Reputation in a Digital Age: Building Trust Online for Pharmacies | Marketing Vitals

A strong online reputation starts with meaningful patient experiences. Join us as we explore how pharmacies can build trust, engage with their communities online, and manage their digital presence. Featuring special guest and trusted partner FlavoRx, who shares industry insights on creating positive patient experiences that inspire lasting loyalty—both in the pharmacy and online.

• 0:05Speaker 00

  You are listening to the global network of podcasters dedicated to the pharmacy profession. Welcome to the pharmacy podcast network.

• 0:26Speaker 01

  Has your business's marketing flatlined?

• 0:30Speaker 01

  Find your pulse again with Marketing Vitals, bringing you innovative and turnkey healthcare marketing solutions from industry experts who have developed a knack for solving problems. A co-hosted publication from GRX Marketing and Finch Marketing, sister companies that are passionate and knowledgeable about healthcare marketing.

• 0:48Speaker 02

  Hey, everyone. Nicole McClure, back with another episode of Marketing Vitals Podcast. So excited to have a guest today, Chris Solalovich, I'm sure I butchered that, I'm sorry, from FlavorRx. Welcome to the show.

• 1:04Speaker 03

  Thanks so much for having me, Nicole, and I respond to anything, so I think you were close enough.

• 1:10Speaker 02

  Perfect. So you and I have known each other for a long time, but in the independent pharmacy industry and always talk about marketing. You always have a great, a lot of great ideas, great resource to bounce ideas off. So that's why I wanted to have you on the show today, just to talk about digital marketing and how organic versus paid, you know, what works better, what are the benefits of each? So it's kind of what I want to dive into today.

• 1:37Speaker 03

  Yeah, should be fun.

• 1:39Speaker 02

  Perfect. Well, for those few listeners out there that maybe don't know about you or FlavorRx, do you want to tell our listeners about yourself?

• 1:47Speaker 03

  Sure, I'll give you the quick elevator pitch. Hopefully, everyone has heard of our program, but the FlavorRx program's been around for almost 30 years now. We have a custom flavoring system that is used in thousands of independent pharmacies, as well as some of our chain counterparts. But I think pound for pound, our independents are always, you know, some of the best at promoting the service. We have evolved over the last few years, which has been actually pretty exciting. We created or merged with a company called Fillmaster, which is in the pharmacy automation space, dealing with liquids. So we have a

• 2:29Speaker 03

  couple of different niches where we now have digital reconstitution for antibiotics, and then we merged our flavors into that automation as well. And actually, the biggest part of our company now is in the services space. And so we manage water quality, not just in pharmacy, but throughout grocery stores, coffee shops, hospitals, distribution centers, and beyond. So yeah, it's been a lot of fun keeping us busy.

• 2:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, interesting. I didn't know, I didn't know about that last part. So good to get the up to date. So before we dive into organic versus paid, let's talk a little bit about just marketing in general, kind of good versus bad marketing. What's your thoughts on, you know, what is the best way for pharmacies to promote themselves? I feel like a lot of them kind of struggle with that.

• 3:20Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest challenge is that, you know, pharmacists went to pharmacy school and marketers went to, you know, business school and marketing schools. I'm a huge fan of, you know, Seth Godin and some of the, you know, other folks that are putting out books. And I've been fortunate to go to a lot of keynotes to kind of hear what makes them tick and how marketing has evolved. And so a lot of this is just kind of regurgitating some of the things that we have picked up and adopted over the years. But I think it is important to see how marketing has evolved over the years. And I think a lot of pharmacists confuse advertising with marketing.

• 4:00Speaker 02

  Yeah, great point.

• 4:01Speaker 03

  Yeah, I think the quote that always gets me with Seth Godin is just his definition is that marketing is the act of telling a story through other people that causes them to change their behavior. And I think that really hits for pharmacy customers because you're using the, you know, the services and the experiences that you deliver on a daily basis to try and tell that story to folks that may not, you know, come into your store. And I think you and I have talked about this in the past, but I think there is a storytelling problem with independent pharmacies, because time and time again,

• 4:41Speaker 03

  Consumer Reports and, you know, all those different folks will do ratings on who has the best customer service levels and overall the highest ratings. It's always independent pharmacy. And if you look at the very bottom of that list, it's probably some of those chain pharmacies that, you know, are notorious for their two and three star ratings. So the real challenge is, you know, I think how we're not really telling that story in our communities of why you drive past the convenient, you know, intersection that has, you know, three other pharmacies there, and you go that extra mile to, you know, maybe a strip mall or something that's not quite as convenient. But once you get through those

• 5:24Speaker 03

  doors, it's just a world of a different experience. So I think that's kind of lays out the foundation for why we as pharmacy owners need to think a little bit more about focusing on storytelling and marketing, what differentiates you and how.

• 5:42Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah, I feel like in general pharmacy owners are really bad about tooting their own horn, so to speak, and just, you know, saying all the great things that they are doing for their community, because they don't want to come across as, you know, gloating or whatever. But then they go too far the other way where they don't say anything, and then people don't realize, you know, all the great services that they offer.

• 6:07Speaker 03

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 6:09Speaker 02

  So when it comes to organic versus paid marketing, you know, what would you say are kind of some of the best types of organic marketing? And why in your mind it's, it's better than paid, even though it can sometimes take more time than paid to get results?

• 6:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, I think there's, a blend is always the right answer. It's just which way you want to skew. And again, I think for a pharmacy owner that's, you know, not in their comfort zone in this, you know, just making sure you're separating advertising from marketing. And so, you know, with paid, you know, it's oftentimes a higher upfront cost, but it's like super targeted. And it's a little easier to track if you're just talking about digital returns. But I think staying true to a true, like, organic campaign, it's a slow drip, but I think that gets a little closer to, you know, that storytelling mentality,

• 7:11Speaker 03

  rather than just saying, there's a sale, it's the 4th of July, come get your supplements and vitamins. And I'll kind of use that to segue into, you know, your first question about good marketing and bad marketing, because I think it's very common, but like, to help you, your listeners kind of frame this out, what I would consider and what others, experts would consider as bad marketing are usually trying to drive a transaction, and it's really like promotional based. Like I said, it's a short term sale of a product and you're talking about the products rather than like the story and how that helps your customers.

• 7:55Speaker 03

  And another keynote that I happened to sit in on, which was just completely changed my mind for pharmacy specifically, was with Brené Brown. And it was the difference of leading with empathy rather than sympathy. And, you know, I doubt there's many pharmacy owners that train their, you know, 16 or 18 year old, or just even their lifelong technicians that are interacting with the customers about being empathetic versus sympathetic. And if you think about building those connections and the trust and loyalty of long-term, you know, guests, that is like, you know, critical and what I think separates, and independents

• 8:40Speaker 03

  do a much better job of it than, you know, your, your chain pharmacies where there's going to be such turnover, and you probably will see the same person, you know, two times in a row if you're going to pick up refills. So, you know, we'll talk in a little bit a lot about like a new acronym to kind of rethink, you know, different marketing strategies. And, you know, I think we can just go off on a couple of different tangents from there.

• 9:06Speaker 02

  Okay, sounds good. Yeah. And you bring up a good point with, you know, technicians and teaching them how to market. I feel like a lot of times, again, the pharmacy owner thinks the marketing just starts and stops with them. You know, they obviously are the ones that are going out to the community, kind of running the marketing, but they forget to educate their staff, not only on being empathetic, but also, hey, this is what we're promoting this month, if it's this service or that service. And so, you know, for us as marketers, the challenge we have a lot of times is we do all this great marketing, but nobody tells the support team. So then... You know, patients come in or new patients, I should say, come in and ask like about it and they don't know.

• 9:51Speaker 02

  So just trying to make sure that that carries down through the entire market or the entire pharmacy team. Cause really, I think without that happening too, you're going to potentially disgruntle some new patients, but also frustrate your staff because they're like, you don't know what's going on. So thank you for bringing that up. Yeah, I feel like that's kind of a disconnect a lot of times with making marketing successful.

