Just Other Articles

It continues to amaze me that companies are willing to spend huge amounts on developing a product and then want to squeeze the marketing budget. Getting your message out i

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

s not the place to cut costs.

Why? We, as customers, are bombarded with marketing messages all the time, in all kinds of places, and the types of marketing just keep expa

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

nding. In the old days of the 80’s, where media choices focused on radio, TV, newspaper, magazine and billboards, it used to be that the advertising world used the metric

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

f 3 — an ad must run at least three times in each media choice to break through the clutter. Now, with increasing kinds of media — email, banner ads, websites, cell phone

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

and PDA messages, ads on buildings, ads on taxi cabs, ads on grocery carts and on and on—the new metric is 7 impressions. A customer must see your message an average of 7

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

times for it to stand out from all the other messages they see each day. That’s right, 7 times. The first time or two, it may not be noticed. By the 4th, 5th , 6th or 7th

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

ime, the human brain starts realizing they’ve been seeing a lot about this product or company!

When companies decide they can get by with only one direct mailing with no

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

follow-up or a one-time ad, they are not getting the most bang for the buck. They are not ensuring they will rise above the noise and get their unique benefits noticed. Pe

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

ople must see your message again and again, until it penetrates and makes your targets take the action you want —generating leads and sales.

Are there some marketing comm

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

nications that get attention in one fell swoop—absolutely. The Apple ad in SuperBowl 1984, for instance, was only run once. These type communications are usually backed by

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

big budgets, however--producing an ad and buying Super Bowl space is not exactly inexpensive. In this case, you may be able to get your message across in one time. Howeve

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

r, the amount spent will more than equal what can be done with integrated marketing activities. On the other side of the spectrum are viral marketing activities—but by the

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

time you discover them, everyone else is using them too. Not that this is bad, just that they should be incorporated into the Once is Not Enough Plan)

What’s a business p

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

erson to do? The good news is that you don’t have to just do one marketing activity 7 times--there is a way to break through the clutter and stand out in a customer’s mind

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

—and that way is through integrated marketing—using a variety of methods to gain awareness, move the prospect to interest and demand and then to a sale. Next month we will

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

be discussing Integrated Marketing and Doing It Right. Right now, you should be auditing what you are doing, making sure you are not doing one shot marketing, which just d

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

oes not make effective use of your marketing resources.

Action Steps To Take Now:
1) Audit your current marketing efforts-identify what activities you are doing

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

2) Review what you are doing—are you doing one-shot activities or following through and consistently touching your target audience with your messages and benefits
3

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

If you are doing one-shot activities, determine what you can do to expand. If you did a one-time ad, identify places to run it again. If you did a direct mail, mail to th

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

e audience again with a new offer. Just because they don’t answer the first time, does not mean they are not interested. Remember, the average is 7 times to make an impact

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.justotherarticles.org.ua/article/28269/justotherarticles-Getting-Your-Message-Out--Why-Once-is-Not-Enough.html">Getting Your Message Out: Why Once is Not Enough</a>

BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.justotherarticles.org.ua/article/28269/justotherarticles-Getting-Your-Message-Out--Why-Once-is-Not-Enough.html]Getting Your Message Out: Why Once is Not Enough[/url]

Best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, sales and service coach, and President of Customersatisfaction.com, Dr. Gary S. Goodman, advises you to stop the buying process, immediately, if anyone puts you into a bad mood. If you don't, according to this radio and TV expert commentator, you'll regret it!

Does your business suffer from policies that just are with no understanding or questioing as to why or what purpose they might now serve? This is an interesting story about behaviours based on an actual experiment that demonstrates why we soemtimes do things without understanding why.

During the last few years, the global marketplace on the Internet has definitely evolved. You need to go beyond quantity to draw targeted traffic. Effective marketing isn't about funneling masses of indiscriminate traffic to read your website. To become successful on the Internet, you need to select a specific market and advertise only to those potential clients who might be interested in what you are presenting.

Tags

Links

Just Other Articles - Getting Your Message Out: Why Once is Not Enough

Related Articles: