Key takeaways
- Ask any agency how it grows a dispensary without THC ads. The answer should be search, Maps, the menu and your own customer list.
- Insist that the Google profile, website, CRM and every ad or directory account stay in your name.
- Treat ad workarounds, review incentives and reports full of impressions as reasons to walk away.
- Judge the agency by new customers, second visits and cost per new customer, reported monthly.
A good marketing agency for a dispensary knows that Google and Meta will not run ads for THC products, and builds growth anyway: through your Google profile, website and live menu, cannabis directories and the loyalty list you own. It keeps every account in your name, follows your state's advertising rules, and reports in new and returning customers.
What to look for
Look for an agency that can explain, in plain terms, how it would bring first-time customers to your counter and bring them back, without the ad channels most agencies rely on. Google's policy bars ads for recreational drugs including THC products (Google's policy), and Meta's drugs policy bars the same (Meta's policy). An agency whose playbook is mostly paid social has little to offer a dispensary.
Use this checklist in the first call:
- They describe a cannabis channel plan unprompted. Google Business Profile, local SEO, the menu and pre-order flow, directory listings, and email and loyalty, in an order that fits your store.
- They ask about your POS and loyalty platform. Most of your customer data lives there, and any plan that ignores it is guessing.
- They raise state rules before you do. Advertising, promotion and loyalty rules differ by state, and a good agency asks who signs off on claims.
- They put ownership in writing. Your Google profile, domain, website, CRM, phone numbers and directory accounts belong to you, with the agency as a user.
- They report in customers. New customers by source, second-visit rate and cost per new customer, not impressions and followers.
- They work in scoped projects. Each piece of work has an outcome and a date, and you can leave without a long notice period.
- They plan around your calendar. 4/20, the holidays and your product drops are planned weeks ahead, not the week of.
Choosing a marketing partner
| Question | Look for | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts | Everything in your name | They own the ad account or site |
| Contract | Projects with outcomes and dates | Long lock-in with no exit |
| Reporting | Calls and booked jobs | Impressions and clicks only |
| Promises | Honest trade-offs | Promised top rankings |
Red flags
The clearest red flags in dispensary marketing are the ones that put your license, your accounts or your reviews at risk.
| Red flag | Why it matters for a dispensary |
|---|---|
| A plan to "get around" Google or Meta ad rules | Disguised product ads are rejected, and a disabled ad account can take your other campaigns with it |
| Loyalty points or product for Google reviews | Google's policy bans incentives (Google's policy), and the FTC rule bans buying reviews (FTC rule) |
| The agency owns the profile, website or CRM | When you part ways, you lose your listing, your list or both |
| Bulk text blasts with no talk of registration or consent | Unregistered or non-consented texts get blocked, and cannabis content is restricted by many providers |
| Product copy that promises effects or benefits | Health claims break most state cannabis advertising rules |
| Directory placement bundles with no tracking | You pay for visibility on menu platforms and never learn whether it brought anyone in |
| Monthly reports full of reach and engagement | None of it tells you whether more people bought from you |
An agency that lists one of these as a strategy is telling you how the relationship will end.
Agency vs hiring
Most dispensaries cannot cover the work with one hire. The job spans SEO, the website and menu, the Google profile, directory listings, CRM and loyalty automation, content within state rules, and reporting from POS data. That is several skill sets. One marketing coordinator, often a strong one, ends up good at two of them and stretched across the rest.
A common split works well: someone in-house runs social, vendor days and in-store promotions, and an outside team handles the technical and analytical work. The hire or agency guide for dispensaries walks through the comparison with a framework you can fill in.
Why VETS Growth Marketing
We work the same way on every account, in four steps:
- Assess. We review your Google profile, website and menu, directory listings, follow-up and the data in your POS and loyalty platform. You leave with the five highest-impact moves, whether or not you hire us.
- Prioritize. We put those moves in order by how many new customers or second visits each should recover, and agree an outcome and a date for each.
- Execute. We do the work inside your accounts: profile, pages, menu sync, CRM, automations. Every message and page is written to avoid the claims your state restricts.
- Measure. We report new customers by source, second-visit rate and cost per new customer, then pick the next move. Bigger pushes are set well before 4/20 and the holidays.
You get a full team, from search to software, for about the cost of one senior hire. The dispensary industry page shows how the channels fit together.
How VETS Growth Marketing helps
We are built for owners who have been burned by an agency before: every account in your name, every project with a date, every report in customers rather than clicks. No long-term contract holds you in. Book a growth consultation and we will review your profile, site and follow-up, and give you the five moves we would make first.
Sources
- Dangerous products or services policy, Google Advertising Policies Help
- Advertising Standards: Drugs and pharmaceuticals, Meta Transparency Center
- Prohibited & restricted content (Maps user-generated content policy), Google Maps Help
- 16 CFR Part 465: Use of consumer reviews and testimonials, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations