July is the month your independent community pharmacy gets to shine.
It’s National Independent Retailer Month, an event created to celebrate independent retailers across the nation.
Independent Retailer Month is a ‘shop local’ campaign that runs every July. It’s designed to encourage consumers to shop local and to celebrate independent retailers. It also seeks to highlight the positive influence indie retailers have on their local communities both socially and economically.
This celebration is the perfect time to promote your pharmacy. Use this month to remind your current patients what you do for them and to introduce potential patients to what you have to offer. That way you can encourage local consumers to shop local and use their local pharmacy all year.
7 Ways to Promote Your Pharmacy During Independent Retailer Month
Promote your pharmacy this July to increase business and to remind your community about the benefits of supporting local businesses. Use these seven ideas to get started.
1. Host a meet-and-greet
Invite your patients to casually meet your pharmacists and pharmacy technicians during a meet-and-greet.
Hold the meet-and-greet outside normal business hours. Personal interaction outside of business hours enables your staff to build connections with patients and strengthen patient loyalty.
Make the meet-and-greet a reception worth going to, with refreshments, appetizers, and giveaways.
2. Partner with other independent retailers
Work with other local retailers to promote one another’s businesses.
Post flyers, hand out coupons, and talk with patients about the other great businesses in your community.
Also, consider throwing a block party or another event with your neighboring retailers.
3. Hand out goodie bags
When you offer free goodie bags, you make people feel appreciated and you effectively market your products.
Hand out goodie bags filled with small gifts to new patients or to patients who reach a certain dollar amount in purchases during the month of July.
Or, set up a booth at different events throughout the month and give goodie bags to anyone who visits. Consider including advertisements inside the bag to further promote your pharmacy.
4. Promote for the occasion
Make sure patients and passerby know it’s Independent Retailer Month.
Hang signs and posters on your windows and in your pharmacy. Hand out brochures, postcards, and coupons about the month. Put these materials on your counter for patients to grab. You could even stuff them in patients’ prescription bags throughout July.
Download resources from the Independent Retailer Month website.
Downloadable materials include:
- Postcards
- Posters
- Logo
5. Offer “check-in” deals
People can tell others they’ve visited your pharmacy on social media websites, like Facebook. Check-ins can spread your pharmacy’s name quickly and boost visibility.
Offer every shopper who “checks in” to your pharmacy on social media in July an exclusive promotion.
Or, go a step further and enter anyone who follows you on social media into a contest to win an enticing prize.
6. Start a social media campaign
Use social media to share facts about shopping local and encourage people to visit your pharmacy with coupons or other incentives.
For example, ask your followers if they know that, according to Civic Economics, for every $100 spent in a local business, $68 stays in the community, compared to only $43 for every $100 spent at chain stores and mass retailers.
Use the hashtags #indieretailUSA or #shoplocal to connect with independent retailers and supporters across the nation.
7. Offer various promotions
During the month of July, give your patients discounts to your front end in honor of Independent Retailer Month.
Discounts will build awareness and drive more traffic to your pharmacy.
If you offer coupons, make them redeemable in the following month to ensure shoppers return to your pharmacy. Then you’ll have a second opportunity to market your offerings to them.
Make people remember your pharmacy with these ideas for Independent Retailer Month.
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