Advice You - Business

Marketing is essentially project management. A marketing plan consists of several projects designed to promote your small business using various methods. There are five basic steps to follow when

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

putting together your marketing plan that will ensure you get the most marketing bang for your buck.

Step One: Marketing Goals
The first step is to write down the marketing goals yo

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

Examples of combination products may in

have for your small business. Whether it be increasing sales by 10%, releasing a new product, or improving online sales, you should write down all of your goals.

Once you've got everything writ

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

en downs, go over each goal and make sure it is realistic (do you have the staff to service 10 new clients?), if not, revise.

Step Two: Set Your Marketing Budget
Before you can plan

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

ow to achieve your goals, you've got to know who much you can invest in the methods you'll use. Be realistic about your budget and don't spend more than you'll make back; there are plenty of low

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

Combination pro

ost ways to market. But, DO invest in marketing, it will pay-off. If you're not willing to spend money on your small business' success, you devalue your products or services. Plus, if customers f

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

rget about you, they don't buy from you.

Step Three: Evaluate Marketing Methods
There are many ways to market your small business. In his book, The Marketing Toolkit for Growing

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

usiness, Jay Lipe shares a list of what he calls marketing "vehicles." His list includes (Taken from The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses, by Jay Lipe, 2002):

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

spaper Ads

Magazine Ads

Yellow Pages

Television Ads

Cable TV Ads

Radio Advertising

Direct Mail

Billboards

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

Telemarketing

Internet

Publicity

Trade Shows

Event Marketing

Direct Sales

I'd also like to add a few m

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

re methods or "vehicles:"

networking events

public speaking

article marketing

press releases

e-mail

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

Following aspects would a
i>
donating

Another great resource for inexpensive marketing methods is Making Dollars Out of Cents: 101 Tips for the Frugal Marketer," by Heather Jacobson. This eboo

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

offers just what it says, 101 great tips that are inexpensive yet, effective.

Based on your goals and budget, choose the methods that will work best to help your small business achieve the desi

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

ed outcome. Some of the methods will support multiple goals, others will revolve around one goal. Just choose the methods that best suit your small business.

Step Four: Time-line Out Each Pro

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

ect
Once you've chosen the marketing methods you'll use to achieve your goals. It's time to put them in the calendar. Each goal should have a deadline for achievement and each method sho

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

ld have a target completion date. Work backward from these dates, planning out when each part of the goal/marketing method needs to be done to move to the next step of the process, (For example,

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

f the method is a postcard mailing, the post card needs to be designed by approx. 2 weeks before it is mailed, printed by one week before the mail date and labels need to be pulled the day before

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

etc...).

As you calendar out each item, be conscious of how busy you'll be and balance out your daily/weekly to-do's and the frequency your methods will 'hit' your customers/audience. Balance o

.

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

t each communication to ensure there's no overload.

Step Five: Execute!
Once you've got your plan and timeline, it's time to get started. Outsource the work you can't or don't want t

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

do, but make sure things keep on track. Review everything for consistency of message and feel—remember, every time you communicate you are reinforcing your small business 'brand' with the public

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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