Need to spruce up your brand? Here are 4 tips.

Creative, low-cost ways to spruce up your store’s image

In brief:

• Potential customers judge your business by what they see, from the parking lot to your email.
• First impressions matter greatly.
• Ensure every customer touch point projects a positive image consistent with your brand.
• Small investments can greatly improve the perception of your pharmacy brand.

Impressions count, and your pharmacy makes impressions on patients in many ways. Strive to make everything they see stand out as professional and consistent with the brand you want to present.

1. Dress for success. A white lab coat once was the standard for healthcare professionals, including pharmacists. But many pharmacy owners are wondering whether to continue that tradition. The most important consideration is, what image do you want to project to your customers? Do you want your staff to be seen as traditional, professional healthcare providers, or as modern, casual, fun, relatable members of the community? What you and your staff wear will affect how people perceive you. Perceptions can differ by age and education level.¹

Choose a dress code that fits your pharmacy’s image. That could be lab coats, dress shirts, polo-style shirts, scrubs or even T-shirts. Whatever you choose should be neat, clean, and make pharmacy staff easy to identify.

2. Use professional photos of your staff. People tend to ignore stock, generic images and will pay more attention to photos of real people whom they see every day.² Featuring your staff in your marketing and on your social media helps create a personal connection between your patients and your business.
3. Provide business cards. Your staff members are your brand ambassadors inside your store, out in the community, and when accompanying you to meetings with providers. Equip them with an essential tool of the business professional: business cards with their name and title.

When they talk with a patient about signing up for medication synchronization or speak with a nurse about a prescription or an adherence program, they can assure the person, “Call me with any questions. Here’s my card.” Keep a few extra cards handy at the register for satisfied customers to refer their friends.

4. Use a business email address. Invest in an email service that provides an address with your pharmacy’s name as the domain, instead of using a free, generic account like Yahoo or Gmail.

Think of your business email address as another sign that advertises your business. A generic domain makes your business look temporary; your own domain is yet another way to brand your business.

Pay close attention to the impressions that you take away from other businesses in your community, both positive and negative. Use those as guidelines as you look at your pharmacy. From the cleanliness of your store to your signage, lighting, uniforms, phone greeting, displays, website — everything you do reflects your brand.

Look at every way that you interact with customers, and make everything you do be consistent and unique.

¹ “Pharmacist Attire and Its Impact on Patient Preference,” Erika Cretton-Scott, Leah Johnson, and Sean King, Drug Pharmacy Practice, June 17, 2011. LINK

² “Photos as Web Content,” Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen Norman Group, Nov. 1, 2010. LINK