Your Biggest 4-Month Marketing Opportunity Starts Now

If I asked to see your pharmacy marketing plan between now and December 31, what would you show me?

Not the list of things you might promote.

Please don’t show me the flu-shot poster somebody needs to find in the back office.

And it’s definitely not, “We usually do something around Black Friday.”

I mean an actual plan.

What are you marketing this month? Who are you talking to in October? What are you promoting before Thanksgiving? And what are you doing in December besides posting your holiday hours and praying everybody remembers to refill before you close?

If your answer is basically, “We’ll figure it out as we go,” I want to change that.

Because September through December gives independent pharmacies four straight months of very predictable reasons to talk to patients.

You just need to decide what you’re going to do with them before they happen.

Why Your Pharmacy Marketing Plan Should Start Now

September is an obvious place to begin because flu season is already giving you a reason to communicate.

CDC guidance says September and October are generally good times for most people who need one influenza vaccine dose to receive it, with vaccination ideally happening by the end of October. Vaccination should continue later in the season as long as influenza viruses are circulating.

So yes, talk about flu shots.

But that’s not really the point of this article.

The bigger opportunity is what happens around flu season.

People are getting back into routines after summer. Families are thinking about staying healthy. Cold and flu products start becoming relevant again. Then come Thanksgiving, holiday travel, Christmas shopping, year-end schedules, and finally that wonderful January moment when everybody suddenly decides they’re going to become a completely different human being.

Your patients’ needs are changing.

Your marketing should change with them.

Unfortunately, most pharmacy marketing is reactive.

• Flu season gets busy, so we market flu shots.
• Thanksgiving is next week, so we make a post.
• December 23 arrives, so we remind everyone we’re closing early on Christmas Eve.

That’s not really a pharmacy marketing plan.

That’s your calendar repeatedly sneaking up behind you and smacking you in the head.

Let’s do something better.

September: REACTIVATE

September is when I want you looking at the people who already know your pharmacy.

Think about your current patients, your vaccine patients, families you’ve served, people who haven’t been in for a while, and patients who may benefit from services you already offer but have absolutely no idea you offer them.

Before you spend a bunch of money trying to get strangers to notice you, talk to the people who already trust you.

Flu vaccination gives you one very natural reason to start that conversation. But your September campaign might also include appropriate seasonal OTC products, other vaccinations and clinical services, supplements, medication services, or whatever makes sense for your pharmacy.

And please don’t limit this to Facebook.

Use your email list. Text patients when appropriate. Put signs at the counter. Train your employees to have conversations. Use bag stuffers. Update your Google Business Profile.

Your marketing should show up wherever your patients already interact with you.

If flu shots are a major opportunity for your pharmacy, I’ve already put together five flu shot marketing ideas specifically designed to turn vaccine walk-ins into long-term patients.

Because getting the shot is great.

Getting the patient is better.

October: ACQUIRE

Now we take the next step.

Seasonal demand can bring people through your doors who aren’t currently regular patients.

What happens next?

Someone walks in for a vaccine.

You give them a fantastic experience, they say thank you, they leave…

And then they go right back to filling six prescriptions somewhere else.

Ummm… excuse me?! 😂

That vaccine appointment was an introduction.

Treat it like one.

Find appropriate ways to introduce new visitors to the rest of the pharmacy. Make sure they know what makes you different. Ask whether they’re happy with their current pharmacy. Give them a reason to hear from you again.

There’s actually a larger industry opportunity happening here, too. NCPA’s national Neighbors, not Numbers campaign has been actively encouraging consumers to choose independent pharmacies based on the personal care they provide. During the campaign’s early digital phase, NCPA reported that traffic to its independent-pharmacy locator increased to roughly twice its normal volume.

People are being reminded that independent pharmacies exist.

Make sure they have a reason to choose yours.

And don’t forget about marketing outside your pharmacy.

Earlier this year, I shared how 10 doctor-detailing visits brought one pharmacy 47 new patients. That’s the kind of marketing I love because it isn’t complicated. You identify people who already have relationships with the patients you want to serve, build a real relationship with them, and give them a compelling reason to refer patients to you.

October is a great month to get out from behind the counter and start building more of those relationships.

November: EXPAND Your Pharmacy Marketing Plan

By November, I want you thinking about something different:

What are your existing patients already going to spend money on somewhere else?