• 10:15Speaker 03

  And I do think, you know, when I think about independence versus chains and I just came out of a trade show at McKesson. And so having a lot of different interactions with pharmacy owners, the, the three things that come to mind that separate, you know, regardless of where they're located and taking price, you know, things like those things out of the equation. When I think of independent pharmacies, they typically have better relationships with their customers. They're very service forward and, and not just like good customer service, but having a lot of services available in their stores and just focus on better, like health and wellness experiences and outcomes versus you go into a chain and yeah, it was really easy and convenient

• 10:57Speaker 03

  and they were open longer hours, but you know, it, there's not really a, a story there. Like how often are they really asking about like how you're really doing and if there's interactions and things like that? So I, I think, you know, that to me is marketing is you're, you're already providing that experience, but it's now, how do we tell the story to someone that's not an existing customer? And how do we attract more people to say, this is why you drive that extra mile?

• 11:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, good point. And I think for us too, like with paid versus organic, with paid, there's this expectation that the results are going to be quicker. A lot of times it's, I want something instantaneous because I've, I've run a Google ad or Facebook or, you know, whatever it may be. But those do take time too, sometimes just as long or longer than organic. And we always like to try to remind pharmacy owners that, you know, think of the thousands of messages that you get inundated with, whether it's, you know, on your phone, when you're watching TV, streaming, broadcast, whatever. So we've got to at first just even break through that clutter before people start paying attention to what the heck you're even saying.

• 12:08Speaker 02

  So that's where sometimes just kind of trying to set those expectations of telling your story takes time, whether it's done through organic means or paid advertising. So.

• 12:21Speaker 03

  Yeah. And, and I think that's where you want to always have a blend, whether that's, you know, 50, 50, 60, 40, you know, whether it's personal preference or working with local, you know, groups and agencies that can assist with that part of the business. I think, you know, it, it's totally fine and normal to kind of lean on the experts there for some guidance.

• 12:42Speaker 02

  Now, I think you have a Google Maps exercise for us. I wasn't sure if it was now or if you wanted to do it later in the podcast.

• 12:48Speaker 03

  Oh, we can definitely jump in. One, one thing I, I love doing this, um, you know, if, if I do, you know, present at different conferences. And anyone listening can do this at home, but when you think about what is the first impression of your pharmacy to a non-existing customer? It's not your website. It's, it's typically now it's Google Maps. And when someone's searching for the best pharmacy near them, or it might even be when you move into a new neighborhood. This is certainly the case in my neighborhood. When someone moves in and they've got young kids, they're asking, who are the good pediatricians? Who are the good pharmacies? Who are the good dentists?

• 13:29Speaker 03

  And you like just see like all the testimonials just popping up in real time. And so oftentimes that is your, your first impression from a, a new customer is either what they're hearing from others, whether it's directly through that testimonial, or they're searching up, what's the best pharmacy near me? And I don't know, what generation are we on now? Is it, I guess Gen Z's, I mean, after millennials, but you know, folks that are having kids for the first time, you know, they're going to look for the best pharmacy near me. And so the reviews on Google Maps are a huge way to make a good first impression.

• 14:10Speaker 03

  And I would say in general, independent pharmacy has better overall ratings than their pharmacy counterparts, but, or their, their chain counterparts, but that is something that you always want to keep adding to it. The more reviews that you have, the more credible that, you know, four to five star rating looks when you've got hundreds, if not thousands of reviews versus 10 or 20. And I, I think there's different algorithms, which I haven't taken the class more recently, but like you can go in and, and learn all about how to master, you know, the, that search engine optimization and, and tap into, you know, those ratings, but that will determine how you show up in, in that particular search

• 14:55Speaker 03

  based on the frequency, the total number of reviews, and then obviously, you know, having a better rating than, than the other folks in your community. So my, my, my activity would be to type in whatever town you live in is what is the best pharmacy? And I live in, you know, near Severna Park, Maryland. So I would say, what is the best pharmacy in Severna Park, Maryland? See what shows up in the community where you're based and hopefully you're at the top. But if you're not, at least you know, okay, this is what someone's going to see when they come to this area. And, um, you know, look at the reviews of your competitors, look at the reviews that you have right now. And, and don't run away. If there's an issue, run, run towards it and, and work to fix that.

