Hello, welcome to 2023!
Every January, many set both personal and business goals. From a business perspective we tend to see an influx of marketing inquiries about how to set up a successful plan for the year ahead. At Peak, we encourage pharmacies to always have a marketing plan in place! Like every business function, marketing requires structure and measurement. So, kickstarting the year with an action plan on how you’re going to build connections and a brand presence is key.
Now, let’s get to the guts of this blog, the common error we see. Like personal goals, everyone starts off with good intensions and grand plans. However, life (or should we say the dispensary) gets in the way. Time becomes tighter and marketing is put to the side to focus on other things within the pharmacy. So, every year when we enter the second quarter, we see many of the pharmacies who had the goal of a marketing plan lose momentum. We champion them to continue, but unfortunately, around 60% of pharmacies slow down with their marketing efforts.
This is the most common mistake we see time and time again with marketing, the loss of momentum. For marketing to be successful, it must be habitual, so your customers continue to learn more about you. If you’re not communicating to them consistently, they will begin to forget about you. For example, if you haven’t let your ideal customers know about your new health checks in store, how will they be able to book them? As Pharmacists, you are so valuable to the local community, but they aren’t going to understand that unless you show them why. Consistent communication channels like email, sponsorships, events, and social media will inform your customers of why they need to shop from you.
On the other hand, the pharmacies who continue with their plan and persist with the marketing for their pharmacy for the year, see great results. For example, our Pharmacy Mastermind clients (who are required to work with a marketing plan as part of the program) have an average of over 15% increase in customer numbers each month.