Not because I want you selling people a bunch of crap they don’t need.

I mean legitimate needs you can already help solve.

• Cold and flu products.
• Supplements.
• Wellness products.
• Skincare.
• Travel needs.
• Clinical services.
• Cash-pay programs.
• Giftable wellness products.

Whatever fits your particular pharmacy and your patients.

This is where independent pharmacies sometimes leave a surprising amount of money on the table.

A patient trusts you enough to fill their prescriptions with you…

…then drives somewhere else to buy practically everything else related to their health.

Why?

Sometimes it’s because you don’t carry it.

But sometimes they simply don’t know you carry it.

Marketing fixes that.

November is a great time to look around your pharmacy and ask:

What do we already do really well that our patients aren’t buying enough of?

Start there before adding another shiny new thing.

December: RETAIN + PREPARE

December doesn’t need to become one giant SALE! SALE! SALE!

You’re an independent pharmacy, not a mattress store.

Use December to strengthen the relationships you’ve spent the year building.

• Communicate your holiday hours early.
• Remind patients about refill deadlines.
• Help them prepare for travel.
• Thank them for trusting you.
• Ask for reviews and referrals when appropriate.
• And start talking about what you’re doing in January before January arrives.

If you offer weight-management programs, supplements, wellness services, testing, clinical programs, or anything else connected to the health goals people naturally start thinking about around New Year’s, December is when you build the runway.

Please don’t wake up January 2 and say:“We should probably market this.”

You knew January was coming.

I promise. It happens every year.

Your Pharmacy Marketing Plan Only Needs 5 Things

Now, I can already hear some of you thinking:

“Lisa, this sounds great, but I don’t have time to build some giant marketing strategy.”

Good.

I don’t want you to.

For every campaign you run between now and the end of the year, answer five questions:

1. WHO are we talking to?

Don’t say everyone. Please. If you market to everyone… you market to no one.

Current patients? Parents? Vaccine patients? Local physicians? Supplement buyers? People with a specific problem?

Pick somebody.

2. WHAT problem are we solving?

Why should this person care?

Marketing gets dramatically easier when you’re talking about something the patient already wants solved.

3. WHAT do we want them to do?

Think through the action you want a potential new patient to make with your pharmacy marketing plan. Do you want them to:

• Book the vaccine?
• Come into the pharmacy?
• Buy the product?
• Transfer a prescription?
• Schedule the consultation?
• Reply?

Make the next step painfully obvious.

4. WHERE will we reach them?

Here’s a list of ways you can reach out to your community:

• Email.
• Text.
• Your counter.
• Prescription bags.
• Google.
• Facebook.
• Provider offices.
• Community events.

You don’t need to be everywhere. You need to be where your people are.

5. WHAT NUMBER tells us whether it worked?

Is it:

• Vaccinations?
• Appointments?
• New patients?
• Revenue?
• Gross profit?
• Transfers?
• Responses?

Pick the number before you start.

Otherwise you’ll finish the campaign, stare at a couple Facebook likes, and have absolutely no idea whether you made any money.

Build Your Next 4 Months Before Friday

Here’s your homework.

And yes, I’m actually giving you homework.

Open your calendar and write down four words:

• September — REACTIVATE
• October — ACQUIRE
• November — EXPAND
• December — RETAIN + PREPARE

Now choose one primary marketing campaign for each month.

ONE.

You do not need 14 promotions running simultaneously while your employees try to remember which QR code goes with which flyer and everybody slowly loses their minds.

Choose your focus. Then build the offer.

Think through how you want to get in front of people and choose your channels.

Pick the number that will actually let you measure success.

Then execute the heck out of it.

Want Help Actually Building and Executing Your Pharmacy Marketing?

If you’re staring at September through December thinking, “Okay Lisa, but I still don’t know what the heck to send these people,” that’s one of the reasons we built Pharmacy Badass University.

Inside PBU, we help independent pharmacy owners turn good ideas into actual campaigns and systems they can implement in their pharmacies—from patient marketing and revenue diversification to cash flow, team development, AI, operations, and more.

Because you probably aren’t short on things you could do.

You need help figuring out what to do next—and actually getting it done.

See how Pharmacy Badass University can help you build a more profitable pharmacy.