10 Reasons Your Pharmacy Advertising Isn't Producing Results

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Advertising can be a very successful investment for an independent pharmacy.

Advertising can be a very successful investment for an independent pharmacy, as marketing is the core basis for creating significant results.

The purpose is to turn white space into selling space and airtime into selling time. But first, here are the 10 reasons your advertising probably isn’t producing the results it should.

1. It’s all about your business and not about your prospective customers.

How they can benefit is of the upmost importance to them. What you do is not.

2. It doesn’t address the conversation happening in your prospective customers’ minds.

The only message that really matters is one of keen interest to them. Is it arthritic pain? If so, educate them about how your topical analgesics can solve it.

3. It doesn’t have a compelling headline.

Research shows that as much as 92% of the success of your marketing rests with your headline. If the headline isn’t compelling, captivating, or fascinating to your prospective customers, then the rest of the ad simply won’t be read.

4. It doesn’t have compelling content.

Consider this: the reason you’re reading this article is that it fascinated you because it’s written from your viewpoint. Your advertising should be written the same way for your prospective customers. It should look more like an editorial or article written by a reporter than your competitors’ ads probably do.

5. It’s not in the right media.

Generally speaking, the daily newspaper remains the retailer’s best friend. It may not do what it did 10 years ago, but it can reach the market that should be your target audience: those aged 55 years or older. Most daily newspapers also have an online edition, so you can pick up many more readers when you advertise there, too. If you’ve tried the newspaper in the past and didn’t see any results, the reason may have been your ad, rather than the chosen media.

6. It’s not in the right media mix.

The local print newspaper and its online edition comprise the first elements of that mix, but perhaps there's a radio station in your area that can also help you. If you really want to grow quickly and you have the proper business model, a little TV advertising could go a long way, too. But again, don’t overlook doing the right things online.

7. It’s not tested.

To come up with the right message for the right audience and use the right media, early analysis is critically important. Start with a demographic analysis of your zip code to find out what works and what doesn’t for your target area.

8. It doesn’t present meaningful material to prospective patients.

Until you show them how superior you are, you won’t track many new patients. Your target patient base, which should be educated, upscale families who avidly seek information, wants new alternative ways of dealing with their problems. Yes, they actually want cures. While the latter might be quite limited, you can provide them the former in abundance. Solutions to their aches, pains, and other maladies are topics you should become knowledgeable about. Commence on informing and educating your target audience that resides in your trading zone.

9. It doesn’t differentiate your business.

Hosting local seminars and intelligently marketing them in the newspaper and online will decidedly differentiate you from your competitors.

10. Its results aren’t measured.

If you invest even a dime in advertising, you should know how well it’s performing. Such results should be recorded on a weekly basis and be part and parcel of your weekly report, which contains all the numbers and statistical data that occurred in that particular week. The object is to determine what's working and what’s not. Pull your money out of what’s not working and use it to reinforce what is.

If you work on all of these, you can get enormous results.

As a real-life example, we did an ad for an andropause seminar for 1 pharmacy owner I had been working with. The number of responses was double the seating capacity, so he put on a repeat performance 1 week later. Between the 2 sessions, he had more than 50 attendees and obtained more than 30 new compounding patients.

The Pharmacy Sage can be reached at (518) 346-7021 or Lester@ThePharmacySage.com

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