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The Power of Industry Expertise: Why Specialization Matters in Marketing | Marketing Vitals · Pharmacy Podcast Network

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
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  Speaker 2: As your business is marketing flatlined, find your pulse again
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  Speaker 2: with Marketing Vitals bringing you innovative in turn key healthcare
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  Speaker 2: marketing solutions from industry experts who have developed a knack
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  Speaker 2: for solving problems. A co hosted publication from GRX Marketing
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  Speaker 2: and Finch Marketing, sister companies that are passionate and knowledgeable
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  Speaker 2: about healthcare marketing.
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  Speaker 1: Hey everyone, Nicole McClure, President of Bench Marketing, and excited
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  Speaker 1: to be back for another episode of Marketing Vitals podcast.
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  Speaker 1: So glad to welcome back my partner in crime, Kelly
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  Speaker 1: Bailey to this.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so excited to be here.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Kelly, So today we are going to talk
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  Speaker 1: about industry, why it's important to have your vendors in
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  Speaker 1: particular marketing agency be within the industry. So for US healthcare. So,
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  Speaker 1: I know October, which is crazy that it's mid October already,
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five is just flying by, But a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people are kind of getting in that planning mode
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  Speaker 1: of looking to next year for twenty twenty six, and
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  Speaker 1: our listeners out there you may be looking for different
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  Speaker 1: options for your marketing services. So if you've never worked
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  Speaker 1: with an agency within the healthcare industry, we're here today
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  Speaker 1: to talk to you about some benefits of why it's
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  Speaker 1: important to do so. So let's dive in.
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  Speaker 3: Sounds good.
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  Speaker 1: So I guess this is probably kind of a little obvious,
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  Speaker 1: But I guess what to you, Kelly, would you say
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  Speaker 1: industry focused means?
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  Speaker 3: I guess for me, it's you know, there's plenty of
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  Speaker 3: plenty of agencies out there that support such a wide
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  Speaker 3: variety of clientele. I mean they have big franchises, they
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  Speaker 3: have independent, smaller local companies, they have kind of their
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  Speaker 3: fingers and everything, and well there may be some benefits
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  Speaker 3: to that. Industry focused is having an agency that is
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  Speaker 3: really specialized and knowledgeable about one particular industry. So like
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  Speaker 3: Finch for healthcare, for GRX it's pharmacy. You know, that
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  Speaker 3: is where our time and energy is most spend, and
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  Speaker 3: so working with an agency that is very honed into
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  Speaker 3: your specific industry.
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  Speaker 1: And I think, yeah, just having that understanding of the
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  Speaker 1: industry means you understand the client's pain points, you know
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  Speaker 1: some of the jargon, so that all doesn't have to
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  Speaker 1: be explained to you. I think you're also more aware
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  Speaker 1: of industry changes that are happening. So, for example, like
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  Speaker 1: with pharmacy, insurance changes that seem to pop up always
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  Speaker 1: this time of year or in January, So that just
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  Speaker 1: helps benefit the client. You don't have to, you know,
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  Speaker 1: go into detail on things that may be going on for.
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  Speaker 3: Sure, and just not even within you know, industry changes,
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  Speaker 3: just as that concept as a whole. I mean, there's
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  Speaker 3: no handholding required, I know on my side of things
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  Speaker 3: within pharmacy. I know a lot of pharmacies appreciate that
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  Speaker 3: they don't have to explain what a HIPO violation is.
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  Speaker 3: They don't have to explain the benefits of compliance packaging,
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  Speaker 3: or why you need to talk to providers about marketing
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  Speaker 3: and that type of stuff. So just being able to
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  Speaker 3: have somebody who's knowledgeable about all of that saves countless
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  Speaker 3: hours of explanation and education when working with a vendor
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  Speaker 3: because they already know yeah, and.
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  Speaker 1: We've you know, when we've talked to prospects before. One
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  Speaker 1: of the frustrations they have not working with somebody in
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  Speaker 1: the industry is like, you know, I feel like I
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  Speaker 1: have to rewrite the content or basically write the content
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  Speaker 1: for the marketing company, which doesn't save you as the client.
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  Speaker 1: Anytime you might as well just do the marketing yourself,
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  Speaker 1: which is not a benefit. So that's where having somebody
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  Speaker 1: in the industry, we know the lingo, we know what
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  Speaker 1: to write, so when you come in and use our services,
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  Speaker 1: it's just the work work is being done for you.
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  Speaker 1: I think. Also, you know, we know the resources to
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  Speaker 1: go to for reputable information, making sure we're you know,
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  Speaker 1: sourcing credible sources and that sort of thing. We kind
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  Speaker 1: of have that bank already built out, so you don't
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  Speaker 1: have to provide that information to us for sure.
