What to look for in an Independent Pharmacy Marketing Agency

Looking for an Independent Pharmacy Marketing Agency can be a hard task, especially if you don't really understand marketing. This guide explains what you need to look for, so you can find an agency with confidence.

An Independent Pharmacy Marketing Agency should:

Understand how an independent pharmacy works
Understand the strict rules around advertising for pharmacies
Practise what they preach
Offer pricing that makes sense
Have a range of case studies that make sense

Where to start

There's a lot to consider when entering into any business agreement. As an independent pharmacy marketing agency working with hundreds of pharmacy owners and superintendents, we understand what makes a good partnership. Like all partnerships, it's a two-way street. For a truly successful working relationship, you have to understand what the agency needs from you and be willing to work with them too. But in this article, we'll focus on the independent pharmacy marketing agency and what they should bring to the table.

Pricing

Naturally, if you're like most people that have ever existed, your initial instinct will be to hunt down the prices and find the cheapest option. And whilst that instinct is of course a consideration, I'll explain why the price tag isn't the be-all and end-all.

Don't be drawn in by a low price tag

Price comparisons are only comparisons when the product is the same. Is the new iPhone cheaper from one supplier than another? Great. Grab the cheapest deal. But if one life insurance policy costs £5/month, and another costs £100/month? It would be foolish to rush out and grab the cheapest deal without knowing what you're getting. If the £5/month deal only pays out £50 if you get hit by lightning, whilst the £100/month policy pays out £1 million, whatever happens, it's clear that the £100/month policy was by far the better option. Comparing service offerings from marketing agencies means comparing what's being delivered, as well as the levels of service you receive. Once you have an idea of what's being delivered, you can begin figuring out the comparative costs.

Return on Investment (ROI)

What's also worth assessing is what return you're going to see on the investment you're making. It's something you can address with an agency in any talks you have prior to signing any agreements. Now, marketing is hugely variable, so not even the best agencies can give you accurate figures for your business. That's crystal ball territory. But what they should do is discuss how businesses similar to yours have performed to give you an idea of what to expect. If an agency is proud of the results they achieve, you'll find they post case studies highlighting the work they've done. Again, this isn't necessarily replicable for your business, but it gives you an indication of what's possible.

Does the marketing agency practise what they preach?

A pretty simple way of finding out if a marketing agency is worth employing is to check how they market themselves, especially with regards to the specific services they're offering to you. Sign-up to their mailing list and see what their emails are like. How does their website compare to other agency websites? Check their social media out. Do they rank well on Google for a range of different search terms? Do they create how-to videos? You're choosing an agency to represent you. How they represent themselves gives a good indication of how your pharmacy will be represented.

Case Studies

I mentioned them before, but as well as executing their own marketing strategy well, nothing gives you more proof than what the agency has achieved with other pharmacies like yours. Make sure to check out the agencies' case studies. Compare them with other case studies. Make sure to pay attention for stats, rather than just wild claims. Anyone can say they've increased sales, but that might mean generating one sale.

Why an independent pharmacy marketing agency should understand pharmacy

Okay, I wrote that heading a little obtusely. It's pretty clear that it helps to know the subject you're going to market. But aside from that, we know the most precious commodity in pharmacy is time. Whilst it can be helpful to get an outside perspective on your business, you don't want to be spending all your time educating your agency and fielding questions on all the ins and outs of pharmacy. At Pharmacy Mentor, for instance, we balance the two. Our CEO is a pharmacist, and every new team member gets trained in pharmacy knowledge. What that means as an agency is bringing all the fresh marketing ideas to the industry whilst keeping our client interactions to analysis and strategy. Whatever agency you look at, make sure they have that understanding.

Any agency working with pharmacies must understand the advertising policy around Pharmacy

Marketing fashion or any other simple consumer products online is simple, at least when it comes to rules to follow. You'd have to do something pretty outrageous to get an advertising account banned in most industries. But with advertising pharmacy on digital channels, caution is highly advised. We've had several clients come to us with accounts that have been banned for advertising prescription medicines, and others banned for promoting their COVID-19 vaccination service & PCR tests. Once you are banned, it's nigh-on impossible to get un-banned. This is really harmful to your marketing prospects, as advertising can be a massive source of new business. So it's critical that whomever so handles your advertising...is aware of the minefield they tread.

Facebook & Google's Policy on advertising pharmaceuticals

This is because Facebook and Google's advertising policies have extremely strict policies for certain areas of medicine on their platform. I've linked them there so you can have a quick peek, but often what you'll find is it'll say things like "as determined by Facebook in its sole discretion." Now, what that means is, it isn't explicitly written anywhere what you can and can't say. And your advertising account can be banned without warning for breaching the advertising policies around pharmaceuticals. What that means is, if you value your ability to advertise online, you need to tread carefully when advertising your pharmacy. From an agency standpoint, that's why it's important to work with people who know what the rules are. Pharmacy Mentor are have both Google & Facebook agency reps who help us navigate this terrain, and it's worth its weight in gold.

Found this article helpful?

At Pharmacy Mentor we're on a mission to help every Community Pharmacy in the UK digitise their pharmacy and thrive in the new age of digital healthcare. If you'd like to have a conversation with us about marketing your pharmacy, please fill out our contact form. A member of our team will contact you for a chat about what you're looking to do and the best way to proceed. You can also sign-up for our newsletter below and start receiving weekly emails with all our latest tips on the best ways to connect your community with your services. [av_hr class='default' icon_select='yes' icon='ue808' font='entypo-fontello' position='center' shadow='no-shadow' height='50' custom_border='av-border-thin' custom_width='50px' custom_margin_top='30px' custom_margin_bottom='30px' custom_border_color='' custom_icon_color='' id='' custom_class='' av_uid='av-1xy4fd' admin_preview_bg=''] [av_mailchimp list='9f6ebc67f1' double_opt_in='aviaTBdouble_opt_in' on_send='' sent='Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! We hope you'll always find it useful!' link='manually,http://' color='' alb_description='' id='' custom_class='' av_uid='av-a74mcb'] [av_mailchimp_field id='0' label='Email Address' type='text' value='' disabled='' check='is_email' av_uid='av-329mz'] [av_mailchimp_field id='1' label='First Name' type='text' value='' disabled='' check='' av_uid='av-6syh0b'] [av_mailchimp_field id='2' label='Last Name' type='text' value='' disabled='' check='' av_uid='av-2dmaj'] [av_mailchimp_field id='5' type='text' check='' options='' disabled='aviaTBaviaTBdisabled' label='Source' width='' av_uid='av-4ye7kr'] [av_mailchimp_field id='av-button' label='Subscribe' type='button' value='' check='' av_uid='av-2e70u3'] [/av_mailchimp]