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 contrasts pharmacist brands that are powerful, mediocre, and weak.
Personal Brand:
Everyone has a personal brand. When you were a high school student, you had a personal brand. If you are a student pharmacist, you now have a personal brand. And if you are a licensed pharmacist, you also have a personal brand.
Unless you were born into a family of royals, you did not inherit your personal brand - you created your brand. It is almost never too late in life to convert a weak or mediocre personal brand into one that is powerful.
British author Chris Drucker is credited for having said, “your personal brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room . . .”
More precisely, your personal brand is the widely recognized and largely uniform perception or impression of you based on your experience, expertise, competencies, actions and/or achievements within a community, industry, or the marketplace at large. (Adapted by the author from https://personalbrand.com/definition/)
Key words in this definition:
widely recognized – not the perception of only a few individuals,
largely-uniform – little variation in perception from individual to individual,
perception or impression – resides in the minds of individuals with whom the “brand owner” is associated,
based on one’s experience, expertise, competencies, actions, achievements, and
within a community, industry, or marketplace at large – specific to a “place.”
Pharmacist Brand:
Although everyone has a personal brand, only pharmacists have pharmacist brands. In like manner, only physicians have physician brands, only dentists have dentist brands, and only pastors have pastor brands.
Redefining personal brand to reflect the pharmacist’s personal brand:
Pharmacist brand – the widely-recognized and largely-uniform perception or impression of a pharmacist based on his or her experience, expertise, competencies, actions and/or achievements within a community, a pharmacy practice site, the pharmacy profession, or the healthcare marketplace at large. (Author's definition.)
Personal Branding:
Personal branding is the conscious and intentional effort of individuals to create and influence public perception by positioning themselves as authorities in their industries, elevating their credibility, and differentiating themselves from the competition, to ultimately advance their careers, increase their circles of influence, and have a larger impact. (Adapted by the author from https://personalbrand.com/definition/)
Whereas personal brand is an objective, personal branding is a conscious and intentional effort – a process.
Key words in this definition:
conscious and intentional – does not occur by accident,
create and influence – implies some type of action
public perception – not necessarily the perception of the pharmacist or the pharmacist’s family members,
authorities in their industries – specific to one’s chosen field,
elevating credibility, advance their careers, increase their circles of influence, have a larger impact – all desirable objectives, and
differentiating themselves from the competition – the essence of personal branding.
Pharmacy Brand:
Just as pharmacist brand relates to individuals, pharmacy brand relates to a business entity – a pharmacy. The pharmacy brand may have a brick and mortar appearance (e.g., Main Street Pharmacy) or represent a concept (e.g., Long-term Care Consultant Associates).
An individual may consider his or her pharmacist brand to be identical with a pharmacy brand. A pharmacy owner might opine, “I am this pharmacy. It has my name on the building. And customers come here to see me.” But what happens if that pharmacist sells that pharmacy? Does the pharmacist no longer have a pharmacist brand?
Pharmacist brand is distinct from a pharmacy brand, even if the pharmacist’s name is Joan Harris and the pharmacy is Joan Harris Pharmacy.
Mass Marketing:
There are two broad approaches to providing services or goods to the public – and each approach – or strategy – has advantages and disadvantages. With the first approach the provider of services or goods to reach the largest possible audience – which consists of everyone who has the means to obtain the provider’s service or goods. This is a mass marketing approach. Examples of organizations that use mass marketing include Wal-Mart®, Amazon®, and non-specialty hospitals.
Niche Marketing:
The second approach to providing services or goods to the public involves attempting to reach a narrow market that is defined by identifiable features such as age, gender, residence location, lifestyle, or disease state. The individuals thus targeted represent a niche market which is a subset of the mass market. Examples of individuals and organizations that seek to serve niche markets include pediatricians, home infusion organizations, US Veterans Administration hospitals, Petco®, and Whole Foods®.
As a pharmacist it is likely that you will target individuals for your niche market via your education, your expertise, your certification(s), and the market(s) that are targeted by your employer.
Defining your niche market involves answering these questions (among others):
1. Will you serve with products and/or services? (These individuals might be determined by gender, age, life stage, lifestyle, or some other demographic.)
2. What specific products and/or services will you provide to the market niche?
3. Will you be compensated for providing products and/or services?
4. Will you provide those products and/or services? (Specific hours and days of the week could be designated as times to interact with individuals who may want to provide your products and/or services.)