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  Speaker 3: And there's also just kind of the just being in
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  Speaker 3: the industry so ingrained you have the benefit of being
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  Speaker 3: able to respond quickly to things that are happening. So
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  Speaker 3: the big one obviously recently was COVID. When that hit,
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  Speaker 3: pharmacies had to specifically pivot to online consent forms and
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  Speaker 3: online scheduling, most of which had no we're done anything
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  Speaker 3: like that before. And so the fact that we were
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  Speaker 3: in it as well, we were able to kind of
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  Speaker 3: help take that shift and take it in stride as
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  Speaker 3: best we could and support our pharmacies through that whole process,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, staying on top of the most up
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  Speaker 3: to date CDC guidelines of COVID vaccinations and you know,
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  Speaker 3: managing the crisis of oh snaps. Now nobody can come
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  Speaker 3: into my pharmacy. How do I sell front end products
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  Speaker 3: and make money? And you know things like that, And obviously,
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  Speaker 3: you know, healthcare and pharmacy, they're such rapidly evolving industries.
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  Speaker 3: Things change what feels like a weekly basis in terms
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  Speaker 3: of legalities, in terms of new technologies, in terms of
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  Speaker 3: new products and services, and you know, consumer demands and
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  Speaker 3: all those types of things. And if you're working with
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  Speaker 3: somebody who's not in the industry, it's incredible. It could
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  Speaker 3: be incredibly overwhelming to try to explain what all of
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  Speaker 3: that means.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think you bring up a good point
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  Speaker 1: about as far as things changing, just not even pharmacy specific,
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  Speaker 1: but just in general, and AI just kind of came
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  Speaker 1: to mind. I mean, that's that was what our last
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  Speaker 1: podcast was on. It's such a you know, a buzzword,
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  Speaker 1: and it is evolving marketing and pretty much every industry
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  Speaker 1: out there right now. But just to kind of touch
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  Speaker 1: back on our last podcast, you know, with AI, it's
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  Speaker 1: if you don't have an agency within the industry, you know,
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  Speaker 1: they may not know that the information that AI is
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  Speaker 1: putting out is not one hundred percent accurate, like they
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  Speaker 1: don't know what to look for type of thing back
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  Speaker 1: to you know, Kelly's packaging example, they may not know
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  Speaker 1: like this information isn't right. So even just keeping abreast
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  Speaker 1: of those types of situations where you know, how does
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  Speaker 1: AI come into play for pharmacy marketing? How can we
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  Speaker 1: incorporate it into the knowledge that we already have. I
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  Speaker 1: think those things are in tangent and we're together, aren't
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  Speaker 1: separate from each.
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  Speaker 3: Other, agreed for sure. And there's also going back to
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  Speaker 3: the AI discussion of you know, disclosures and disclaimers. Somebody
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  Speaker 3: who's not in the industry doesn't understand the compliance and
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  Speaker 3: the risk management and the required paperwork for all of
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  Speaker 3: the various things that anybody in the healthcare industry has
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  Speaker 3: to have in order to not only market in general,
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  Speaker 3: but market to patients or to other businesses.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm sure you know our clients obviously they want results.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody listening to the podcast wants to know how can
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  Speaker 1: we drive results? So, Kelly, how would you say specialization
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  Speaker 1: in the industry can help drive results?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, first and foremost, it's going to yield
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  Speaker 3: better ROI because an industry specific agency knows where to
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  Speaker 3: spend your money. It's what they've been doing for all
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  Speaker 3: their clients. They understand where your budget is going to
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  Speaker 3: yield best results. It minimizes the need for any sort
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  Speaker 3: of exploratory spending. There is still some of that that's
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  Speaker 3: never really going to go away because it's dependent on
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  Speaker 3: local demographics and you know, industry changes and things like that.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, we can tell you, hey, our other
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  Speaker 3: clients have done this and it was incredibly ineffective. Let's
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  Speaker 3: not waste your money on it. Let's focus on something else,
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  Speaker 3: whereas a non you know, industry specific client or agency
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  Speaker 3: might try it because they just they don't know. And
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  Speaker 3: then along those lines, just you know, with better ROI,
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  Speaker 3: it's it's increased conversion rates. Is you know, not only
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  Speaker 3: are we focusing on the avenues that are most effective,
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  Speaker 3: but we are crafting the messaging that is most effective,
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  Speaker 3: that's leading to the most conversions, that's really truly speaking
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  Speaker 3: to your audience in the way that is going to
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  Speaker 3: be most effective. And it's again it's it's less a
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  Speaker 3: b testing, it's less trial and error because we've you know,
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  Speaker 3: we've done it before and we've found success or we
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  Speaker 3: have found issues with X, Y or Z, and so
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  Speaker 3: we know what direction to truly go with them.
