Marketing for 'pharmacists', not 'pharmacies'.

Abstract

For decades we have seen the dynamics of what “pharmacies” think they have to offer and “pharmacists” have been engrossed (some would say lost!) in that mix. In the emerging era, pharmacists are wanting to stand up and be recognised as relevant and valuable professionals in their own right. But success in doing so will be determined, not by pharmacists’ opinion of themselves, but by the judgement of the audience to whom pharmacists claim to be relevant. Marketing is the process of creating and sustaining a meaningful differentiation of what you have to offer, from the viewpoint of your potential customer/patient/client. It is accepted that the central objectives of marketing be guided by the “5-P’s of marketing” which form key domains that create the system of willing exchange between a seller-provider and a buyer-receiver. The “5-P’s” are Product, Price, Place, Promotion and People. But only when each of these is calibrated to focus on the identified and relevant needs of a known group of buyer-receivers, can the process of marketing succeed. This seminar will examine the opportunities and challenges of first differentiating the pharmacist from the pharmacy, and then the pharmacist in the eyes of the audience they serve.