Building a Brand for Your Pharmacy’s Local Market

Standing out and attracting new patients today can seem like a nearly impossible task. While patients have many choices: from big box stores to online pharmacies, you can provide the value, quality of service, and friendliness that only an independent pharmacy can offer.

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So how do you get patients on the same page to expand your practice? Branding your pharmacy well presents a fantastic opportunity to reach more patients and engage with your community. In this article, we’ll cover the basics of how to build a brand for your pharmacy’s local market.

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Understand Your Community and Unique Value Proposition

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Before you can successfully market to new patients you have to understand what makes them tick and what works for your local market. A good way to determine what speaks to your community could come from your current patient base — consider simply asking them what made them first aware of your pharmacy or even send out an official survey.

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You can also examine your community more broadly to understand what marketing techniques will work. Is your pharmacy in a city, or a rural location? Are there many competitors or very few? Are your target patients young, families, or elderly? The answers to these questions will provide helpful guidance in making decisions about your pharmacy’s brand.

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These answers will also help you determine what your unique value proposition is as a pharmacy. It could be exceptional value, service, or another aspect of your pharmacy that’s one-of-a-kind to your practice. 

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The generational differences and preferences of your patient base as well as your unique value proposition will influence what brand colors you choose, your main messaging choices, and what services you prioritize as a practice.

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Invest In a Solid Brand Identity and Digital Presence 

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Especially if you’re interested in expanding your patient base to younger generations, you need to invest in digital marketing. Though patients of all ages engage with digital marketing, young Americans far surpass the average — internet users ages 16 to 64 spend an average of six hours, 40 minutes daily, or 47 hours a week surfing the web on any device. You can capitalize on the time potential patients spend online by investing in digital, geo-targeted ads on platforms like Meta and Google.

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Creating and maintaining a social media presence for your pharmacy is essential. Social media sites function very similarly to search engines so potential patients will turn to social media for information about your practice and current patients will seek out your profiles for important updates and other events at your pharmacy. Platforms like Meta and YouTube make it easy to even create ads for local audiences using posts you’ve created organically.

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Stay Engaged with Your Community 

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The best way to know how to improve your practice and market it to locals is by staying on the pulse of your community. 

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Get involved in local organizations like your chamber of commerce and stay abreast of any big changes that are coming to your community — this will ensure you understand the priorities and preferences of your local patient base. 

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Are you looking to ramp up marketing for your practice, but resource constraints are getting in the way? Learn how Nimble can help you supercharge your pharmacy and gain access to new, lucrative revenue streams, and chat with our team today.

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