What do you want your independent community pharmacy to be known for?
Whether you’d like to build a reputation for your pharmacy as a friendly hometown business or be known as the best independent in town for diabetes care, creating a brand for your business requires thought and effort.
Crafting a successful brand that resonates with people goes beyond marketing and advertising. Building a brand entails differentiating your pharmacy, making your presence known and working to establish your credibility.
However you want to brand your pharmacy, use these tips in the process. They’ll help you grow your independent community pharmacy into an effective brand.
Build your credibility
Current patients may know that your pharmacy offers genuine customer service and products and services that set your pharmacy apart. But, to give your brand sticking power, you have to continuously strengthen your credibility.
Credibility is important to consumers today. They want to know that you’re a business they can trust.
Bolster your business’s credibility by making yourself known as an industry expert. Here are some easy ideas to put into action:
- Publish a weekly blog post with health care tips for patients and updates on the latest news, like pharmacists’ authorization to provide birth control.
- Offer professional advice to a local journalist about a health-related topic, such as the nation’s opioid epidemic.
- Hold a free educational seminar at your pharmacy, a local community center or a local school
Reinforcing your business’s credibility will ensure that your pharmacy is known as a trusted health resource.
Cultivate a successful pharmacy team
The individuals you hire don’t just help you cope with a busy workload and care for patients; they also play a large role in building your pharmacy’s brand.
It’s important to contemplate your independent community pharmacy’s initial hires. Be sure to prepare for interviews and ask candidates the right questions so that you can find the right fit that will help you build your pharmacy’s brand.
For example, if you want your pharmacy’ brand to be more clinically focused, then make sure you hire pharmacists adept at providing clinical services.
And, to ensure your brand’s future success, you’ll need to support your staff’s ongoing professional development. You can do this by providing intensive on-the-job training or reimbursing employees for continuing education (CE), among other ways.
Cultivating a successful pharmacy team is essential to creating a lucrative, long-lasting business.
Be different
Making your pharmacy unique and offering different products and services from your competitors is the only way to create a brand.
Consider Ritzman Pharmacy, an independent community pharmacy chain with 23 locations in northeast Ohio that recently rebranded its business by creating a pharmacy of the future.
The pharmacy wanted to restore the pharmacist as a pillar of the community, while also updating its business model to address the latest industry challenges and adopt the newest technology. (Read the full story of Ritzman Pharmacy’s rebranding.)
When you position your pharmacy as a distinct brand and distinguish your business from competitors, patients will take notice.
Engage on social media
While promoting your pharmacy is imperative to building a brand, for it to be effective you have to ensure that your message aligns with the brand your pharmacy represents.
Social media can be a great way to way to help patients recognize and value your brand.
If your brand is known for its fast service, make sure to always quickly respond to patients who comment on your Facebook page or who tweet at your pharmacy on Twitter. Or, if your brand is known for its great front-end deals, consider sharing posts about promotional offers for your store’s front-end products.
Make your presence known
Another way to enhance your pharmacy’s brand is by building a name for your business in your local health care community.
Make your presence known by nurturing partnerships with local physicians and other health care professionals. You can also bolster your brand by attending networking events or conferences.
Set goals
As the industry changes, so will your independent community pharmacy. So, you’ll need to know how to adapt your brand to the changing times, and plan for how you’d like your vision for your business to come to life.
You can do this by setting short-term and long-term goals for your business.
For example, if you want to be known as the most convenient pharmacy in town, make it a point to let patients know about the mobile app you have that offers online refills.
Learn how PBA Health’s marketing services can help assist in building your independent community pharmacy’s brand.
