I have a cannabis retail store in Vermont. Despite having no retail or sales experience, I opened my store up last October. There have been several hurdles and challenges to overcome but the store has performed better than expected. That said, sales have been roughly flat for six months. I’ve spent so much time learning and managing the business side of things that I have neglected the…creative(?) part of it.
A little background on the store: it is located in a town of about 5,000 people. The town is, however, a huge tourist destination and gets lots of traffic from Boston, NYC and NJ. Tourism numbers hit their peaks during the obvious times (holidays, Columbus Day, leaf-peeing season, ski season, etc) but out-of-state traffic is always strong. About 50%-55% of sales are from people out of state.
The store is prominently located on the Main Street in town with a huge parking lot behind. Signage is minimal as town ordinances forbid large or “flashy” signs. I have good relations with some of the local hotels in town, but the larger, corporate owned ones forbid me from placing any kind of flyers in their lobbies. Our sales staff is friendly and knowledgeable – I’ve heard two complaints for all of our employees in an entire year. Many people go out of their way to compliment the folks behind the counter.
The local market is more or less taken care of, but the tourist market has huge potential. I just don’t know how to get to them. I have many vague ideas such as holding festivals in our parking lot, or targeting tourists with digital marketing but there are so many ways to go about that, and for something like digital marketing…learning about it and understanding how to best implement it has been extremely difficult – way too much information to process.
I’m also looking into launching a brand. But that requires a cultivator with experience running a grow – those are hard to find, especially when you need to take into consideration if they will run it as an efficient business. That is a second order affair.
I wouldn’t say I am burnt out, but I need a bit of a fresh prospective on things. What am I missing? What can I do to drive tourist traffic to my store?
Thank you in advance.
TL;DR: How do I get more tourists into my store?
Best practices to improve sales after they've plateaued?
byu/BeefAndCheeseOnRye inEntrepreneur
Posted by BeefAndCheeseOnRye
1 Comment
I prefer a comprehensive digital marketing approach. The hard part is making a marketing system and sticking to it. Here’s what I would do
1. **Set up social media channels:** Social media marketing requires what I call a buckshot approach. You can’t know when Facebook’s algorithm changes or how to prepare for it, so designing content for multiple channels helps safeguard you against the evolution of social media.
2. **Collect and use emails:** Email is the only channel you truly own. Start a newsletter you think your customers would actually care about, and collect emails. It would help lock-in the local market even more, because they’d get email reminders that your shop exists without having to drive by it.
3. **Create content for your website:** I research shops any time I travel. You need to target and move-in on local keywords so when someone searches for smoke shops in or around your town, you’re the first one to pop up. Easier said than done, but important.
4. **Establish business listings:** If you don’t already have a proper business listing on Google, Yelp, etc. you’re missing out. These strengthen your SEO and can even boost linked social profiles.
5. **Travel blog guest posts:** Guest posting is huge for local businesses. Find travel sites that recommend “Top 10 X in [Town], Vermont” and try to get featured on their list. Many times, these lists aren’t updated frequently, so they may not even know your shop exists.
6. **Social media marketing:** Take content and turn it into bite-sized social media posts. There’s massive potential on platforms like Pinterest that can be great for localized businesses. Just make sure you’re sharing content/posting about things your ideal customers would actually care about.
I would cast a wide net, let it try to reel in fish for a while, and see what bites. Some channels/strategies may not move the lever enough for you to pour time into it, but you’ll also discover what really moves the needle. Then you double down on that.