April 20th is less than a month away. Many dispensaries have probably started thinking about how to get the word out about the best deals to customers on the biggest sales day of the year. But have you thought about how to create a customer journey well before the holiday?&nbsp; &nbsp;In the analysis for our <a href="https://surfside.hubspotpagebuilder.com/420-grow-book">4/20 Grow Book</a>, Surfside discovered that April is the top-selling month for cannabis throughout the month, not just on 4/20. Daily sales in April are, on average, 12% higher when compared to average daily sales. Each day in the coming weeks is a potential chance to get in front of a consumer who’s already thinking with a 4/20 mindset.&nbsp;&nbsp;Dispensary marketing strategies for 4/20 should start with a seasonality mindset. Think about your local convenience store. Easter products have probably been in the windows since February. That’s not because anyone is rushing the doors to start buying chocolate eggs and Peeps - it’s because, when the time comes, those window shoppers are more likely to return to that location.&nbsp;&nbsp;Dispensaries can do the same thing with digital advertising. You don’t just show ads to drive sales right away. Ads can help create a comprehensive consumer journey that drives people to dispensaries or online menus when they’re ready to buy. Especially on big sales days.&nbsp; &nbsp;So now is the right time to start ramping up for 4/20. Here’s how you can do that:&nbsp; &nbsp;1. Segment Your 4/20 Audiences.&nbsp;&nbsp;The majority of customers who buy on 4/20 are regular cannabis consumers already. This is an important group to engage early, since they’ll be looking for the best deals for the holiday and most likely to buy.&nbsp; &nbsp;Two other groups to consider are canna-curious consumers who might be celebrating 4/20 as a social event and occasional cannabis consumers who are open to trying new product formats. If you’ve trained budtenders on <a href="https://www.surfside.io/article/tips-cannabis-advertising-strategy">best practices for customer data</a>, you could have enough information to start building different audiences for different ad campaigns.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;At Surfside, we recommend using audience segments like “Historical 4/20 Shoppers” and “Deal Seekers” to make sure you reach customers with the highest likelihood to buy. Make sure that you geo-target by focusing on segments that are closest to your dispensary.&nbsp; &nbsp;2. Refresh Your Ad Creative.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Just like the holiday season, cannabis businesses should make sure that their messaging and ad campaigns reflect the 4/20 holiday. Consumers often overlook ads that aren’t immediately relevant, but if they’re thinking about 4/20 and see a 4/20-themed ad, they’re more likely to engage.&nbsp; &nbsp;You can go beyond ad creative when refreshing your messaging for big events. Try optimizing your ads with different messages, different offers, and new language on the call-to-action buttons to see what really drives clicks and sales.&nbsp;&nbsp;3. Deliver Ads on Your Audience’s Favorite Websites and Devices.&nbsp; &nbsp;Paid advertising can be a tricky business for dispensary marketing. Paid social and paid search aren’t available as growth channels, so cannabis businesses have to get creative. The good news is that with cannabis advertising platforms like Surfside, you can serve digital ads across more than 1 million mainstream websites and apps to your target customers.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;4. Double Down On What Works.&nbsp; &nbsp;If you get your ads in market in the weeks leading up to 4/20, you can start measuring what’s working and continue to optimize based on the best-performing campaigns. With the right analytics features, you should be able to measure the exact creative, audience, and offer that’s driving the highest conversion rates.&nbsp; &nbsp;Want to know what to measure and how to gauge success? Start off with our list of <a href="https://www.surfside.io/article/cannabis-advertising-terms">12 advertising terms that cannabis businesses</a> should know.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A Seasonal Strategy&nbsp;&nbsp;April 20 isn’t the only opportunity for cannabis businesses to reach consumers with seasonal ad campaigns. As we’ve found through <a href="https://www.surfside.io/article/st-patrick-s-day-cannabis-sales">Surfside data</a>, cannabis purchases often spike around big holidays, whether that’s St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or Green Wednesday and New Year’s.&nbsp;&nbsp;Once you’ve developed a dispensary marketing strategy to segment the right audiences for each big holiday campaign, you’ll be able to move faster and get in front of the customers who matter most just as they start to consider where to buy during the big sales day. &nbsp;<a href="https://surfside.hubspotpagebuilder.com/420-grow-book" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Want to learn more about what to expect on 4/20? Download the full 4/20 Grow Book for exclusive insights and recommendations on how to have the best 4/20 yet.&nbsp;</a>

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