5. Will you provide those products and/or services? (Using telephone and video conferencing would expand your ability to provide products and/or services.)
Summary of Terms:
Everyone has a personal brand, but only pharmacists have pharmacist brands.
The acquisition of a powerful pharmacist brand is an objective, whereas personal branding is a conscious and intentional process.
Pharmacy brand relates to a business entity rather than the pharmacist’s brand.
A mass marketing strategy attempts to reach the largest audience possible without regard to the characteristics of individuals, whereas a niche marketing strategy attempts to reach individuals with identifiable characteristics.
Illustrations: Following are illustrations of pharmacist cards and business cards that communicate a pharmacy brand or a pharmacist brand.
Exhibit 1
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 contrasts pharmacist brands that are powerful, mediocre, and weak.
Personal Brand:
Everyone has a personal brand. When you were a high school student, you had a personal brand. If you are a student pharmacist, you now have a personal brand. And if you are a licensed pharmacist, you also have a personal brand.
Unless you were born into a family of royals, you did not inherit your personal brand - you created your brand. It is almost never too late in life to convert a weak or mediocre personal brand into one that is powerful.
British author Chris Drucker is credited for having said, “your personal brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room . . .”
More precisely, your personal brand is the widely recognized and largely uniform perception or impression of you based on your experience, expertise, competencies, actions and/or achievements within a community, industry, or the marketplace at large. (Adapted by the author from https://personalbrand.com/definition/)
Key words in this definition:
widely recognized – not the perception of only a few individuals,
largely-uniform – little variation in perception from individual to individual,
perception or impression – resides in the minds of individuals with whom the “brand owner” is associated,
based on one’s experience, expertise, competencies, actions, achievements, and
within a community, industry, or marketplace at large – specific to a “place.”
Pharmacist Brand:
Although everyone has a personal brand, only pharmacists have pharmacist brands. In like manner, only physicians have physician brands, only dentists have dentist brands, and only pastors have pastor brands.
Redefining personal brand to reflect the pharmacist’s personal brand:
Pharmacist brand – the widely-recognized and largely-uniform perception or impression of a pharmacist based on his or her experience, expertise, competencies, actions and/or achievements within a community, a pharmacy practice site, the pharmacy profession, or the healthcare marketplace at large. (Author's definition.)
Personal Branding:
Personal branding is the conscious and intentional effort of individuals to create and influence public perception by positioning themselves as authorities in their industries, elevating their credibility, and differentiating themselves from the competition, to ultimately advance their careers, increase their circles of influence, and have a larger impact. (Adapted by the author from https://personalbrand.com/definition/)
Whereas personal brand is an objective, personal branding is a conscious and intentional effort – a process.
Key words in this definition:
conscious and intentional – does not occur by accident,
create and influence – implies some type of action
public perception – not necessarily the perception of the pharmacist or the pharmacist’s family members,
authorities in their industries – specific to one’s chosen field,
elevating credibility, advance their careers, increase their circles of influence, have a larger impact – all desirable objectives, and
differentiating themselves from the competition – the essence of personal branding.
Pharmacy Brand:
Just as pharmacist brand relates to individuals, pharmacy brand relates to a business entity – a pharmacy. The pharmacy brand may have a brick and mortar appearance (e.g., Main Street Pharmacy) or represent a concept (e.g., Long-term Care Consultant Associates).
An individual may consider his or her pharmacist brand to be identical with a pharmacy brand. A pharmacy owner might opine, “I am this pharmacy. It has my name on the building. And customers come here to see me.” But what happens if that pharmacist sells that pharmacy? Does the pharmacist no longer have a pharmacist brand?
Pharmacist brand is distinct from a pharmacy brand, even if the pharmacist’s name is Joan Harris and the pharmacy is Joan Harris Pharmacy.
Mass Marketing:
There are two broad approaches to providing services or goods to the public – and each approach – or strategy – has advantages and disadvantages. With the first approach the provider of services or goods to reach the largest possible audience – which consists of everyone who has the means to obtain the provider’s service or goods. This is a mass marketing approach. Examples of organizations that use mass marketing include Wal-Mart®, Amazon®, and non-specialty hospitals.