• 15:35Speaker 03

  Because maybe you have a technician that's not delivering the, the best service and you might see that in a review. If, you know, if God forbid, that's out there. So.

• 15:45Speaker 02

  Yeah. No, great suggestion. And I think just to add to that, a lot of times, uh, businesses don't pay enough, enough attention to their Google business page, um, whether making sure it's up to date. You know, you can add posts, kind of just like Facebook, other social media platforms. So you can post photos, you can, um, you know, talk about events, services, things that you're going, going on in the pharmacy. So again, back to your point, all of that stuff helps with SEO, but also just helps your business look more complete when somebody's trying to find a pharmacy. I think if they see your page and it looks like, yeah, you haven't had a review in six months to a year

• 16:27Speaker 02

  and it looks like it's not all filled out, then they may pass you by for your competitor. So. And all that stuff's free to do. It's just, you know, taking the time to do it.

• 16:36Speaker 03

  Yep, absolutely.

• 16:39Speaker 02

  So looking at content, um, give me your thoughts on organic or sorry, non-organic, original and authentic content. You know, obviously AI is a huge thing right now, but, um, you know, in my opinion, AI is, is not there as far as having that empathetic, personal touch to content, especially for pharmacy marketing. But just wanted to get your thoughts on that, kind of why authentic content is so important.

• 17:10Speaker 03

  Yeah. I mean, it is so, I mean, everyone's got a phone in, in their hand and, and every app and, and every company is, is fighting for that, you know, 10 seconds of your attention. I don't know many folks that just see an ad for a product that say, oh, man, I'm, you know, that's, that's going to captivate me for the next five minutes. But, um, you know, sharing whatever those experiences, I, I'll use flavoring shameless plug of, of how that can be a part of it. We have a promotion that we suggest to our pharmacy customers called do us a favor to get a free flavor. And while most pharmacies charge anywhere from three to $5 when they, you know, flavor a prescription,

• 17:52Speaker 03

  you can offer your customers that you'll waive the charge if they're willing to make a, like a social media post or even do one of those reviews. Um, that is authentic and they're sharing that not with your existing customers, but with their network and, and to say that, you know, Billy or Suzie was just sick with the flu and we just went to XYZ pharmacy and, you know, they, they were able to flavor it and made medicine time so much easier. Sharing those types of experiences, um, I, I think is, is a real like awesome way to have authentic and organic, uh, content. You're not going to be able to chat GPT, you know, that type of experience. So.

• 18:32Speaker 02

  Yeah. Great example. And talk to our listeners about newsjacking. I'm, I'm guessing a lot of them haven't heard this term.

• 18:41Speaker 03

  I, you know, my brain always goes a mile a minute. And so, you know, whatever the current events are, whatever the headlines are, if there's an easy hook that you can try and tie something into, you know, the pharmacy space, it's a great way to just get some short-term quick burst and some relevance. Obviously, the World Cup is going on right now. So I wish I had a better example of, you know, some sort of soccer-themed, you know, promotion. But if you're a pharmacy that's in any of these towns that's hosting, I mean, what an opportunity to try and just, you know, acknowledge, hey, we know what's going on. We know we've got this whole new audience that's in town. And, you know, maybe this pops up on their

• 19:24Speaker 03

  feed and that'll be a connection and they'll come on in. So that's, you know, one example. I mean, if there are actual, you know, news headline, you know, GLP-1s, obviously, you know, if there's anything tied to that, or, you know, supplements and other things that, you know, or just answering questions about it, positioning yourself as an expert, where someone can say, you know, I'm not sure who to go talk to about something like that. But, you know, to come in and, you know, have that relationship and, you know, that's just tying into the whatever the local current events are.

