Distinguishing between these types of pharmacy marketing messaging is critical to successfully marketing your pharmacy and improving pharmacy profits.
You’ll do whatever it takes to stop a throbbing, torturous headache.
If you’re out of aspirin at 3 a.m. on a cold, snowy night, you’ll wrap up and go to a 24-hour store to get some aspirin, right?
Vitamins, on the other hand, are a different matter.
They’re a nice-to-have rather than a must-have right now. You wouldn’t head out in the middle of the night to a 24-hour store for a vitamin. You’ll consider the expense before rushing out, get to them when you can, and forget about them from time to time.
As a pharmacy owner, you need to understand this analogy and leverage it in your pharmacy marketing.
Fixing a broken heater, getting diabetes medications, and reducing a baby’s fever is all in the “aspirin” category. A customer must have them.
It’s also clear that high-end fashion, vacation, and antioxidants are “vitamins.” A customer wants these items but doesn’t need them.
How Can You Make Yourself A Must-Have Aspirin?
Getting your community to view your pharmacy as a must-have aspirin will have a profound impact on your bottom line. If you can be seen as aspirin as opposed to a vitamin…
- Your marketing will be more effective.
- You will be able to sell more to each patient.
- You will build trust quicker.
- Your profits will be higher.
Savvy pharmacy owners will ensure every piece of marketing positions the pharmacy as the “aspirin” for the future patients’ “headache”.
Becoming An Aspirin
You have to ask yourself what you are doing for people in your community to solve their problems.
Do you even know their problems?
Here are some thought-provoking questions.
- What are your competitors terrible at?
- What do prescribers complain about?
- Have you asked your community what they want from a pharmacy?
- Can people easily get to your pharmacy? Hours? Transportation?
- What do your potential patients identify as their major medical problems?
How can you solve these problems with your services or products? The answer to this question is now your best marketing messaging. Once you can clearly articulate that you are solving a pain point for a potential patient, they are now open to becoming an active paying patient of your pharmacy.
Don’t Spend Money On Vitamin Messaging
One of my best pieces of advice for pharmacy owners and marketing is to never pay to talk about “vitamin” messaging. This is messaging similar to these:
- Friendly service
- Accurate prescriptions
- We care about our patients
Of course, there is nothing wrong with being and doing these points. When it comes to marketing they are more likely to be ineffective.
Why?
Changing habits is hard. You must give a compelling, enticing, dare we say, sexy, reason for someone to change to your pharmacy. You must get rid of their headache, not meet minimum expectations.
Yes, Vitamins Can Be Aspirins
The vitamin versus aspirin marketing analogy is used universally by marketers in all industries. It can sometimes be a little confusing for pharmacy owners as we are dealing literally with aspirins and vitamins.
I get asked, does this mean I can’t market vitamins to my community?
No! Vitamins can be great “aspirin” marketing items. I have written frequently about some of my favorite supplements and how every pharmacy should be selling them and how they can attract an influx of new patients.
Let’s take a B-Complex vitamin as an example. What problem does it solve? Or in another way, what “headache” does it get rid of? The most common is low energy. I bet you have tons of potential paying patients that are suffering from low energy. Whether it is new moms, rundown athletes, or busy professionals – you can solve their torturous headache of low energy by offering them the solution. You have now become a must-have pharmacy for these patients.
Marketing dollars are hard to come by for pharmacy owners. To ensure you get the best bang for your buck, make sure you focus on being the aspirin to your community’s headache.
For an amazing amount of pharmacy marketing knowledge and lessons, be sure to grab a ticket for the Pharmacy Profit Summit. We will have several pharmacy marketing workshops for attendees. You will leave with a solid plan in place to improve your pharmacy’s marketing.