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  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts? Yeah, and I think as I
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  Speaker 1: as you know, Harry and you you talk about the
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  Speaker 1: different ones. It's you know, this doesn't apply just to
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  Speaker 1: an agency, the stuff that we're talking about. It's also
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  Speaker 1: you know, sometimes especially I think on the GRX side
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  Speaker 1: with pharmacies, people want to use their own in house
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  Speaker 1: marketing person, and a lot of times that's somebody that
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  Speaker 1: doesn't really have a background in marketing, you know, They've
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  Speaker 1: just kind of come in, maybe they're a local person,
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  Speaker 1: an agency, or just you know kind of somebody that
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  Speaker 1: wants to try out pharmacy marketing. And again, while that
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  Speaker 1: may be beneficial for the local exposure, a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people that we've talked to find again that it's hard
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  Speaker 1: to get them to understand like the language, especially kind
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  Speaker 1: of more the technical part of it. So if you're
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  Speaker 1: in compounding or a long term care pharmacy, or you know,
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  Speaker 1: in a technical healthcare area, it's been a challenge for
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  Speaker 1: them to kind of understand the language and nuances. Back
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  Speaker 1: to what you were saying with like disclaimers and things
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  Speaker 1: like that, So you know, want to just make sure
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  Speaker 1: that this can really be not just for an agency,
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  Speaker 1: but also those that are kind of in that in
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  Speaker 1: house marketing where they may not be able to have
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  Speaker 1: the knowledge to drive those results that you're talking about.
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  Speaker 3: Or maybe it's the other way around, and you have
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  Speaker 3: a really technical in house person like a pharmacist or
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  Speaker 3: a tech or somebody who's truly ingrained in the day
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  Speaker 3: to day the business, but they don't know marketing and
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  Speaker 3: they're just trying to do their best to figure out
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  Speaker 3: what do I put on social media? Or like how
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  Speaker 3: do I reach out to patients? Or you know, what
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  Speaker 3: is a good return for a Facebook aid campaign that
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  Speaker 3: type of stuff. So maybe they have the technical knowledge
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  Speaker 3: and expertise, but they don't have the business acumen or
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  Speaker 3: the marketing expertise to know what to do.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, excellent point. Any anything else to share with our
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  Speaker 1: listeners before we kind of wrap up as far as
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  Speaker 1: you know, effectiveness driving results, why work with a healthcare agency?
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  Speaker 3: I think the last thing just for kind of going
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  Speaker 3: back to driving some effective results, and we've kind of
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  Speaker 3: touched upon this a little bit is the the crisis
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  Speaker 3: management and the quick response to industry shift. When it
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  Speaker 3: comes to measuring results, it's it's also the continuous optimization.
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  Speaker 3: And so you know, working with a specialized agency means
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  Speaker 3: that in addition to knowing what avenues are going to
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  Speaker 3: be most effective where to spend your money, we also know,
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  Speaker 3: you know, we can compare it to what other clients
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  Speaker 3: have done in a similar situation, and we can kind
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  Speaker 3: of give you an idea of Okay, here's a good benchmark.
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  Speaker 3: Other example, for example, pharmacies are seeing you know, x
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  Speaker 3: return on you know, doing you know, this type of
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  Speaker 3: an ad campaign, and so we can kind of see
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  Speaker 3: where your AD is in comparison to others in similar
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  Speaker 3: situations and then continuously optimize it, where again, working with
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  Speaker 3: an outside agency might yield well, we think that this
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  Speaker 3: is really good, when in reality, compared to what other
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  Speaker 3: other pharmacies or other healthcare companies are doing, it's it's
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  Speaker 3: actually not that great comparatively, So, you know, being able
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  Speaker 3: to provide the benchmarks and the and the client comparisons
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  Speaker 3: and the ideas honestly, even I mean, I can't tell
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  Speaker 3: you how many times I've been asked, well, what are
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  Speaker 3: other pharmacies doing. What are other businesses doing? How do
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  Speaker 3: I do the same thing everybody else is doing, but differently?
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  Speaker 3: And it's a large part of our conversation. And so
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  Speaker 3: having that knowledge and expertise of what does work and
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  Speaker 3: what doesn't not only is a benefit of the agency,
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  Speaker 3: but it's a benefit of driving effective results.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, good points for sure. Well, if you don't have
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  Speaker 1: anything else to add, Kelly, I think we can wrap
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  Speaker 1: this episode up.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that sounds great. So I guess the moral of
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  Speaker 3: the story is specialization right for every business when it
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  Speaker 3: comes to finding a marketing agency. The answer I would
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  Speaker 3: think is yes. Regardless of if you're in pharmacy or
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  Speaker 3: healthcare or any other industry, if you can find an
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  Speaker 3: agency that specializes in your industry, I think you're going
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  Speaker 3: to see significantly more beneficial results.
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  Speaker 1: All right, well, thanks for joining me. Always good to
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  Speaker 1: have you on the podcast. Well you do them together?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's fun.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody you've listened to another episode of Marketing Vitals podcast.
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  Speaker 1: You can reach us at g r X Marketing dot
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  Speaker 1: com or Finch Marketingsolutions dot com. Thanks