Niche Marketing:
The second approach to providing services or goods to the public involves attempting to reach a narrow market that is defined by identifiable features such as age, gender, residence location, lifestyle, or disease state. The individuals thus targeted represent a niche market which is a subset of the mass market. Examples of individuals and organizations that seek to serve niche markets include pediatricians, home infusion organizations, US Veterans Administration hospitals, Petco®, and Whole Foods®.
As a pharmacist it is likely that you will target individuals for your niche market via your education, your expertise, your certification(s), and the market(s) that are targeted by your employer.
Defining your niche market involves answering these questions (among others):
1. Will you serve with products and/or services? (These individuals might be determined by gender, age, life stage, lifestyle, or some other demographic.)
2. What specific products and/or services will you provide to the market niche?
3. Will you be compensated for providing products and/or services?
4. Will you provide those products and/or services? (Specific hours and days of the week could be designated as times to interact with individuals who may want to provide your products and/or services.)
5. Will you provide those products and/or services? (Using telephone and video conferencing would expand your ability to provide products and/or services.)
Summary of Terms:
Everyone has a personal brand, but only pharmacists have pharmacist brands.
The acquisition of a powerful pharmacist brand is an objective, whereas personal branding is a conscious and intentional process.
Pharmacy brand relates to a business entity rather than the pharmacist’s brand.
A mass marketing strategy attempts to reach the largest audience possible without regard to the characteristics of individuals, whereas a niche marketing strategy attempts to reach individuals with identifiable characteristics.
Illustrations: Following are illustrations of pharmacist cards and business cards that communicate a pharmacy brand or a pharmacist brand.
Exhibit 1
This business card focuses on the pharmacy brand. “Where you’re treated like family!”, relates to the business’ physical location – i.e., “Where . . .” The email address suggests that messages received will go to the pharmacy brand – not to a specific person.
Question 1: To what niche market is East Mesa Pharmacy likely to appeal?
Exhibit 2
This business card resembles Exhibit 1. However, the slogan has been removed, and the names and suffixes of two persons are added at the card bottom.
Question 2: How will the “typical consumer” know that Philip Smith and Valerie Harris are pharmacists?
Question 3: What pharmacist brands are communicated by the business card?
Exhibit 3
Valerie Harris’ pharmacist card focuses on her pharmacist brand and answers six branding questions:
1) Who is Valerie Harris? photo, name, and credentials, Dr., Arizona licensed pharmacist
2) What does Valerie Harris do? specializes in women’s health issues
3) How does Valerie Harris help people? menopausal symptoms, osteoporosis, excessive dry skin, chronic yeast infection, thyroid hormone issues, libido concerns
4) How can Valerie Harris be contacted? 27/7 voice/text, “personal” email address (as opposed to “info”)
5) When should Valerie Harris be contacted? TODAY
6) Why should Valerie Harris be contacted? NO-COST consultation
Items 5) and 6) in combination represent a “call to action” – a marketing device intended to prompt an immediate response.
Question 4: At what pharmacy does Valerie Harris practice?
Question 5: What products are available at Valerie Harris practice site?
Exhibit 4
Question 6: Having Philip Smith’s pharmacist card in hand, do you think a typical Mesa, Arizona resident would be able to locate the pharmacy where he practices?
Questions 7, 8, 9, 10: Regarding the six men’s health issues listed on Philip Smith’s card, does the pharmacist suggest that he makes diagnoses?
. . . that he sells products?
. . . that he may refer a patron to a physician?
. . . that he has health issue expertise?
Note that Valerie Harris uses the prefix “Dr.” before her name, whereas Philip Smith uses his academic degree (“PharmD”) and then qualifies his degree with “Doctor of Pharmacy.” (Some individuals believe that it is improper or in bad taste to combine the prefix Dr. with the suffix PharmD – e.g., “Dr. Philip Smith, PharmD.”)
Valerie’s card indicates that she is an “Arizona Licensed Pharmacist,” whereas Philip’s card has no indication of licensure.
Philip’s card is written in first person (“Contact me”), whereas Valerie’s card is written in third person (“Contact Valerie”).
Exhibit 5A
Exhibit 5B
This pharmacist card appears to communicate features of the pharmacy brand with a seemingly uniform brand of three pharmacists – The Chambers Rx Compounders. The photos and information on the two sides of this card communicate who the pharmacists are, what they do, how they help people, how they can be contacted; when they should be contacted, and why they should be contacted.
Question 11: In what ways does this card communicate the pharmacy brand?
