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There are numerous paths to promoting your products or services. Many entrepreneurs believe that advertising is the best way; however, it can be the most expensive and least effective method.

People are drowning in a flood of advert

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

ising that will cost companies $300 billion or about $1,000 per American in 2007. Advertising experts estimate that the typical American is exposed to approximately 10,000 commercial messages a week through radio, television, direct

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

Examples of combination products may in

ail, telemarketing, newspapers, magazines, billboards, and the Internet.

Consumers are finding many ways to escape from advertisers. The vast majority of homes are equipped with DVD or VCR recorders allowing people to watch their fa

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

orite movies with no commercial interruptions. When they turn on their televisions, millions are tuning into HBO and Showtime where they can watch quality programming with no advertising.

Further complicating the life of marketers,

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

onsumers are quickly adopting digital video recorders like TiVo and ReplayTV that allow them to record programs and watch them back while fast forwarding through commercials. Additionally, XM and Sirius, satellite radio providers wit

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

Combination pro

commercial free programming, are quickly grabbing market share from commercial radio stations signing up 2.6 million paid subscribers in less than three years of existence.

Consumers are hungry for information but realize that most

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

commercials are not credible. When was the last time you purchased a product because of an advertised benefit? In contrast, can you recall picking a movie, choosing a restaurant, or buying a product because you read a favorable revi

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

w, saw it featured on a television program, or a friend made a recommendation? Your answers to these questions give you a compelling reason to use buzz marketing techniques to promote your business.

Marketers have found that buzz tr

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

vels through invisible networks that share some important characteristics. It’s more than just Person A speaks with Person B who speaks with Person C. Rather, buzz works in a hub and spoke format. Person A may speak with five or six

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

eople. However, Person A’s words really only get rapidly diffused when he or she speaks to a key influencer who shares the message with other key influencers. With multiple key influencers now sharing Person A’s message, buzz kicks i

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

to high gear and the message spreads like wild fire.

In recent years, diverse businesses have learned the value of buzz and launched a variety of interesting marketing campaigns. Italian motor scooter manufacturer Vespa hired attrac

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

Following aspects would a

tive young people to ride their motor scooters around and park in high-visibility locations like cafes and outdoor walking promenades.

When people started to talk with these Vespa riders, the conversation would invariably turn to sc

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

oters. The riders would then happily pull out a pad and scribble down an address and phone number--not theirs, but that of the local “boutique” where you could buy your own Vespa, just as (they would confide) the actress Sandra Bullo

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

k did.

Word-of-mouth is seen as the biggest element that drives buzz. Hebrew National hired “mom squads” to host barbecues in their backyards and extol the virtues of kosher hot dogs to friends and neighbors. Hasbro Games “deputized

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

hundreds of elementary school kids as secret agents to share the virtues of their Pox electronic games with friends.

Companies usually try to make their campaigns seem spontaneous, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Buzz

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

ampaigns are planned down to the smallest details and the results are carefully monitored.

Marketers have been carefully studying how many downstream consumers they need to influence before buzz is born. In 2000, the VF Corporation

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

contacted 200,000 carefully selected Web surfers via email with a link to a faux homemade video. Within four months, 436,000 visitors made their way from the video page to the Lee’s website that offered incentives to come into a stor

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

to try out the new jeans. That summer, marketers credited the buzz campaign with a 20% increase in the sale of Lee jeans.

Many successful brands were built with buzz and are now sustained with advertising. Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Newm

.

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

n’s Own, Jet Blue, Viagra, Red Bull, and Krispy Kreme started with buzz and little advertising. Once established, they switched to advertising to maintain their awareness levels with consumers.

Your company’s ability to grow and pro

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

per will depend upon your ability to embrace a whole a new way of communicating. Once your customers start buzzing about your business to friends and associates, you may wonder why you waited so long to respond to the buzz about buzz

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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You put a lot of thought into naming your children, why wouldn't you spend a considerable amount of time naming your business too? Your business name is the first impression of your business and the products and services you offer. It's important to name it wisely.

Although employees may not fit the strictest definition of a core competency, it is a fact that employees are the ones responsible for creating many of the core competencies that create competitive advantage for the company. It is an indisputable fact that failure to recognize the importance of employee contributions will lead to lower quartile performance and even failure regardless of your business strategy. Core competence is professed to be the source of sustainable competitive advantage.

GOOD SUPPLIERS DON’T ASSUME – THEY ASK THEIR CUSTOMERS QUESTIONS. FOUR DIFFERENT WAYS OF GETTING FEEDBACK HAVE BEEN ANALYSED FOR COST, EFFECTIVENESS AND ACTIONABILITY.

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