Bell Rexall Pharmacy, Camden, New Jersey’s oldest pharmacy, was first established in 1931. Now, it’s run by third-generation pharmacist Tony Minniti who has owned the pharmacy since 1997.
Bell Pharmacy caters to a wide audience with a combination of traditional pharmacy services and niche offerings. With a huge LGBTQ+ community, they specialize in sexual health counseling and HIV treatment. They also partner with a local hospital to provide telehealth appointments for patients in multiple states. More recently, they acquired AmSTAR Medical Transportation to support caregivers and home-bound patients.
According to Minniti, a lot of this expansion is due to new competition like home healthcare agencies with pharmacy offerings and Amazon PillPack. His goal is for Bell Pharmacy to become the “community pharmacy of mail order.”
“What we’ve had to do is find ways to diversify our services and increase our service area while maintaining our core mission as a traditional neighborhood pharmacy,” said Minniti. “We knew part of that would involve making significant investments in our digital infrastructure.”
Minniti turned to Digital Pharmacist to help him reach his goal. We launched their digital marketing program in early April. Four months later, Bell Pharmacy ads have received over 130,000 impressions, nearly 870 link clicks, and 1,600 engagements.
Since April, Bell Rexall has seen:
130,412
AD IMPRESSIONS
868
LINK CLICKS
1,059
Ad engagements
20+
NEW PATIENTS a Week
“One reason we’re so excited to work with the Digital Pharmacist platform is that it supports us perfectly in all our different areas of practice. It makes access for patients and practitioners easy. We can analyze and target markets with the data and tailor our messages online more effectively. It’s all there! The more experience we gain, the more we’re learning about all the additional capabilities of the platform and we continue to be able to enhance our digital presence. There is so much there but we’re learning. I couldn’t recommend it more.”
“If I had to guess the number of new patients we’ve gained with Digital Marketing, it would be a 5-10% increase, about 20 patients a week,” Minniti said. “That is somewhat remarkable since we are still operating in a pandemic, but I think it’s actually been helpful with people being on the internet and social media more.”
On top of website leads and new patients, Bell Pharmacy’s lead tracking system also reported 71 new patient calls in the four-month period.
According to Minniti, running ads has helped build crucial brand awareness in the community, especially at a time when many people aren’t visiting healthcare practitioners. The ads also let the Bell Pharmacy team spotlight some important new projects and partnerships.
In June, Bell Pharmacy partnered with the Camden Area Health Education Center (AHEC) to host a free PrEP education and HIV testing event for National HIV Testing Day. At the last minute, they decided to launch an ad promoting the event.
“We relied on Digital Pharmacist to help us hit our target market with this ad. Our partner was the one actually administering the tests and they had certain state targets to meet. Even though the ad ran for only a day, they succeeded in hitting all of them, which they hadn’t been able to do before,” Minniti said.
At Digital Pharmacist, we’ve connected thousands of pharmacists and patients during COVID-19 through digital marketing. Our program combines paid ad and email marketing support with reputation management and virtual wellness content. With sophisticated reporting and lead tracking tools, we help support pharmacy business growth.
“I think you’re the resource that pharmacists need. I’m a pharmacist, I don’t know how to maximize my digital presence. You provide that solution. I don’t have to go get a marketer or hire an analytics professional because you provide a suite of services and a responsive, communicative team.”
Ready to transform your business? Get in touch to learn about how digital marketing can make a difference to your pharmacy.
