Page 18 - HME Business, April 2020

Your pharmacy’s marketing success may depend on taking control of your online presence — even if you didn’t know you have one.
Go Google Yourself!
By Holly J. Wagner
Have you ever Googled yourself? You might be surprised to find out what other people are learn- ing about you online. That may not seem important if someone
finds out you are a new grandparent, or you like Hawaiian pizza. But when it’s your business, you want to take control of what people see and make sure it’s working for you.
If you’re just getting started on an online presence for your business, the first surprise waiting for you is likely that your business al- ready has one. It may be bare-bones, but search engines will use directory information to build their results. If you have a brick-and-mortar business, chances are at least minimal informa- tion about it, like address and phone number,
is already on the web even if you’ve never done anything to put it there.
The good news is the wealth of tools you can use to build your online image, and you can start with the basics for free. “There are online directories. If folks aren’t taking advantage of
that, that’s a huge mess because number one, the vast majority of them are free. Number two, it gives lots of information not only to Google, which is focused on what the user needs and getting people to the right resources and credible companies to connect the dots,” says Christina Throndson, vice president of VGM Forbin. She recommends Google My Business as your first step.
“That is one of the number one areas you need to claim so you have control over it. This
is a free resource that has the ability to send a lot of traffic to your website,” she says. “When you find your listing — if you don’t have one you contact Google and submit for one — at the bottom of the listing it says ‘Own this business?’ If you’ve never claimed that, you need to click that. You need to claim ownership of that listing because it represents your business.”
Google My Business and directory websites like Yelp! have links in business entries that let the owners claim and modify their listings. Many directory sites have maps with “pins” and live
indicators showing whether the business is open or closed based on the information you enter
in the form, so it’s important to make sure the details are correct. Directories also offer free promotional opportunities.
“If you don’t have any web presence at all, nothing is going to come back in that local search,” says Lisa Wells, vice president of mar- keting at Cure Medical and the author of four books for the home care industry. Patients will search with terms like ‘drugstore near me’ and click on the results they get back. If that’s not your business, “You don’t realize how much traf- fic you are losing because you never see them in the first place.”
Not only do patients search for businesses and products, “A lot of people self-diagnose or, after they’ve been diagnosed, go and do research online so they can better understand their condi- tion,” Throndson says. That’s an opportunity to find your website, if you have the right content.
You can attract consumers by educating them about their conditions. “If I don’t know
10 April2020|DMEPHARMACY
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