Can you describe your ‘brand’ in one or two simple sentences? Many people can’t. 

For a lot of small businesses, the brand resides in the mind of the owner. It is never expressed clearly, but leaks out into their activities, usually in a haphazard way. 

Because it is not explicitly articulated, employees might do things that contradict the brand and customers may have very little chance of understanding it.

In his book Start With Why, leadership expert Simon Sinek talks about the messages businesses give their customers. He introduces the concept of ‘the golden circle’ and talks about three concentric circles, labelling them ‘What’, ‘How’ and ‘Why’, from outside to in.

Most people know what they do. It may be easy to describe, but it doesn’t make an interesting message because many other people do the same things. Many people can describe how they do the things they do. This is often about creating a competitive advantage – they do it faster or more cheaply.

Rarely will people describe why they do what they do – their purpose, what they are trying to achieve. Purpose is a powerful emotional concept.

When companies are clear about their purpose and that purpose is valuable to potential customers, they succeed by aligning everything they do to that purpose. Sinek suggests making money is not a purpose; it is a result or outcome.

In his book, Sinek uses Apple as an example. In everything that Apple does, it believes in challenging the status quo and doing things differently. It does this by making devices that are intuitive and easy to use. By starting with ‘why’, Apple has engaged with the feelings of many customers.

This has resulted in great loyalty to the Apple brand that has encompassed mobile phones, music players, tablets, computers and smart watches. How many other companies have been able to diversify so effectively and maintain brand loyalty across such a wide portfolio? A number of tech companies have tried and failed.

We can relate this to community pharmacy with a simple example: if you created your brand around how you help people (the ‘why’), rather than dispensing prescriptions quickly and accurately (the ‘what’ and ‘how’), how much easier do you think it would be to engage people with services including vaccinations and Pharmacy First-type schemes?

When you create explicit marketing messages to support your extensive service offer, how much more likely are people to engage with them of their own accord?

Pause to reflect

1. Go outside your pharmacy. Cross the road and look at it. What messages does it convey to you? 

2. Stand in the doorway and look in. What message are you getting? Is this consistent with the message you would like your customers to receive? Jot down your thoughts.