There are many traditional as well as online marketing channels where you can promote your vape shop. To make your marketing efforts more efficient and effective, you need to know what these channels are and choose the ones where your target consumers are mostly found. This article tackles on the various marketing channels that you can use.
Online Marketing Channels to Promote Your Vape Shop
In this digital age, it’s important to know the available marketing opportunities that you can take advantage online. With many potential customers owning smartphones and laptops these days, it’s just sensible to extensively utilise the Internet for promoting and advertising vape products.
- Online community forums
Reddit is a popular platform where you can talk with like-minded individuals, such as vape users and business owners. The discussions are categorised into specific areas, thus, allowing you to conveniently find and connect with your target audience.
- Social media profiles
Facebook and Instagram are popular networks where you can create an online profile for your brand and regularly engage with your target market.
- Company website
Having an official website allows your business to create a strong brand image that your customers will remember. It’s also a good marketing channel when you’re thinking of running an e-commerce site where your customers can actually make a purchase.
- Organic online search
Even small business owners can learn the basics of search engine optimisation for their websites and for every article they write. With the right SEO strategies implemented, you can have strong visibility on search result pages when people are looking for specific products that match what you’re selling.
- Blog Sites/Sections
Search for blogs focusing on topics that can be related to your vape products (e.g. travel, gadgets or health blogs) and talk to the blogger about contributing a written article to the website.
- Online trade/industry magazines
Industry vape magazines have a great influence as they bring the vaping community together. Consider contributing an article or paying for advertising on these platforms.
- Social media influencers and reviewers
With the popularity of social media, the influencers have the power to entice their massive followers and thus, you have to opportunity to collaborate with them in promoting your business (e.g. via Instagram) or reviewing your products (e.g. Youtube videos).
- Vape review sites
This channel is perfect when you’re confident about your products. You can send your products to the websites’ owners for review. On the other hand, some websites are open for user reviews, and thus, you can encourage your customers to share their comments about your products.
- Online directories
Listing your business on online directories such as Google Maps can help strengthen your online visibility. There are also online directories specifically for vape shop businesses.
- E-mail marketing
E-mail newsletter campaign is a classic marketing strategy in this digital age, so don’t take it for granted. Use every opportunity to encourage your customers and target consumers to subscribe to the newsletter for updates especially on the latest deals your shop is offering.
Traditional Marketing Channels for Vape Shop Owners
While online marketing channels abound, you shouldn’t take traditional strategies for granted. Explore these channels and see if they suit your business.
- Vape expos and conferences
- Local community/trade events
- Television and radio ads
- Local newspaper ads
- Leaflets, store receipts and other printed ads
- Vehicle decals, standing banners, billboards and other outdoor signage
- Word-of-mouth marketing
How can you promote your vape shop?
Knowing the marketing channels available to you is not enough. You also have to understand how you can effectively use them for your promotional activities. Here are some of the top ways to promote your vape shop.
- Identify the demographics of your target consumers. While many people think that vape shops exude a counterculture concept with skulls and crosses, other business owners have put up a formal, friendly atmosphere as they identified older individuals (i.e. Baby Boomers) to be their frequent customers. More importantly, understanding your target consumers will help you determine which marketing channels to use intensively.
- Write and share original, quality articles not just for search engine optimisation purposes but for your readers to love and relate to as well.
- Make sure to add links to your social media accounts and website on your e-mail, newsletters, online profiles, signage and other marketing platforms.
- Consider building a brand story and be consistent with it. Some businesses use a fictitious character to promote their brands both online and offline.
- Hire brand ambassadors to represent your products. Consider hiring those who understand or is already passionate about vaping in order to reduce costs on training and orientation.
- Host vape-related or general community events on a regular basis to bring customers and potential consumers back to your shop. Consider holding a major event or two small ones on a monthly basis.
- Use every chance possible to ask your target consumers to share their email addresses and build your mailing list. These opportunities include during online checkout, in cashiers’ areas in your store, on your online profiles and posts, among others. You can also offer immediate discounts in exchange for their contact information.
- Implement special deals for specific groups of customers, such as hospital staff, the military or college students.
How can you advertise vape products?
Advertising is a part of your marketing campaign that aims to persuade customers to buy your products and usually involves payment for media space.
One thing to remember is that when advertising vape products online, the major e-commerce sites and social media platforms do not allow ads related to e-cigarettes or products that simulate tobacco smoking. For example, Instagram and Facebook have a policy that adverts must not promote the use and sale of paraphernalia related to tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and vaporiser devices. Twitter has a similar promotional restriction. Google Ads specifically disallows e-cigarettes and related products stimulating tobacco smoking.
Fortunately, there are vape industry magazines, both online and offline, where you can run your ads. These are perfect advertising platforms since these magazines’ target readers are also almost 100% your target consumers.
While social media platforms disallow smoking-related products on their ad networks, you can still publish photos, videos or text-based posts about your products and special deals on your social media feeds. Make sure to add links on your posts to your e-commerce site or where your target customers can actually buy the products.
Your mailing list is also perfect to advertise your products especially the new stocks or those with special deals.
Finally, you can do a bit of advertising in your brick-and-mortar shop. You can put up a “menu” of you vapour flavours in your shop for your customers’ shopping convenience. By using a chalkboard or laminated paper, you can change the menu without much hassle when you have new flavours available or have to take some off.
Bottom Line
Despite promotional and advertising restriction involving e-cigarettes and vape products, among other devices simulating tobacco smoking, there are still plenty of traditional as well as online marketing channels that you can utilise to promote your vape shop.