Question 12: In what ways does this card communicate the brand(s) of the three pharmacists?
Questions 13, 14: Are the brands of The Chambers Rx Compounders identical? What is your reasoning?
Question 15: If pharmacist Ann Davis’ and primary interest is women’s health issues, how would you modify The Chambers Rx Compounders card to reflect her brand?
Questions 16, 17: Scenario – Mary is a Certified Diabetes Educator. Her primary practice focus is assisting individuals who use insulin and insulin-like medications to control diabetes. Mary also serves as associate pastor for a local congregation and is a soccer coach for sixth and seventh grade youth.
How many personal brands does Mary have? What is your reasoning?
Synonyms (thesaurus.com):
Powerful – capable, dominant, dynamic, forceful, impressive, influential, persuasive, potent
Mediocre – decent, dull, middling, ordinary, second-rate, so-so, undistinguished, uninspired
Weak – anemic, fragile, hesitant, powerless, shaky, sickly, uncertain
Question 18: How would you rate the brand of a pharmacist who is perceived as being hesitant, fragile, and uncertain?
Powerful Mediocre Weak
Question 19: How would you rate the brand of a pharmacist who is perceived as being forceful, influential, and persuasive?
Powerful Mediocre Weak
Question 20: How would you rate the brand of a pharmacist who is perceived as being decent, ordinary, and undistinguished?
Powerful Mediocre Weak
Scenario - Pharmacists and technicians were interviewed to obtain their perceptions of pharmacists with whom they work. Based on this limited information, how would you rate the strength of each pharmacist’s brand?
Question 21: “John often seems hesitant to make decisions when dispensing medicines. He is uncertain when answering patients’ questions, frequently saying ‘I think . . .’ and “Maybe . . .” And John repeatedly gets his feelings hurt by patients and workmates.”
Powerful Mediocre Weak
Question 22: “Joan is a decent pharmacist – pretty much like most of the other pharmacists who work here. She seems to get her job done in an OK manner. I don’t know much more to say about her.”
Powerful Mediocre Weak
Question 23: “Lilly is persuasive when dealing with prescribers who make potential errors, explaining why and always giving a reference. Her primary interest is smoking cessation, and many pharmacy patrons have come to her for assistance. Lilly is a very capable pharmacist.”
Powerful Mediocre Weak
My observations . . .
Pharmacists who create powerful brands typically (meaning usually but not always):
1) enjoy success in the pharmacy profession – financially and otherwise;
2) are better able to serve others – better able to help people;
3) are satisfied with their professional lives and their personal lives;
4) have enthusiasm for pharmacy practice (“get” to go to work as opposed to “have” to go to work”);
5) have enthusiasm for the pharmacy profession as evidenced by involvement with local, state, provincial, and/or national pharmacist organizations; and
6) enjoy meaningful relationships with most workmates, other health professionals, consumers, and patients.
Your observations . . .
Questions 24, 25: Consider two pharmacists who you have known reasonably well for at least 5 years and who you would rate as having powerful pharmacist brands. Which of the above-captioned six features do you associate with each pharmacist?
Pharmacist A: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Pharmacist B: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Questions 26, 27: What other features or characteristics do you associate with each of the pharmacists you have considered?
Pharmacist A:
Pharmacist B:
Questions 28, 29: In what ways – if any – do you think personality affects the creation of one’s pharmacist brand?
What is your reasoning?
Question 30, 31: In what ways – if any – do you think view of self-worth affects the creation of one’s pharmacist brand?
What is your reasoning?
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity.
Additional Information on Personal Branding
TedX video presentations on personal branding - for your consideration:
“Powerful Personal Branding” - Ann Bastianelli CLICK HERE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcr3MshYe3g
“The Personal Brand of You” - Rob Brown CLICK HERE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGbsb6aXbzc
Internet-accessible articles on personal branding - for your consideration:
8 Reasons a Powerful Personal Brand Will Make You Successful CLICK HERE
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/289278
8 Steps to Building a Powerful Personal Brand That Will Change Your Life CLICK HERE
https://www.inc.com/john-white/8-steps-to-building-a-powerful-personal-brand-that-will-change-your-life.html
5 Ways to Build a Powerful Personal Brand CLICK HERE
https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelcyvjoseph/2018/04/30/5-ways-to-build-a-powerful-personal-brand/#8af333d549ea