Advice You - Business

I often speak with business owners who wonder how much time they should be spending marketing their business. Do you know how much is enough?

In

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

a recent interview with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Richard Branson explained how he managed his time. The owner and f

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

Examples of combination products may in

ounder of the The Virgin Group - an empire of 350 companies that includes Virgin Atlantic airlines as well as ventures in telecommunications, tra

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

ns, cosmetics, credit cards and several other industries - said that he spends about a third of his time on trouble shooting, another third on ne

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

w projects, both charitable and business, and the last third on promoting and talking about the businesses he has set up.

Let me repeat what Ric

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

Combination pro

ard said:

1/3 on trouble shooting

1/3 on new projects

1/3 on promoting and talking about the business (i.e. marketing - this is a key point)

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

He also makes time for family and vacation.

Other research suggests that successful consultants and independent professionals spend up to 30% of

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

their time in marketing related activities.

What does that mean for you?

Marketing takes time… and you must make time for marketing.

This is

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

robably the most critical concept for a service provider to understand. Time spent on effective marketing ensures future revenues. Think of it as

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

working “on” the business, rather than “in” the business.

If you have read my special report “6 Marketing Myths That Can Ruin Your Service Busi

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

ess” you will know why you cannot always get clients immediately when you want them. Advertising is not effective for every service business. And

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

Following aspects would a

the more intangible your service is, the more time it takes for potential clients to understand what you do and to trust you.

So you must plan

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

ahead. As a starting point try planning to spend around 20% of your time on promoting your business. This means that out of every week you shoul

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

be spending one day on marketing stuff.

OK – right now I know many of you will be saying to yourself – “Stuart doesn’t know what he’s saying. O

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

ne whole day! Every week! What would I do with all that time?”

Think about this. Your marketing “stuff” could be:

Meeting new people/contacts/n

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

tworking.

Writing information sheets, articles or newsletters.

Dealing with media contacts or event organisers.

Speaking with potential referr

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

ers and alliance partners.

Delivering presentations/seminars to industry groups and prospects.

Preparing material for new services or products

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

you are offering.

Actively selling – meeting with prospects.

Fine tuning your web site (of course you have one, don’t you).

Working with your

.

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

arketing consultant.

Spending one day per week is easy to do. It’s only 1.5-2 hours per day. That goes pretty quickly when you’re busy with the

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

activities listed above.

Even if you start with only 1 hour per day – or half a day per week – you’ll be sowing the seeds of your future success

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

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When you love ice cream and want to make it your business, you can think about starting your own ice cream parlor.

The greatest challenge in a trade show is to convey your message forcefully and effectively in the three seconds that customer spends walking by your trade show booth. It is important that your booth looks attractive and grabs the attention of customers by clearly showing the identity of your company and its products. The right booth can create a lasting first impression.

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