LTC pharmacy is a very competitive industry. Although market researchers tell us there are 1,282 LTC pharmacies in the U.S., they are probably counting only traditional closed-door pharmacies.
However, if you consult the CMS National Provider Identifier Index, you will find more than 4,000 pharmacies with a primary taxonomy code for LTC pharmacy. Most of these are what we might call hybrid or “combo” shops. Roughly 25-30 pharmacies are added to this list every week. In short, the competition for LTC customers has never been more intense.
Considering the competitive environment, you need a formal marketing operation to get noticed within the forest of other pharmacies. Sound like a daunting task? As with many aspects of modern business, there’s technology that can help.
Modern marketing is focused on the use of technology to drive a message to the right audience at the right time through the most appropriate medium. The centerpiece of your program should be your pharmacy’s website. This is your online home and normally the first place a potential customer will go to discover who you are.
Not long ago you had to have either an in-house webmaster or a design firm to build a good website. With the proliferation of no-code, drag-and-drop editors, it is quite simple to construct a great website without outside help.
WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, and Weebly are platforms that can do just about anything you want and are often used by major companies to create attractive and useful sites.
Before you make a decision, take a close look at RedSail Websites. This is a solution built with pharmacies in mind. Sites are easy to create, and you will have access to technology experts to help you achieve a great result.
One of the most effective marketing channels is email. You may be skeptical, given the volume of emails you already receive and delete without reading, but professional marketers tell us that email marketing has an impressive return on investment of $36 for every $1 spent.
Email marketing takes some skill, but there are dozens of sources for help, most of which are free from your email marketing platform. Among the most popular platforms are MailChimp, Constant Contact, Get Response, and Active Campaign. Before you invest in any single solution, take advantage of free versions of the service or start out with a free trial.
Unless you’re a mail order pharmacy, your patients will be within a certain radius of your pharmacy location. If your primary target is a nursing home or assisted living facility, you may be able to serve customers within a 50- to 100-mile radius. In this case, getting Google or Bing to rank your site for a search query like, “LTC pharmacies near Jonesboro, Arkansas,” is very helpful.
People who search online barely ever look at anything beyond the first page of search results, so getting higher on the search engine results page (SERP) is very important.
This requires that you pay attention to “search engine optimization,” or SEO. This is a constantly evolving discipline that takes time and experience to master. Getting professional help in this area can be a worthwhile investment, and there are lots of resources available to help you master the process. Start with a search query for “SEO training” and see which services appear in the SERP. See, you’re already getting the hang of this. Also, you can shop for a freelance expert on Fiverr or Upwork.
Search engine marketing is another channel that works for you all day, every day. People who find you on the SERP can be directed to a landing page with a special offer that provides a lead magnet, a subscription to your newsletter, or other offers that place the prospect in your lead funnel.
Whether you’re a community or LTC pharmacy, social media plays a huge role in shaping your pharmacy’s digital footprint. Your pharmacy’s social media pages are a vital marketing tool, so have pharmacy software that helps maximize your outreach.
PioneerRx users enjoy the RxLocal app, where they can directly communicate with their patients, from pickup reminders to refill requests and just about everything in between.
Additionally, pharmacies that use RxLocal have access to curated and specialized social media content that they can use for their feeds. When running a pharmacy, maintaining a social media page can be difficult. Use the tools at your disposal to ensure your pages don’t gather dust like your pharmacy shelves.
The national chain pharmacies and the big regional LTC pharmacies spend a lot of time and money to get new customers. It can be a worthwhile effort to do some searches and see what they are doing in your region.
Start with online searches for specific companies that you compete against and see what they are offering, where they spend resources, and what marketing materials they use – and use this information to help gain visibility and get new customers.
Digital marketing has been wildly successful, and the technology choices keep getting better. Consider the emerging role of artificial intelligence in marketing and the vast number of resources devoted to helping you gain success. In this area, the sky really is the limit.
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