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For many business owners, Public Relations (PR) efforts are a black hole, an unknown that makes them hesitant to invest time and money. Handled correctly and approached with realistic expectations,

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

PR can be one of the most cost-effective tools in your marketing toolbox.

Here are five things every business owner should know about PR:

Fact #1: PR offers you several things that you can’t

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

Examples of combination products may in

buy with a paid ad. Articles are considered to be more credible than advertisements, so whenever you or your business is featured in an article, the reader considers the information more credible t

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

han whatever you say in an ad (where you are obviously trying to sell something). Articles—even short ones—usually say more about your business than will fit in all but the largest ads. Articles al

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

so have the benefit of being what someone else (the reporter) says about you, and hence are seen as more credible than what you say about yourself.

Fact #2: There are several important differ

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

Combination pro

ences between advertising and PR. When you pay for an ad, you pay to have it run in a specific issue or at a specific time. A press release may generate an article six months after the release is s

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

ent out. Neither you—nor the PR professional—can control the timing. With an ad you have written and paid for, you control exactly what the ad says. While you can write a press release yourself, t

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

he article that actually runs is likely to be edited or changed by the reporter.

Fact #3: Short of owning the newspaper or the magazine, no PR practitioner can guarantee an article will get p

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

laced. Your publicist can put the information in its most attractive form in front of the best-positioned editors at the right magazines, and through personal follow up, can highlight the reasons th

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

ey should be interested, but no one can guarantee placement unless they own the magazine.

Fact #4: One-shot PR doesn’t work. Unless you are announcing a special event for the calendar page,

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

releases don’t get 100% pickup (and even with a special event, 100% placement is rare). There are many reasons for this, even when the release is properly written and sent to the right person. They

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

Following aspects would a

include:

The editor has already planned the next several months (or full year) of articles and doesn’t have room.

It reminds them of something else they’ve run recently.

The

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

y like the general idea, but this particular release doesn’t strike their fancy.

They file it with future ideas, then leave the company, and the new editor pitches the old file and starts o

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

ver.

There are too many possible article ideas and not enough space.

Your best odds of getting stories placed is to send out a new release every month—or as often as you can come up w

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

ith something newsworthy—and stay on the editors’ radar.

Fact #5: Value is created even without immediate placement. Your publicist has researched the best newspapers/magazines for your ta

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

rget audience, identified the editor most likely to be interested in your story, written the initial release, emailed it to the editor/reporter, and followed up by phone or email. After that round o

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

f distribution and follow-up, editors will be aware of your company, and the next time they get something about you, they will be more receptive and already know who you are.

The customer’s timing t

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

o buy is not always your timing to sell. That holds true for editors as well as product buyers. Successful marketing and PR means keeping a consistent presence so that when the editor is ready to te

.

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

ll a story about your topic, he thinks of you. The key to success is being in front of the editor often enough that you are the subject of choice when an article about your specialty fits with their

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

editorial need.

The value of one positive article can recoup the effort put into the PR process, and can create much more business than a single ad. The biggest secret to successful PR is patience

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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Most people, when they hear the word branding, think logos - but in fact, branding is really much more than that. A brand involves blending the image, purpose, and focus of your business, with your c...

Strategic planning is a management tool. It is used to help an organization clarify its future direction – to focus its energy, and to help members of the organization work toward the same goals. The planning process adjusts the organization's direction in response to a changing environment. Strategic planning is a disciplined effort to support fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does and why it does it, with a focus on where it wants to go and how it is going to get there. Fundamental decisions, actions and choices must be made in order to develop a plan that provides a Roadmap on “How to get there from Here.”.” The plan is ultimately no more, and no less, than a set of decisions about what to do, why to do it, and when and how to do it.

Quality can be defined as the acceptable standard of excellence determined by the receiver. In every industry, competitors find themselves fighting price wars or positioning themselves as the low-cost provider only to find out that in many instances, quality is as important to customers (if not more so) than the cost they pay. You can’t give lip service to quality. Here are 5 quality focal points that you should consider.

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Advice You - PR Secrets to Unlock Your Promotional Potential

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