10 Effective Marketing Tactics to Boost Your Pharmacy's Visibility

Community pharmacies today face more competition from large chains as well as digital pharmacies.

As the fight for attention grows, it’s important to understand the role effective pharmacy marketing can play in retaining existing customers, as well as winning new ones.

But with so many online and offline marketing tactics to choose from, how do you know where to start?

In this blog you’ll learn 10 effective marketing tactics that can help you boost your pharmacy’s visibility to be more successful.

Digital marketing

Having an online marketing strategy for your pharmacy helps you become more visible to a wider audience who are more likely to do some of their research online.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a great online tactic not just for local searches, but also for research based questions if patients are looking for answers to a potential problem they’re having.

Local SEO involves being found for searches like “where is my local pharmacy” or “where can I pick up my medication”.

A well optimised Google My Business profile works well here.

There is potential too to be found online by people looking for Advanced Pharmacy Services they may not know you offer.

Searches like “where can I get my flu jab” or “stop smoking services” are all enquiries your pharmacy could be visible for.

Similarly, other digital marketing tactics like email give you the chance to update your customers with educational content - like avoiding colds in the winter - as well as sending promotions and offers.

In-Store Promotions

Knowing how to promote products effectively in-store is a valuable marketing tactic.

Making your layout more efficient, placing popular items at eye level and closer to the entrance for example so they’re easier to find. Similarly placing complementary items next to each other can increase the potential for additional sales.

Making use of digital screens and advertising is also an effective tactic.

Bright screens promoting new offers or providing information on new services can nudge patients to enquire about something they may not have thought of, or didn’t know they could get from a local pharmacy.

With Advanced Services becoming more prominent, these in-store displays can result in great returns.

Engaging with the local community

As pharmacies play a bigger role in community healthcare, it’s also an opportunity to become more engaged with the community as a whole.

Getting involved in local health events and campaigns can raise awareness of pharmacy services without seeming overly salesy.

Running awareness campaigns or organising fundraising events for health initiatives are all effective ways pharmacies can become more ingrained in their communities.

Word of Mouth

Even with all the new digital marketing tactics available, nothing beats a review, testimonial or recommendation from a real person.

As customers, or patients, we can do all the research we want, but we’re more easily swayed by the recommendation of someone who has already tried, and had a positive experience, with a service we’re considering.

Collecting reviews and testimonials are a highly effective tool for use in both printed material, but can also help with online marketing, particularly when it comes to boosting your Google business page or highlighting your high levels of service on your website.

Content marketing

Content marketing is an effective and proven tactic for driving more web traffic to your pharmacy website and earning the trust of patients not only for services, but also for informational enquiries.

Educational content like blog posts, guides and videos can all help patients address common health concerns and provide advice on potential treatments.

Using content is a highly effective long term strategy too as the information will be readily available long after you created it and will bring in a consistent stream of visitors looking for information from a reliable, trusted source.

Creating partnerships with local health providers

Just as engaging with the local community can help raise awareness of your services, forming partnerships or collaborating with other local businesses or healthcare providers can be an effective pharmacy marketing tactic also.

Running joint health awareness events, fundraisers, initiatives and workshops in the community are all effective ways of raising awareness of local health issues and allow pharmacies to promote solutions directly to their community.

Visual Merchandising

A clear layout and easy to understand navigation can help to make your store experience more pleasant for patients.

Taking time to think about the layout of your store can save time directing patients to what they’re looking for and can create clear division around the store so customers can easily find what they need.

For example, creating zones for reception and checkout, prescription pick-up, dispensing, shelved products and creating areas around the checkout for impulse purchases can help to improve the effectiveness of the store experience.

Providing education through workshops

Many Advanced Pharmacy Services like smoking cessation, pharmacy contraception services and Hypertension Case-Finding Service all lend themselves to educational workshops that your pharmacy can host to provide help and advice about these services and any related conditions.

Hosting community workshops also gives you more opportunities for collaboration with other local services and can help make your pharmacy a reliable source of health information.

Seasonal campaigns

Whether it’s beginning to promote hayfever medication in the Spring or flu jabs in the Autumn ahead of the winter cold, seasonal campaigns are a great way of increasing sales on specific products at different times of the year.

Planning a seasonal calendar can help you keep track of when to start specific seasonal campaigns so you can begin your promotions early enough.

Digital Displays

Using digital displays in store has huge potential for promoting deals, offers, seasonal medications and new services.

This digital signage can either be used to promote a single offer or service, or be used to dynamically promote multiple offers with the same screen.

These displays can be fully customised to fit with any branding and work within NHS compliance guidelines.

They can also be used to add additional advertising revenue and commercial opportunities, for example advertising health campaigns or allowing other organisations to buy space in your store to promote their activities.

Using Cegedim to build your marketing

Our Pharmacy Display helps community pharmacies maximise their marketing efforts by providing a platform to deliver engaging content directly to their target audience.

Whether it’s displaying seasonal offers, NHS and Public Health messaging as part of national campaigns, or showing educational videos to provide patients with relevant information, our displays help pharmacies engage with audiences and bring in more enquiries.

Building a campaign with the right pharmacy marketing tactics

Choosing the right marketing tactics to create an effective marketing strategy can greatly improve patient engagement and give you the best chance to showcase your services to a larger audience.

Which tactics you choose will ultimately depend on your goals, but by combining the right tactics you can become a key part of community healthcare and a reliable source of information for patients.

If you want more advice and information on how to effectively market your pharmacy, download our Ultimate Guide to Pharmacy Marketing so more in depth insights on the most effective pharmacy marketing tactics and strategies.