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Let's face it. Companies spend a big portion of their budgets on print and online advertising. And, we all know that we still get a bunch of "junk" mail. Why? Because it works. While inventing new ways to market your business can sometimes pay

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

off, let's make sure we do not drop the ball and overlook the ground rules for direct marketing.

Small business owners can effectively use direct marketing to grow their business and build relationships with their current and prospective clients. But, a

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

Examples of combination products may in

poorly executed direct marketing program will hurt you where it counts! Here are a few tips to give you a great shot at putting together a successful direct marketing campaign.

1. Have a clear vision of what you want to achieve. Create

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

a marketing plan. Set goals for your direct marketing effort and put it in writing. Share it with key employees and have clear-cut objectives that reflect your marketing research and intuition.

2. Get "personal" with your target audien

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

ce. Sending a marketing letter to "The Manager" is the best way to get your message ignored and thrown directly into the garbage or virtual trash. Get personal by using and creating marketing databases that have detailed information on

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

Combination pro

the businesses you are trying to reach. Do not be afraid to use this information in your message. This conveys to the recipient that you have done your homework and have a value offering that relates to their business.

3. Test before rolling ou

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

your promotion. You have done your research, crafted the look and content of your sales message, and prepared your database. That is a lot of work done to get to that point but do not waste your time and efforts by sending your message out to y

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

our list without testing it first. Take a smaller nth name test from your database to see the response to your message. Get a feel for turnaround times, inquiries and general receptiveness to your offer. If you like the reaction, roll it out. If not, cha

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

nge something and test again until you get an acceptable response.

4. Include a "call to action" in your message. Putting your address or phone number is not enough. Stay away from creating open-ended offerings. Reinforce your

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

compelling sales message by telling the recipient of your marketing letter exactly what to do and when.

5. Consider a multiple step direct marketing strategy. With the investment of time and money, it is easy to understand why small bus

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

iness marketers want to make the sale on the first pass of a marketing effort. The ability to do that will depend on your product or service offerings. But, two-step direct marketing has some valuable upsides. It allows you to collect a larger pool of po

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

Following aspects would a

tential customers and build a relationship with this market. In many instances, it provides an opportunity to increase the unit sale and introduce additional products and services.

6. Be a Copycat. Do not resist what is working in your

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

arket. Understand what your competitors are doing to get business. Pay special attention to what the market leaders are doing and what promotions are repeated. Other companies have done their market research and testing and, sometimes, you can benefit fr

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

om their investment by implementing a similar strategy.

7. Follow up with a vengeance. Do not let your direct marketing effort fizzle on the back end. Just like in sales, the weakest link is usually in the follow-up.

8. Percept

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

ions are important. We all want to work with quality people. We all want to do deal with quality companies. Make sure your message does not make claims you cannot back up or seems deceptive in any way.

9. Niche out your products and ser

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

ices. Packaging a product or service for a particular group can sell more of your business offerings than if you tried to sell to a general market. If you are a specialized business already, look for sub-markets to sell to. It is more work for s

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

ure but, you may find a gold mine. Following tip #2, people respond positively to messages that they can relate to.

10. Make sure you analyze your results. You can easily tell if a direct marketing effort was successful in generating sa

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

les. But, be sure you note the qualities of both the positive and negative responses because you can miss valuable sales and marketing information if you do not. Things such as response times, geographical disbursement, respondent job titles, inquiries t

.

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

at turn into sales, and actual client feedback, can help you roll out a more effective direct marketing campaign next time around.

Okay, here is one more bonus tip for you. Make your sales message compelling. Be creative and use your instincts. Remember

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

, every sentence you put on your marketing piece should have a purpose. Leave out extraneous information and be clear with your sales message. Now, go ahead and use these tips, along with your business savvy, to form a successful direct marketing program

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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Many of us learned about management from Frederick Taylor, but times have changed and people have changed. We can no longer approach management with a Taylor mindset. We live in a participative environment that requires new ways of thinking and acting.

From time-to-time you will come face-to-face with a customer that isn't happy with your service. What you do next is critical to your customer relationship.

Clarifying and implementing corporate core values – corporate DNA – will result in a business advantage. Two questions every company should ask: 1. Why did each employee select our company and why do they stay? 2. Why did each customer select us and why do they let us continue to serve them?

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