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This is a pretty tough global economy and it is critical for a company to leverage every bit of their marketing resources. So, if this is the case, why are so many companies shooting themselves in the proverbial foot by

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

breaking some of the most fundamental rules of marketing? It’s a very simple question with complex answers – here are some of the pitfalls to avoid:

1. Believing a second rate web site communicates integrity: So many

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

Examples of combination products may in

eb sites are just plain funky looking (graphics, text, menus, etc.) - nice professional term, but it’s descriptive of some of the dreck that passes for web site design. A company should not forget that perception is rea

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

ity on the web and people aren’t going to do business with a company that can’t field a decent web site – end of story!

2. Deploying a marketing strategy that’s all over the map: Is Yahoo a Search Engine, a Portal or a

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

Hollywood Media company? They are the classic 3D hologram advertisement for a company that can’t figure out what it wants to be when it grows up. A company must pick a marketing strategy and then stay the course – chang

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

Combination pro

ng direction every time the wind shifts is not a good business strategy and creates more motion than action.

3. Forgetting real brand development: Branding became the “.com” rallying cry for every newby wet behind the

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

ars with an Internet dream to become a billionaire by selling dog food on the web (I’ll leave the sock puppet out of this) – we all know this didn’t work. But that does not mean a company should ignore brand development

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

– it’s important to remember that a good brand is built one marketing process at a time; everything that a company publishes, develops or communicate is part of the brand building process, which in turn defines the comp

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

ny’s market position.

4. Ignoring distribution channels by selling direct via an ecommerce web site: A company should not build and launch an ecommerce site and start selling direct to customers and forget about a dist

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

ibution channel. It’s imperative to give the customer the choice to buy direct from your company or locate a distribution channel partner via a look up capability on the site. And, if you really want to win the hearts a

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

d mind of a channel never sell below retail (SRP) – and afford the channel the opportunity to discount your product so they can compete effectively with you.

5. Making competitive analysis a low priority: Too many comp

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

Following aspects would a

anies forget about their competitors after the business plan has been written. They don’t take the time to review them on a periodic basis and try and figure out how to deliver goods and services differently, which in t

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

rn drives competitive advantage and a long-term sustainable business model.

6. Poorly thought out Investor Relations press release: Do companies actually think investors are just plain stupid and don’t really read an I

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

(Investor Relations) directed Press Release carefully? Investors are typically very bottom line oriented – they want to know about revenue growth and real strategic partnership developments that help the company grow a

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

d not much else. Just throwing fluff out in the market and hoping this will drive investors to invest is just plain shortsighted stupidity.

7. Thinking any/all consultants know your business better than you: Reporters

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

nd consultants (including this one) have driven just as many companies into the ground with bad advice as much as they have helped them – companies must realize a consultant is typically not down in the trenches and the

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

can make some bad calls – it’s important to filter their advice.

8. Letting the inmates run the asylum – customers should help a company refine its product marketing strategy by working as partners. If engineering tel

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

s marketing “the customer doesn’t really know what they want but we do” the red lights should start flashing danger - the company may be in serious peril and at the very least need new focus and direction for product ma

.

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

keting.

Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of marketing experience. He is the co-founder of a Northern California and Brussels Belgium based, privately held, Marketing Services and Software Company, Intelective Communicatio

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

s, Inc., http://www.intelective.com. Intelective focuses exclusively on providing services to small-to-medium-sized companies that need strategic and tactical marketing services. He can be reached at Lee@intelective.com

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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The absence of an agreed-upon definition for e-commerce creates a challenge when comparing e-commerce modalities in different countries. For some people, e-commerce is limited to credit-card transactions that take place over the Internet. For others, e-commerce means using any electronic device to purchase goods or services. The entire e-commerce process is complex and requires meticulous and well-informed planning to succeed.

We see lots of companies that skip reference checking at the last stage of their recruiting process, before they hire sales candidates. As a result, they make mis-hires. We also have witnessed companies that realize their reference checking is inadequate, because they didn’t get to the right types of references as they made their final hiring decision.

Used book sales are quickly becoming one of the most popular ways for nonprofits to raise money for their organization. Friends of the Library groups have been doing this for some time, but now groups such as Planned Parenthood and the American Association of University Women hold regular, successful book sales. Of course, behind every successful book sale is a solid marketing campaign.

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