Advice You - Business

Small business owners are always watching for new marketing and advertising ideas. That’s just the nature of small businesses. We watch the “junk mail” for interesting techniques, and we definitely pay attention to the internet. Those of us who have other business-owner friends ask questions about what is workin

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

g and what is not. We toss around a lot of ideas and try many different techniques before we figure out exactly what works for us… and inevitably something changes.

There is one thing that always holds true for small businesses, and that is change. Therefore, my advice is to pay attention to the latest marketing

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

Examples of combination products may in

trends – but to avoid them at all costs whenever possible!

Why? Well, quite simply I have found through experience that the “latest trend” marketing techniques tend to over-promise and under-deliver. Anytime I receive an offer from a marketing firm that promises me a “low fee” for “high ROI” I turn tail and run.

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

The entire situation is a learning experience, and let me tell you that marketing copywriters are VERY skilled at using the psychological triggers that make you WANT to buy the services as fast as possible.

But, I warn you not to fall prey to these techniques. Remember that the beast you are dealing with is a MARK

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

TING FIRM. Their sole purpose is to GET PEOPLE TO BUY. Yes, they even use their techniques to build a customer base.

The first few times that you bypass a “hot” new marketing trend, or the “only way” to turn visitors into customers… it’s painful! I’ll admit that. However, sit back and ask yourself the followin

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

Combination pro

question the next time you find something hard to pass up:

Am I willing to WASTE all of the money, time and effort that have already been invested in my marketing campaigns in order to risk changing to a new and most-likely unproven technique? Personally, I generally answer with a quick, there’s no possible w

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

y! And I move on.

This is not to say that changing the way you sell your business should be avoided! I have put together some tips for assessing whether it’s time to try a different “proven” marketing technique.

If the Wheel Spins, Why Reinvent? When your current marketing practices are steadily bri

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

ging you new clients or site visitors, and you are experiencing an acceptable conversion rate… You would be crazy to swap a known technique for something else just to shake things up. Consider adding to your current marketing, but if what you are doing is getting you measurable results, I say… LEAVE IT ALONE!
nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically
>

If you MUST try something new, pick a small percentage of your target audience and watch the results very closely. You may be surprised in a good or bad way – or you may find that the new technique really doesn’t make a difference either way.

Success – And Failure – Are Measurable. Therefore, you shou
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
d be measuring the results of your marketing efforts. How do you do this? Well, there’s one way that is a bit archaic… but it’s free and simple to use. Send an email, or a letter, and then watch to see how many new visitors you get over the next two weeks.

Or, offer a discount coupon. Or, there’s another techni
ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi
ue that is a bit more involved… sort of. If you are able to maintain and update your own website, one of the ways that you can determine if your marketing efforts are driving in traffic is to make a page on your site that is a duplicate of your index.html page. You’re your advertisement recipients to that URL.
ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a
Then watch the stats on your server to see if people are indeed responding as you had intended. To balance these numbers, you can also measure the number of hits on your standard front page. Compare the two, and see if your marketing efforts seem to be making a difference.

YOU NEED MEASUREMENTS – OR THERE IS
dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod
O SENSE IN ADVERTISING AT ALL!
Patience… the key to trying something new If you have decided to change your marketing plan, and to incorporate something new, keep in mind that Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither are successful marketing campaigns. Sustainability is important, and that mea
cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin
s it may take a while for long-term effectiveness to appear as a result of your new techniques.

In general, almost any marketing technique will boost your sales and client-base…eventually. The results may not be immediately visible however.

Changing a marketing plan is one of the most stressful parts of operatin
tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen
a small business, however when you are patient the benefits will eventually materialize.

Marketing Techniques that Promise you the World… Yes, as your mother used to say… if it sounds to good to be true, it most likely IS too good to be true. Small business owners often fall prey to marketing fir
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
s that promise AMAZING results – and can prove them through testimonials.

Um, can I tell you a secret? As a freelance writer I have been asked on more than one occasion to write FAKE testimonials. I refuse, because I have been mislead in the past as a result of similar techniques and honestly I cannot write a te
ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust
timonial for a service that does not give me results. NOW, if you try a new technique or software product and it DOES work for you – by ALL means write a testimonial. But, be honest!

Anything worth having is worth working for. Another of my mother’s adages. Guess what? She was RIGHT! If you want to succes
y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products
fully market your business, you are going to have to DO something!

Add New Techniques to your Current Marketing Plan. This is something that many small business owners do not realize. You can add techniques to your marketing plan, as you might remember from above, without scrapping your current
.

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
roven techniques.

Don’t STOP doing what works in order to try something new! You can’t afford to risk your customer loyalty!

Conclusion When you are running a small business, marketing is often the key to staying afloat. Remember that you need to be wary of marketing scams which promise you the world. I
elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip
you have a marketing plan that works, there really is no reason to modify it. However, if you decide to give some new techniques a shot, do it with care and ALWAYS keep track of the results. A good marketing campaign will bring you at LEAST 3% return on the investment you have made. There’s a good place to start

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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