Every industry must comply with various advertising rules and regulations — and industries that sell age-restricted products, even more so.
But not all rules are made equally. Within age-restricted industries, tobacco advertising regulations are particularly strict. Even when billboards and public ads for guns and marijuana dispensaries are all over the place, cigarette and cigar ads are nowhere to be seen.
Many smoke shop owners, worried about breaking the rules, end up not advertising at all — and that’s bad for business.
Advertising your products and business might be more complicated than other retailers, but it’s not impossible. Let’s break down the most important regulations to know, along with some creative solutions to advertise your shop legally.
Like alcohol, specific rules about tobacco advertising and marketing can vary between states, counties, and even cities. But for the most part, tobacco advertising regulations follow the same blueprint established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
These are the most important rules you need to know as a tobacco store owner:
It’s also worth noting that most federal tobacco advertising regulations also apply to smokeless tobacco products. Outside of federal law, here are a few other rules worth knowing:
As always, we are tobacco retail experts, not legal advisors. Before you spend time and money on a new tobacco store promotion idea, double-check your state’s specific laws.
Knowing regulations is important. You don’t want to do anything to hurt your reputation in the community or put your tobacco license at risk.
Luckily, there are ways to reach your customers that don’t involve breaking the rules.
Here are a few ideas you can try at your store.
Because most public-facing advertising options are unavailable to tobacco stores, your best bet is to focus on your store itself.
In-store advertisements for products are legal, as long as they follow FDA rules. These include a health warning in the upper right that takes up about 20% of the total print space. The warning has to be in a legible, 12-point font.
Note: These restrictions are only for applicable products — and it’s generally the manufacturers who need to stay on top of these rules, not your shop. However, they’re still worth understanding in case you want to come up with an ad for a unique product bundle or house blend for pipe tobacco.
Many of your customers are aware of the health risks, so they likely won’t mind the warnings — and standing displays are a great way to showcase a new product, highlight a sale item, or encourage people to browse. Speak directly with suppliers and manufacturers to see if they have any displays for you to use in your store.
Related Read: 6 Smoke Shop Visual Merchandising Ideas To Increase Sales
The rules about tobacco businesses and social media are confusing at best. Sometimes they’re strict, sometimes they’re not. If you plan to use social media, your best bet is to focus on posts that don’t resemble traditional ads.
Posts that don’t explicitly promote your sales might seem useless — but that’s far from the truth. As a smoke shop owner, you have plenty of competition. By creating posts that focus on your employees, your culture, and education, you’ll stand out from the pack.
Here are some ideas for fun (and policy-compliant) posts:
There are many ways for a business to be active on social media that don’t involve showing products on its shelves. In fact, it helps put a relatable, human face to your brand.
Some customers see smoke shops as interchangeable and bounce between whichever shop is most convenient. But if you can turn just 5% more of your customers into repeat visitors, you can boost sales by 25–95%.
Try driving more repeat business through a customer loyalty program. Loyalty programs aren’t restricted by tobacco ad laws, but are an excellent marketing tool for small tobacco stores.
Once a customer signs up, they can earn points for every purchase, which can then be traded in for discounts or freebies (e.g., a free lighter). You can use the contact information you collect to send out announcements and targeted offers, too. Instead of choosing just any smoke shop, those points will encourage them to choose your smoke shop.
A loyalty program isn’t just about earning points. It also gives you an easy way to collect contact information for marketing. Another way to collect emails is to place a fishbowl near checkout for customers to drop business cards for a weekly or monthly drawing. Pick one winner, but use the email addresses from the rest of the submissions!
Once you have customer emails, start sending a weekly newsletter. It doesn’t have to be long, just a few paragraphs about:
Newsletters and emails might seem a little old-fashioned, but they’re surprisingly effective for small businesses. In fact, over 60% of customers have decided to make a purchase after receiving a marketing email.
Better yet, if you use the emails from your point of sale (POS) system, you can use a customer’s purchase history to provide personalized recommendations. For example:
A combination of a newsletter and personalized marketing gives you plenty of options to reach out directly to customers (while still following tobacco advertising regulations).
Related Read: Tobacco Shop Product Ranking: What It Is & Why You Need It
A large part of what separates an OK smoke shop from a great one is community. Building personal connections with your customers not only helps sales — it leads to more recommendations and reviews.
Hosting in-store events is another way to bring people together and keep your business at the top of customers’ minds. Events don’t have to be centered around tobacco products (which might be tricky, depending on your city’s zoning laws). Instead, host trivia nights, cookouts, movie nights, and fun events.
Offer attendees exclusive discounts and set up special displays to encourage repeat visits after the event is over. If you create unique discount codes for each event, you can use the reports on your POS system to measure which events had the highest return on investment (ROI).
Our last tip for marketing your store is maybe the easiest — but it’s also the easiest to overlook. The vast majority of customers find local businesses by searching online. If your website and online business profiles aren’t up to date, you may as well not exist to those people.
Here are some tips to keep you at the top of local search results:
With the right tools, you won’t have to be constantly updating your web presence. When it comes to ranking in online search, a little goes a long way.
Promoting your store while following tobacco advertising regulations is difficult, but not impossible. Your best bet is to focus on connecting directly with customers and creating a great in-store shopping experience.
Specialty point of sale systems like Cigars POS help you do both — and stay compliant. Our system was designed from the ground up with smoke shops and other tobacco retailers in mind.
With features like detailed sales reports, built-in loyalty management, and other marketing tools, you can get a better understanding of your customers’ tastes and handle all of your marketing in one place.
Schedule a personalized demo today to see how Cigars POS can help you bring in new customers and stay compliant with local tobacco laws.