This is something we hear time and time again at Peak. We have owners sign up to our marketing webinars, watch presentations, and read blogs. They understand the value but when they return to the pharmacy and the day to day, marketing falls to the bottom of the priority pile.
Well today we wanted to make a recommendation for you and your pharmacy. This recommendation factors in both an owner’s busy schedule and marketing. It is a strategy that we have helped our clients implement within their business and they’re seeing results.
So, rather than dangle the carrot for a few paragraphs, let’s dive straight in.
Your Team
A strong team is the foundation of any high-performing pharmacy and therefore, one must build a team of people that you trust. We see many owners delegate responsibilities for buying, managing the dispensary, customers and so, why can’t you do it for marketing? Well, in fact you can. This is our number one recommendation when pharmacies approach us about their marketing, you need to involve your team.
Why your team members are key players to your marketing
• Relationships
The goal for marketing is all about relationships. You need to build relationships with your customers for your pharmacy to become their pharmacy of choice. So, who does your customers form relationships with? Well, your team of course. That’s why having your team engaged in your marketing strategy is clever as they are front facing to your customers. They understand who your customers are and therefore, would have plenty of ideas of how to connect with them.
• Knowledge
Your team will have a wealth of knowledge on topics that help with marketing. They understand your customers, product information and health advice. Marketing should demonstrate why one should visit your pharmacy and your team would be a great resource to achieve that.
• Time
As an owner you wear many hats: legal, HR, finance, dispensary and so forth. Each component of your business deserves strategy, procedures and thought. However, if you’re trying to do it all on your own there will be things that fall to the side (like marketing!). That’s why we recommend that you look at your organisational chart and slot in the responsibility of marketing to some other team members. As a manager you can then simply oversee the day-to-day tasks of marketing that are being dealt with whilst you focus on other parts of the business.
Now that you know why you need to get your team involved in your marketing. You’re probably asking how do I get started? Read below to find out:
• Delegate does not mean hand over completely
We are huge promoters of team members assisting owners with their marketing plan. However, we must preface that we only encourage assistance and not handover. As a pharmacy owner your marketing strategy must be designed with your business goals and vision in mind. Therefore, it’s vital that you understand what is being communicated to your target audience.
So, our recommendation is to work with your team to build the concept and big picture strategy. Work through who your target audience is and what channels you’re going to use, then the implementation is delegated to your team. That way you always have your strategy plan to refer back to and will be able to effectively oversee what marketing tasks are being performed.
• Setting up a structure
Setting up a structure can be a simple task, but it requires some initial time and dedication. It’s a good idea to get your team involved in this process.
It is a good rule of thumb to post on social media at least 3-4 times per week. To make this process as simple as possible we say to make a 4 pillar structure. It is important to remember that your customers are not all in the same stage. Some are long time loyal customers who know your team, and others are only just discovering your brand. Your marketing strategy needs to appeal to both these groups.
We suggest a structure which aims to educate, inspire, entertain and convince (sell) to your customers. Nobody wants to follow a page which is just sell, sell, sell. We also are a business and need to have some level of sales in our messaging. Using a weekly structure can help make this balancing act easier.
At Peak we create a monthly content checklist for our clients. In this we set out a photo or video task for each post of the month, a month ahead of time. This way even if the store gets busy the marketing strategy runs itself. These tasks are completed by the team and scheduled by the team. The owner’s role is to simply oversee the content checklist ahead of time.
We have done plenty of blogs in the past and examples on our social media of what this content can look like. If you want to know more about creating content check out one of those blogs.
• Measurement
Always measure. I cannot say enough how important it is to measure your results. This is the only way you will be able to see what is working and what is not. Social media is always changing and evolving. Unless you are keeping tabs on what posts are doing well and which ones aren’t, you won’t be able to grow your audience, and in turn your customers.
One way owners can get involved here is to ask the team to either set a meeting once a week, or once a month with an update on the social media analytics. This is half an hour or less once a month which you and your team can communicate issues to one another. This is also the perfect opportunity to approve the following months’ content checklist, based on your results!
I hope this blog has helped you to realise that the role of marketing is not a one person role. It needs to be embraced by the whole team. As an owner it is your job to communicate to the team the importance of marketing and get them excited about it. As long as you are there to offer support and oversee the strategy your team is more than capable to execute the plan.
If you're ready to launch your marketing to the next level but not sure your team is on the same page, check out our Marketing Module. This program is designed specifically for pharmacy team members to learn the ins and out of pharmacy marketing. It is structured into short and simple weekly activities which your team can complete and share with you. At the end you will have a complete personalised marketing strategy ready to implement in your pharmacy!