How to Create and Communicate Your Powerful Pharmacist Brand
A step-by-step guide for practitioners and students
"Life isn’t about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish playwright, critic, and author of Pygmalion.
If you are a pharmacist, you are to be commended on your significant educational accomplishments – and Thank You for your service to patients and the public!
If you are a student pharmacist, congratulations will soon be in order as you begin to serve patients and the public with your specialized knowledge and skills.
This guide is designed for pharmacists and student pharmacists to help them learn the basics of personal branding – quickly and almost effortlessly – and then assist them in preparing written plans to create and then communicate their personal brands.
Four Reasons for this Guide:
1) Most pharmacists have significant knowledge of medications and health issues, and many pharmacists have exceptional interpersonal and communication skills. Yet, few pharmacists create and communicate powerful personal brands.
Lacking a powerful brand the pharmacist tends to "blend in" with others and chances being perceived as a commodity by the public, by other healthcare professionals, and by current and future employers.
2) The author has observed that pharmacists who create powerful personal brands tend to have a high level of satisfaction with their professional and personal lives (as will be elaborated in Module 3).
3) In many geographic areas the supply of pharmacists exceeds demand. The law of supply and demand dictates that pharmacists' compensation will stagnate or fall precipitously. Therefore, it is prudent for pharmacists to differentiate themselves to reap the rewards associated with a lengthy and rigorous professional education combined with the responsibilities associated with licensure.
4) Personal branding has not been emphasized by most schools of pharmacy and most state/provincial pharmacist organizations (per internet search) - perhaps because a step-by-step guide previously had not been available.
Three Applications:
1) Self-Study for Individuals - This guide may serve as a self-study by student pharmacists and practitioners.
CLICK HERE to download your cost-free PDF question/exercise response sheet set (17 pages).
2) Academic Course or Clerkship - This guide in whole or in part may be incorporated within an academic course or clerkship of a school of pharmacy.
3) Continuing Education Offering - This guide in whole or in part may be utilized as a continuing education offering of a state or provincial pharmacist organization.
Facilitator’s Packet:
If you are a school of pharmacy faculty member or represent a state or provincial pharmacist organization, please request a cost-free Facilitator’s Packet that includes:
1) this web-accessible Guide in PDF (41 pages);
2) participant question/exercise Response Sheet Set in PDF (17 pages);
3) authorization to reproduce the above-captioned PDF documents for educational purposes; and
4) Author's Notes with suggested responses to and discussions of questions and exercises (18 PDF pages).
CLICK HERE to request your cost-free Facilitator’s Packet via email.
Module 1 - Terms and Concepts
You will define and differentiate the terms personal brand, pharmacist brand, personal branding, pharmacy brand, mass marketing, and niche marketing.
You will identify, compare, and contrast pharmacist brands that are powerful, mediocre, and weak.
Module 2 - Creating Your Powerful Pharmacist Brand
You will prepare a concise written plan to create the powerful brand in which you are likely to 1) have an enduring interest and 2) accumulate the requisite knowledge, skills, and resources.
Module 3 - Communicating Your Powerful Pharmacist Brand
You will prepare a concise written plan to communicate your powerful brand to patients, the public, workmates, other healthcare professionals, managers/administrators, and current/future employers.
Disclaimer:
No pharmacist living or deceased or pharmacy presently or previously in existence was knowingly used to create the illustrations in this guide.
Photos:
Some photos in this guide are from Shutterstock.com.
Quotes:
Quotes cited in this guide are from AZQuotes.com.
About the Author:
Quentin Srnka, PharmD, MBA Marketing, FACA is a licensed pharmacist and former faculty member of the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy where he participated in teaching, patient care, and research in the Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Administration. During his 31-year tenure at the University he conducted courses in the College of Allied Health (Dental Hygiene Pharmacology) and Department of Community Medicine of the College of Medicine (Pharmacology for Nurse Practitioners). Quentin served as Secretary to the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners as a function of his staff role with the American College of Apothecaries. He has owned and operated a pharmacy in a Memphis-area suburb and has managed pharmacies in a variety of retail and health system settings. Quentin has served as a commissioned officer with the United States Public Health Service, Indian Health Service Branch where he provided pharmacy, radiological, and clinical laboratory services.
CLICK HERE to contact Quentin Srnka.
