In our 8th episode of the PharmacyNow podcast, our host Scott Vondeylen sits down with longtime industry expert, Bruce Kneeland, to discuss the importance of reaching your patients, and how the healthcare landscape continues to shift, positioning the pharmacist at the center of the patient health continuum.
Read below for our top three takeaways:
Marketing and Advertising
Bruce makes a point to ensure that pharmacists understand that marketing and advertising are not synonymous. Instead, the two practices are individual steps in fortifying a strong image and message surrounding the core services of a business.
Mr. Kneeland goes on to explain that marketing is an exercise and tactic to determine what your business does, and what services your business offers. He positions advertising as the mechanism in which you deliver your marketing message – the promotional tactics, channels, and mediums utilized to get the word out!
Scott and Bruce speak to the importance of social media marketing as a critical channel to ensure community engagement. An upside to social media marketing is that it is an approachable medium – Bruce marvels at how adept his grandchildren are on social media platforms. However, Bruce also recommends exploring the option of hiring experts to fully execute and leverage the indispensable platform of social media marketing.
Adopting New Technology
Scott and Bruce explore the developing role of new and emerging technologies within the community pharmacy industry, and how pharmacists have received those technologies throughout the years.
Bruce presents the notion that pharmacies now have to do more beyond fill prescriptions. Patient relationship management solutions help pharmacists go beyond the fill to reach patients, deliver clinical services, and generate additional revenue.
When moving from a dispensing paradigm to a healthcare provider paradigm, these technology-driven tools within the pharmacy, and the ability to market these services, become critical.
The Current State of Pharmacy
The transition of the pharmacist from a medication dispenser to a medication expert is happening now. Bruce explains that there is no better time to be a part of the healthcare industry as many begin to recognize the pharmacist as a provider within the patient healthcare journey.
The methods in which pharmacists engage and retain patients are developing, and the adaptability of pharmacists positions the profession as a critical driver in patient outcomes.
Interested in learning more? Listen to our latest PharmacyNow Podcast: Marketing Your Pharmacy and Staying Competitive