• 19:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, got it. So let's switch gears a little bit, talk about SEO. You kind of touched on it earlier when it came to getting Google reviews. But any other advice that you have for our listeners, just kind of, you know, SEO, I feel like is such a buzzword. You can really get into the weeds on it, but kind of some high-level recommendations?

• 20:21Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, you know, I think the biggest thing, if it's not your area of expertise, then it certainly is an opportunity to find, you know, that time is precious in pharmacy. And, you know, you're working, you know, 12 to 15-hour days. Do you want to come home and try and figure this out on your own? You might have resources in your store. I mean, the technicians and younger, you know, folks might be more savvy in this space and could be an opportunity where, you know, they want to learn more about that and kind of help be a part of that, you know, solution or implementation team. But, you know, if you're using the right target keywords, if you're looking into like geo-fencing, and

• 21:02Speaker 03

  that's the act of like highlighting a geographical area where like, you know, everyone in that little invisible fence, whether it's a specific event at a certain time or something like that, you know, your ad is prioritized in that area. You're going to pay premiums for that. But I think just even taking a step back to optimizing the content that is on your website, you know, any articles, if you're posting those on whatever, you know, the topics may be, making sure that they're current and, you know, they're active links and things of that nature, that all helps with, you know, how you can optimize where your pharmacy shows up in a random search based on certain keywords. I mean, I think

• 21:46Speaker 03

  that probably needs its entire own podcast or six-week class to go along. So I don't know, I'll dive too deep into that.

• 21:54Speaker 02

  Agreed, yeah. And it's even more complicated now with voice search and all that fun stuff.

• 21:59Speaker 03

  Absolutely.

• 22:00Speaker 02

  And I think that's a good segue to, you know, in your opinion, how has marketing gotten more challenging the last couple of years for pharmacy owners?

• 22:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, just like I said, fighting for attention. It's tougher now than ever. You know, I think I'll use that to kind of segue into, you know, the, what I, I don't remember if this was, I think this was actually a Harvard Business Review article about the new marketing mix. They used to call, when we were in college, the four Ps of marketing, which focused on product, place, price, and promotions. The new way to kind of pivot and think about that is, it's called SAVE, the SAVE method, which is focusing on solutions,

• 22:51Speaker 03

  focusing on your accessibility, providing the best value, and providing the best education. So instead of promoting a product, it's educating them about that product and how it's going to solve a problem. Not just focusing on our product is, you know, XYZ is, you know, 30% off, but the value of what that can, you know, save or deliver over the long term. Not just that our location or our products have, you know, good placement, but how our access, you know, your store is accessible. Maybe you have after-hours, you know, chat and things like that, that they can, you know, talk to an employee if needed. And not just that they're, you're dealing with products to sell or upsell, but that, you know, how those are solutions for whatever ails them. So.

• 23:35Speaker 02

  Got it. And I think a lot of pharmacies miss opportunities with not marketing to their current patients. You know, we get so focused on new business, new business, where in turn, marketing to your current patients is, one, usually more effective because they're already coming to you, and two, much cheaper. And so just want to get your thoughts on, you know, PMS data, you know, in their dispensing system is a great way to target, letting the patients know about other services they offer. But kind of what's your thoughts on that? Any additional ideas?

• 24:14Speaker 03

  Yeah, I'm not sure what percent of, you know, your listeners might be like compounding pharmacies or dispensing like pet meds or anything like that. But I'll just use that as an example. You know, it's probably 60, maybe 70% of the folks that you're filling scripts for probably have a pet at home. And so, you know, that is a lead. And, you know, just having a promotion, a pet-related promotion or theme, and seeing who is engaging with that is a great way to figure, okay, we've been filling your scripts for the last few years. And did you know we can fill it for Fido and Fifi? And so just using your existing customers, again, like tell them telling the story to their friends in their

• 24:57Speaker 03

  networks. That's a great way to, you know, have a more organic way for them to do your marketing for you.

