Introduction
For licensed cannabis dispensaries, MSOs, and delivery services, advertising retail locations effectively is vital for attracting customers and driving business growth. However, the traditional avenues for cannabis advertising, such as legacy offerings like Weedmaps, often fall short in terms of cost, reach, and transparency.
In this digital age, where targeted and data-driven advertising is crucial, Mantis Ads emerges as the innovative solution that more cannabis brands are embracing. In this blog post, we'll explore why licensed cannabis retailers should consider shifting to Mantis Ads, harnessing the power of programmatic advertising to enhance their advertising efforts.
The Challenges of Legacy Advertising Platforms
Legacy offerings like Weedmaps primarily operates as a single website, limiting the audience reach for ad campaigns, particularly in local markets where potential customers may not actively seek out their platform.
Furthermore, the lack of transparency in tracking performance and the inability to retarget potential customers beyond Weedmaps.com listings can impede dispensaries' ability to nurture and convert leads effectively.
Enter Mantis Ads
Mantis Ads represents a paradigm shift in cannabis advertising, offering licensed dispensaries and delivery services a more cost-effective, targeted, and transparent approach to reach their audience.
Here are three reasons why Mantis stands out as the superior choice:
1. Cost-Effectiveness with Enhanced Reach
Mantis Ads provides a more cost-effective alternative to traditional platforms like Weedmaps, allowing dispensaries to optimize their advertising budgets and maximize their return on investment. With Mantis Ads, licensed cannabis retailers can tap into a vast network of premium websites, mobile apps, and digital publishers, ensuring broader reach and increased exposure to their target audience. This localized targeting capability empowers dispensaries to connect with potential customers in their specific geographic areas, resulting in higher foot traffic and conversion rates.
2. Transparent Performance Tracking and Data Insights
Mantis Ads offers dispensaries comprehensive analytics and reporting tools that provide valuable insights into ad performance and audience behavior. Dispensaries can track key metrics, such as impressions, clicks, and conversions, allowing them to make data-driven decisions to optimize their campaigns continuously. This transparency enables dispensaries to refine their targeting strategies, enhance ad creatives, and ultimately improve their overall advertising effectiveness.
3. Retargeting Users and Driving Website Traffic
Unlike Weedmaps, Mantis Ads enables dispensaries to direct potential customers to their own websites, allowing for retargeting opportunities and nurturing leads beyond a single platform. Dispensaries can leverage programmatic advertising to reach users who have previously shown interest in their products or visited their website, increasing the chances of conversion. This retargeting capability empowers dispensaries to build brand loyalty and establish a lasting connection with their audience.
Mantis Supported Ad Channels
Licensed dispensaries and delivery services can choose between launching multiple types of ad campaigns including display ads, sponsored content ads, video ads (up to 60 seconds in length), retargeted display ads (i.e., ads targeting visitors to your website in the recent past), and custom audience targeted campaigns (e.g., ads targeting your first party email lists on the open web).
Display ads by Mantis
Build brand awareness and drive targeted traffic directly to your sales and/or offer pages with display ads by Mantis.
Mantis' self-service ad software is designed to track creative performance metrics such as the vCTR of each ad you upload. Use the data within your Mantis account to identify and pause any underperforming creatives with ease.
As a Mantis advertiser, you are able to A/B test as many display banner ads as your heart desires. Simply upload your brand artwork into the campaign creation wizard and let Mantis handle the rest. The system will automatically rotate through your banner ads in an attempt to identify the top performing unit(s) to begin prioritizing over any underperforming unit(s).
Sponsored content ads by Mantis
Sponsored content ads, sometimes referred to as recommended content ads, are paid advertisements that show as native content hosted under popular articles on partner websites included in the Mantis network.
These type of campaigns must link to a landing page with content, rather than a sales/offer page. Because of this, sponsored content ads are a great tool to leverage when the goal is to drive targeted traffic to your company's blog or PR articles to guarantee visibility at a lower cost per click than display ads.
Programmatic video ads by Mantis
Video advertisements are served on publications included in the Mantis ad network in one of two ways:
Pre-roll video ads - Publications opting to embed video ads as pre-roll inventory before self-hosted video content.
In-article video ads - Publications opting to use the Mantis appearing and disappearing video player can display video ads in-line with non-video content hosted on their website.
The best part is you'll get guaranteed viewability of 100% video completion of 2 seconds or more when running video creative with Mantis.
Conclusion
As licensed cannabis dispensaries and delivery services strive to thrive in an increasingly competitive market, embracing the power of programmatic advertising with Mantis Ads can revolutionize their marketing efforts.
By shifting away from legacy offerings like Weedmaps, dispensaries can access a cost-effective, targeted, and transparent advertising platform that maximizes their reach, provides actionable data insights, and allows for retargeting opportunities.
Take the leap forward and unlock the full potential of your cannabis retail business with Mantis Ads. Elevate your advertising strategy, drive foot traffic, and build long-lasting relationships with your valued customers in the ever-evolving cannabis industry.