If you are a student pharmacist, congratulations will soon be in order as you begin to serve patients and the public with your specialized knowledge and skills.
This guide is designed for pharmacists and student pharmacists to help them learn the basics of personal branding – quickly and almost effortlessly – and then assist them in preparing written plans to create and then communicate their personal brands.
Four Reasons for this Guide:
1) Most pharmacists have significant knowledge of medications and health issues, and many pharmacists have exceptional interpersonal and communication skills. Yet, few pharmacists create and communicate powerful personal brands.
Lacking a powerful brand the pharmacist tends to "blend in" with others and chances being perceived as a commodity by the public, by other healthcare professionals, and by current and future employers.
2) The author has observed that pharmacists who create powerful personal brands tend to have a high level of satisfaction with their professional and personal lives (as will be elaborated in Module 3).
3) In many geographic areas the supply of pharmacists exceeds demand. The law of supply and demand dictates that pharmacists' compensation will stagnate or fall precipitously. Therefore, it is prudent for pharmacists to differentiate themselves to reap the rewards associated with a lengthy and rigorous professional education combined with the responsibilities associated with licensure.
4) Personal branding has not been emphasized by most schools of pharmacy and most state/provincial pharmacist organizations (per internet search) - perhaps because a step-by-step guide previously had not been available.
Three Applications:
1) Self-Study for Individuals - This guide may serve as a self-study by student pharmacists and practitioners.
CLICK HERE to download your cost-free PDF question/exercise response sheet set (17 pages).
2) Academic Course or Clerkship - This guide in whole or in part may be incorporated within an academic course or clerkship of a school of pharmacy.
3) Continuing Education Offering - This guide in whole or in part may be utilized as a continuing education offering of a state or provincial pharmacist organization.
Facilitator’s Packet:
If you are a school of pharmacy faculty member or represent a state or provincial pharmacist organization, please request a cost-free Facilitator’s Packet that includes:
1) this web-accessible Guide in PDF (41 pages);
2) participant question/exercise Response Sheet Set in PDF (17 pages);
3) authorization to reproduce the above-captioned PDF documents for educational purposes; and
4) Author's Notes with suggested responses to and discussions of questions and exercises (18 PDF pages).
CLICK HERE to request your cost-free Facilitator’s Packet via email.
Module 1 - Terms and Concepts
You will define and differentiate the terms personal brand, pharmacist brand, personal branding, pharmacy brand, mass marketing, and niche marketing.
You will identify, compare, and contrast pharmacist brands that are powerful, mediocre, and weak.
Module 2 - Creating Your Powerful Pharmacist Brand
You will prepare a concise written plan to create the powerful brand in which you are likely to 1) have an enduring interest and 2) accumulate the requisite knowledge, skills, and resources.
Module 3 - Communicating Your Powerful Pharmacist Brand
You will prepare a concise written plan to communicate your powerful brand to patients, the public, workmates, other healthcare professionals, managers/administrators, and current/future employers.
Disclaimer:
No pharmacist living or deceased or pharmacy presently or previously in existence was knowingly used to create the illustrations in this guide.
Photos:
Some photos in this guide are from Shutterstock.com.
Quotes:
Quotes cited in this guide are from AZQuotes.com.
About the Author:
Quentin Srnka, PharmD, MBA Marketing, FACA is a licensed pharmacist and former faculty member of the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy where he participated in teaching, patient care, and research in the Departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Administration. During his 31-year tenure at the University he conducted courses in the College of Allied Health (Dental Hygiene Pharmacology) and Department of Community Medicine of the College of Medicine (Pharmacology for Nurse Practitioners). Quentin served as Secretary to the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners as a function of his staff role with the American College of Apothecaries. He has owned and operated a pharmacy in a Memphis-area suburb and has managed pharmacies in a variety of retail and health system settings. Quentin has served as a commissioned officer with the United States Public Health Service, Indian Health Service Branch where he provided pharmacy, radiological, and clinical laboratory services.
CLICK HERE to contact Quentin Srnka.
Pharmacist Branding(TM) and PharmacistBranding.com(TM) with and without the stylized mortar and pestle logo are trademarks of Quentin Srnka. Please use the CONTACT page to request authorization to reproduce any portion of website content. Version 1.1 Copyright Quentin Srnka 2020 |