When you get clarity in your brand and know that this is being demonstrated through behaviours in your pharmacy, you can start to present marketing messages with some confidence that they will be accepted and understood by your customers. There are several channels you can use:

In store 

Using the window to transmit a simple, clear message rather than a number of confused messages will be more effective. Have a schedule for changing the window regularly to keep the message refreshed and seasonally appropriate. Customers will notice.

Point-of-sale material can be used effectively to present messages to customers that are appropriate to the products they are looking at. Shelf-edge cards and posters can be produced with a desktop printer or obtained from manufacturers or buying groups.

A simple blackboard can be used to highlight the focus for the day, or when a particular service might be available – for example, ‘NHS flu vaccination available 5pm–7pm today’. Find the team member with the best handwriting, and don’t forget to proofread.

Noticeboards can be used to list the services, or highlight a single service, provided in the pharmacy and how to access them. Again, take care to change these regularly. 

Increasingly, flat-screen monitors allow pharmacies to project more engaging messages. While sophisticated packages can change the programme throughout the day to target different types of customers or use touchscreens to enable staff to use them as advice aids, simple computer presentations can run automatically and on a loop, so need little interaction from members of staff.

While link selling has a negative connotation for many, a pharmacy team that can link sell services to appropriate customers is providing good service when it informs them of products and services that may be of benefit.

External advertising 

Your customers are spending more and more time online on social media, so Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or TikTok can be used to send them messages, either direct from you or by forwarding messages posted by others. Be careful, however, as using social media as a marketing tool takes some planning and focus. 

And don’t forget – local news is not dead yet! Local newspapers can carry adverts highlighting what you do.

By contributing to the editorial of local newspapers or magazines – for example by sharing advice on the management and avoidance of common conditions and even how the public can use your pharmacy effectively – you can promote your business and provide engaging and informative copy for the local media at the same time.

If your local paper does not have a regular health column, see if you can provide one. Opportunities may also arise from local radio and television stations.

Posters may also be useful, especially when impactfully designed. Don’t forget doctors’ surgeries, but you could also use day centres for the elderly, community centres, churches or even bus stops.