Are you looking for ways to improve your pharmacy’s marketing efforts? Doing so starts with knowing where your pharmacy stands in the marketplace.
But how do you figure that out? You can determine your position in the marketplace by taking a critical look at your business using a SWOT analysis, a business tool that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This tool can help you shift from your everyday clinical perspective to a business and, more specifically, a marketing frame of mind.
You, the business owner, can execute a SWOT analysis yourself. At its core, SWOT analysis simply involves taking an objective look at the internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats) factors that affect your business. This method can help you understand your marketing goals and also help you develop marketing strategies.
You can complete a SWOT analysis by creating a grid with four separate compartments, one each for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and filling in the blanks.
Why use SWOT analysis:
- Differentiate your pharmacy from the competition
- Focus your marketing on your best customers
- Discover the areas in which your marketing efforts can grow
Strengths
Take a look at your pharmacy’s strengths compared with your competitors’. Be sure to look at it from your customers’ perspective. For example, does your pharmacy boast the only drive-thru in town? Or maybe your pharmacy offers the shingles vaccine, while your competitors do not? Anything your pharmacy does that your competitors don’t do, and that your customers want, you can consider a strength.
Weaknesses
You’ll likely find it more difficult to come up with your pharmacy’s weaknesses than its strengths. Look at your competitors for inspiration. For example, do your competitors stay open 24 hours, while your pharmacy works 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.? Or maybe you don’t think your pharmacy is achieving a competitive cost of goods? Do you have limited staff? Think about all aspects of your pharmacy when considering weaknesses.
Opportunities and threats
Your pharmacy faces external opportunities and threats not only within the complicated healthcare industry, but also with other factors including legal, political, technological, and cultural influences. When considering opportunities and threats to your pharmacy, think about what can set your pharmacy apart or what could replace it.
Opportunities can switch to threats and vice versa. For example, developments in new technology could be an opportunity or a threat. Threats could also include increases in mail order, PBM mergers, and federal regulations. Opportunities could include growing your customer base, better marketing to your best customers and revitalizing your pharmacy’s brand.
To make your SWOT analysis even more beneficial, focus it on specific segments of your market. When considering strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, think of it from the point of view of a specific customer base to better target your marketing to that customer base.
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.
