On average, people spend nearly seven hours online every single day. As a small business, that means going digital is the best way to reach potential new patients.
If you already have social media pages, one way to step up your game is by creating an independent pharmacy blog. With a blog, you can build relationships with people by educating them about hot-button health and wellness issues, answering commonly asked questions, and posting about the in-demand products and services you offer.
Here’s why you should consider adding a blog to your online marketing repertoire, along with tips for creating a compelling pharmacy blog.
Why to build your business with a blog
You can expect these added benefits when you create an independent pharmacy blog.
Online visibility
Blogging is a great way to build your online presence. As you post blogs, your website becomes more discoverable on Google. This directs more traffic to your website, which gives potential patients a chance to find out more about your business.
Blogs also give patients an excuse to spend more time on your website. If they click on one post, chances are, they’ll click on another. This helps keep your pharmacy’s name at the top of mind.
Social content
A social media presence is a must for independent pharmacies these days, but between serving patients and managing your staff, you’re probably hard-pressed to come up with creative social posts.
If you have a blog, you also have a well of content that can be cross-posted to your social media pages. The relationship between blogs and social media is mutually beneficial: you can build a lively social media presence while also consistently driving your followers back to your website.
Low-cost marketing
If you already have a pharmacy website set up, chances are that you have the capability to add a blog page for no extra cost.
That means running a blog costs you nothing but time. You can get the word out about your products and services without paying for a print ad or boosting a social media post.
Lead generation
Your blog can help you turn potential patients into actual patients. All you need to do is add a call-to-action at the end of your posts.
After a post about the benefits of flavoring medication, for example, invite blog readers to come in and try your flavoring service at a discount.
Build your email marketing list by inviting readers to sign up to get updates every time you post a new blog.
Every blog post should have some sort of call-to-action that aligns with your current marketing efforts.
6 tips for a great pharmacy blog
Keep these tips in mind as you build your blog’s readership.
Be consistent
Just like any other marketing effort, consistency is key when it comes to creating blog posts.
Post on a schedule you can keep up with — if you post every day for a week and then don’t post for three months, it will be hard to build a loyal readership.
Create a posting schedule you know you can manage, whether that’s twice a week or twice a month. If you’re able to post more frequently, that’s great, but if you establish a schedule and don’t stick to it, you’ll end up with disappointed readers.
Share expertise
The saying “write what you know” also applies to blog posts, and what you know about is independent pharmacy. Use your blog as an opportunity to showcase your expertise.
If your pharmacy has a specialty niche, a blog is a great place to educate potential patients.
Your blog is where you can demonstrate to patients that you know your stuff and boost your reputation as your community’s authority on pharmacy topics.
Keep it relevant
Keep your readership in mind when deciding what to write about. While you may have an interest in fly fishing, your readers are coming to you for insights on health and wellness issues, so don’t stray too far from that purpose.
Think about your demographics when building your content. If you have many patients with young children, you may want to cover topics relating to pediatric pharmacy. If your area has a high population of diabetes patients, you can tailor content to that audience.
The more relevant your posts are, the more time people will spend reading the blog and learning about your pharmacy.
Work with guest bloggers
You don’t have to do all the blogging yourself. To lighten your writing load, invite other professionals to write guest blogs for your pharmacy.
Cross-promotion can help to grow your readership. The guest blogger gets an opportunity to share their project with your readers, and in turn, they’ll share the blog with their own following, which may not know about your pharmacy.
If you’re not sure who to ask to write a guest post, look around at your industry connections. Bring in a CBD expert to answer patient questions about CBD or invite a nutritionist to write about building a balanced diet.
You can also work with local business owners or media personalities to address events that are happening in your town.
Build community
To create a consistent readership, you have to make efforts to build a feeling of community among your blog readers.
One way to start is by having an open comments section where readers can ask questions and weigh in. Another option is to start a Facebook Group where people can chat amongst themselves about your recent posts.
Keep people involved in the content by taking topic suggestions, or create a monthly Q&A post where you answer reader questions about pharmacy topics.
When you treat your readers like they are part of the pharmacy family rather than potential customers, you can build a warm rapport. That’s something chain pharmacies will never be able to compete with.
Research keywords
To go above and beyond with your blog posts, research the keywords that will attract your ideal patient.
Keywords are words and phrases that you incorporate into your blog posts to help the post rank higher in search engines.
For example, if you’re writing a blog post about your smoking cessation program, a keyword phrase to use in your blog might be “quit smoking.”
Since you’re a local business, you may also want to add a supporting keyword that includes your town name. This way, someone who searches “quit smoking Savannah” can find your Savannah-based smoking cessation program.
Resources like Google Keyword Planner can help you identify which keywords to target.
A Member-Owned Company Serving Independent Pharmacies
PBA Health is dedicated to helping independent pharmacies reach their full potential on the buy-side of their business. Founded and owned by pharmacists, PBA Health serves independent pharmacies with group purchasing services, wholesaler contract negotiations, proprietary purchasing tools, and more.
An HDA member, PBA Health operates its own NABP-accredited secondary wholesaler with more than 6,000 SKUs, including brands, generics, narcotics CII-CV, cold-storage products, and over-the-counter (OTC) products — offering the lowest prices in the secondary market.
