Are you weighing your options when it comes to dispensary website landing pages? We’ve created the short and simple guide you need to answer all your questions, covering key topics such as:

• How to choose between microsites and cannabusiness/dispensary landing pages
• The basic qualities of an effective landing page when advertising for cannabis brands
• How landing pages fit into a multi-vertical marketing plan

Building a great professional landing page seems like it should be incredibly easy – but actually, it’s probably more complicated than most people assume. Let’s take a look at how you can build cannabusiness and dispensary landing pages that actually deliver the measurable results and business growth you want and need.

Website Landing Page vs. Microsite for Your Cannabis Business

One of the most common areas of confusion in cannabis marketing – and really, marketing in general – is the conversation between microsites and landing pages. Although both are helpful in generating leads and form fills, there are key differences in the purpose of each and the strategies used.

Figuring out how to choose between landing pages and microsites for a cannabis dispensary, brand or business is a decision that will be based largely on what you’re hoping to achieve.

Why Choose Landing Pages?

A landing page is where visitors land after clicking through from another source. They are individual web pages that are rooted in your main website’s domain and typically include features such as email list opt-ins, contact list registrations, or purchasing capabilities. Each landing page has a single call to action (CTA), and its primary purpose is to prompt the user to complete that action. Once the CTA is fulfilled, the website visitor then becomes a lead, and the goal of the landing page is achieved.

Landing pages always have a clear, narrow focus rather than an overgeneralized goal. For example, dispensary landing pages might each target a specific product category and its key benefits: i.e. cannabis edibles, tinctures, topicals, flower, etc. The CTA for each page might involve purchasing a product within a specific category.

It’s important to have a clear call to action built into and at the top of every single webpage on your cannabis industry website. This will help direct users towards what they want to do next. For example, if someone clicks on “Shop Now!” or “Learn More!,” then they must click on something else before being able to navigate away from the page.

Benefits of Landing Pages:

• Deliver a highly focused user experience surrounding a specific product or service
• Useful for turning a visitor into a lead
• Easy to create and maintain with creative designers
• Can be highly cost-effective when properly designed
• Provide useful data for analytics and are easily trackable
• Tend to provide better conversions than a homepage

Drawbacks of Landing Pages:

• Must contain strong, engaging copy; otherwise, you can easily lose conversions

Why Choose a Microsite?

A microsite is like a website within a website, often with its own URL independent from the primary website. Generally, it exists as a branded content marketing website that’s built into a subdomain of your website, giving users a more in-depth look at a specific product, service, or idea.

One microsite can contain several web pages and even a completely different (but ideally related) design from your main website.

The purpose of a microsite is to build brand awareness and generate engagement, setting your business up as a trusted authority within your field. Microsites are a tactic for cannabis advertising that is best-suited to target potential customers at the top of the sales funnel. You usually won’t see them used to close a sale but rather connect with and inform the consumer.

Benefits Of Microsites:

• Users are immersed in a highly specific product, topic, or category
• Can boost search rankings in addition to your main website, providing a better opportunity to gain clicks
• Provides users with the exact information they’re searching for without overloading them with irrelevant content
• Offer meaningful interactions, which can extend the amount of time and the quality of the engagement between users and your brand

Drawbacks Of Microsites:

• Often expensive and time-consuming to create
• Require the purchase of additional domains, new web designs, and sometimes a new CMS
• Can complicate the process of managing/maintaining your web content
• May confuse the user (is the microsite a third-party or your business?)

What Makes a Landing Page Effective?

There’s not necessarily a single “best” strategy for building landing pages, but effective landing pages do have a few key characteristics in common. If you want to set up a high-converting landing page, then keep these three foundational elements in mind:

1. Correct Landing Page Structure

One of the biggest landing page mistakes is failing to organize the flow of information in a way that makes sense. Don’t assume that your landing page should be set up with a top-to-bottom structure, starting with an explanation of the product/service and ending with your CTA.

Realistically, many users will never make it to the bottom of the landing page. So, put your strongest selling points and most critical information at the top (including your CTA), so you can increase your chances of getting your point across.

2. A Targeted Headline

Typically, the headline will be the first thing a user sees when they arrive on your landing page. So, it had better be good. A high-converting headline should be clear and concise, and research shows that sticking to five to nine words, numbers, and negative verbiage can go a long way (SEMrush).

3. Credibility Via Social Proof

Gone are the days when a landing page had to take a distinctly sales-oriented approach. Now, creating more natural landing pages is proving to be a better route.

Your goal should be to support your audience in making the right decision based on the information and facts you present them with. Basically, you want them to choose to complete the CTA, but you don’t want to push them into it – rather, they should see it as the clear option.

How do you do this? Social proof (customer reviews, testimonials, and case studies) is the easiest way to show your credibility and build trust. You can incorporate social proof into landing pages in a variety of ways, so feel free to adapt as needed to suit each page and purpose.

What Does a Multi-Vertical Marketing Plan Look Like?

Vertical marketing is generally used by businesses in a niche market, such as the cannabis industry. Compared to a horizontal marketing strategy, which appeals to a broad audience of many potential customers from a variety of backgrounds, vertical marketing zeroes in on specific groups of consumers.

A multi-vertical marketing plan is a strategy that targets multiple “verticals,” taking aim at various groups of consumers connected by a common need: in this case, the need for cannabis products and/or services.

Essentially, using a multi-vertical marketing strategy means that you’ll be leveraging different distribution channels to connect with your target audience(s). All of these efforts will work in tandem so that you can make the most of the opportunities available. Think of it as a comprehensive approach to cannabis advertisements for your cannabusiness, using strategies such as:

• Cannabis programmatic advertising
• Cannabis email ad campaigns
• Cannabis influencer/affiliate marketing
• Cannabis social media marketing

Ideally, you’ll have landing pages created by experienced designers that are ready to suit the full range of purposes, verticals, and online advertisement mediums featured in your larger plan.

Get a Comprehensive Strategy for Programmatic Advertising from MMX

High-quality landing pages are just one facet of programmatic advertising for cannabis businesses. There’s no question that operating within the legal cannabis industry and community standards comes with some very specific marketing challenges, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use digital advertising to your advantage in the best way possible. With help from a professional cannabis brands marketing agency, like Marijuana Marketing Xperts, you can gain a competitive advantage and make better progress towards your goals.

Prepare to see your business bloom with programmatic advertising and other digital marketing services from MMX when you contact us today!

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