of your business needs - which is why Blackleaf provides support throughout the entire process. If your messages are being blocked, if you’re struggling to create effective campaigns, or if you need general support in how to utilize the platform, Blackleaf provides customer support for all of your needs.
At the end of the day, the goal is to increase your customer retention and increase your business sales, but you can’t do this without effective marketing on all platforms. We strive to make Blackleaf easy to use for any business owner if you don’t have a marketing team (and if you do!), while also providing all-in-one services. This includes additional tools such as helping create effective URL links, user-friendly graphic design tools to create flyers for your MMS, and even other functionalities such as being able to tie in your POS system to automatically generate flyers based on any current promotions you are running. The possibilities are endless with how you can effectively use text message based marketing for your dispensary, especially when working with a company that sees and meets your unique needs.