• 25:03Speaker 02

  Yeah. And sometimes, you know, it can be simple as just asking the patient. I think sometimes we're hesitant to just ask, hey, yeah, do you have a pet at home? Or can we help with their medications or something like that? So.

• 25:16Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, could also work for, you know, if you recognize someone's in that kind of sandwich generation, you know, caretaking for, you know, their parents and things like that. And, you know, that's just happens, you know, more organically over time as you have that relationship and build that trust and loyalty. It gets easier to, you know, kind of ask those questions.

• 25:35Speaker 02

  For sure. Well, anything else to share with our listeners that we didn't touch on?

• 25:41Speaker 03

  Oh, boy. I think that the last little activity that we've done in some of these other things is just kind of writing out what your, your marketing promise is. And I think it's a good activity to do internally with your employees. Asking the technicians, like, what, what is our, like, who is our pharmacy for? And so like, my pharmacy is for people who believe, like, you know, XYZ, there's no right answer, there's no wrong answer. But sometimes the answers you get from your techs and other staff might open up some other conversations.

• 26:18Speaker 02

  For sure, yeah.

• 26:19Speaker 03

  You know, focusing on what type of customers you want to attract. Again, it's, it's hard to think about, it's hard to think beyond the walls of where you're filling scripts. And, you know, there's so much going on that you're just like, you know, taking care of the folks that are there. But thinking beyond those walls and who in a perfect world do we want to have? And again, I'll use our, you know, pediatric services. It might not be a high-dollar item, but if something, a service that you offer already does attract younger families in the community, well, you're building your customer base for the next 10, 20 years. So, you know, it's up to you guys who you want to focus on attracting.

• 27:01Speaker 03

  But once that's defined and the whole staff agrees on it, then I think it gives you guys a little bit more vision and direction to kind of work in the same, you know, in the same direction. And then lastly, was just, we promise that engaging with our pharmacy will help you get blank. And, you know, what are you trying to get folks out of that? Or what are you trying to get your customers to get out of coming with you? And again, I think that all goes back to the services, the experiences, and the relationships that, you know, you guys are focused on delivering compared to what they're going to experience going across the street, or, you know, whatever that intersection might be.

• 27:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, I love it. That's a great exercise. And to your point, it's always interesting to see, or do your techs think something totally different than you do as the pharmacy owner? So, great conversation starter.

• 27:48Speaker 03

  You know what? There's one other thing I wanted just to share. And that is, I know a lot of local, like, small-town, like, newspapers often have, like, annual awards of, like, you know, what is the best of. It's really important, and it's really, like, easy marketing. You can't believe how much it'll do for you. But always apply for those and then share that as a campaign, because your loyal customers will want to vote for you. I mean, they love coming to you, and they want to share that story and help you tell that story. So always apply for those awards, and then use that as a marketing campaign to kind of rally your customer base. And then hopefully you win it. And then it just becomes that much better for everyone to have better visibility of, oh, man, I had no idea, like, something

• 28:33Speaker 03

  good must be happening over there. So try and look out for that if it's available in your communities.

• 28:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, great idea. And again, it's free. So, great way to promote your pharmacy. Well, Chris, thank you so much. I appreciate it as always. You always have a lot of great marketing ideas. If somebody does want more information on medication flavoring, where can they find you guys at?

• 28:56Speaker 03

  Flavorex.com. We will, that's our website. And then F-L-A-V-O-R-X. We are at a lot of the major trade shows. So hopefully you'll see our fun booths there. And yeah, we can, we can travel anywhere. So.

• 29:13Speaker 02

  Perfect. Well, thank you. I appreciate it.

• 29:16Speaker 03

  Yep. Thanks so much, Nicole.

• 29:17Speaker 02

  And this is Nicole, wrapping up another episode of Marketing Vitals Podcast. For more information on pharmacy marketing, visit pharmacymarketing.com.