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Database marketing sounds like something Wal-Mart or Amazon.com is fantastic at. And they are. But so are many small businesses down the street. My local coffee shop has one of the best

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

database marketing systems in the world. Their order processing machines remember my favorite cup of joe and serve it up to me hot, on sight, without my even asking.

Of course, their

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

Examples of combination products may in

rder processing machines are bipedal, with organic computers known as brains and eyes in lieu of optical scanners. Database marketing essentially seeks to emulate what the baristas at 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.

e Coffee House do naturally.

So, how can you know if your company is a good candidate for database marketing? There are three essential questions to ask:

1. Do you have best custom

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

rs? Do you possess a group of customers that clearly drive more profits--not gross sales, remember, but profits—to your bottom line?

2. Can you identify those customers?

3.

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

Combination pro

Can you reach those customers? Can you communicate with them, individually, and treat them special?

It is extremely valuable to you, then, to answer the above three questions…a

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

ter you answer this one:

Are you already a successful database marketer?

Many sole proprietors already are. So are thousands of sales reps. They are familiar with their custome

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

s, they understand their preferences. If they have under a hundred customers, maybe even fewer than 500, they know their names and their likes and dislikes and know which ones contribut

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

the most to their pocketbook.

But once a business achieves a certain size it becomes impossible for any one person to know all the customers. This is where the aid of the computer com

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

es in. But, we don’t want to discuss tactics in this article. Rather, let’s simply focus on whether or not your company is a candidate for a database marketing program. And that means w

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

need to devise some questions that help us answer each of 1, 2 and 3 above.

Payment. Can you capture their individual financial contribution? Does everybody pay with cash or cr

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

Following aspects would a

dit card, and then scoot out the door? Or do you invoice your customers?

Communication. Do you know their name and address? Can you acquire their name and address? How about ema

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

l address? Can you acquire it?

Acquisition Method. Do you know how they heard about your company in the first place? Can you track and quantify how much it cost your to acquire

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

that customer?

Decision Maker. Does the person who actually buys from you control the purchasing decision? If you sell to consumers, the answer is probably yes; but if you sell

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

o businesses it can get a bit more complex. In some industries even finding let alone reaching the true decision maker can be tough but--that’s the person you need to market to for you

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

o be effective.

OK, the above are entry-level questions to ask when evaluating if your small business is a candidate for a database marketing program. Again, the key advantage the appl

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

cation of a database marketing program affords as part of a small business marketing program is the ability to target best customers. You find those customers that send the most to your

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

bottom line, and spend more of your advertising dollar on them.

If you can’t identify and communicate with a best customer segment, then it is probably best to look at a mass marketin

.

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

program, where you essentially spend the same marketing promotional dollars on each prospect.

If you can identify these best customers, then you are ready to learn more about specific

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

database marketing techniques.

Remember: Brand (who you are) + Package (your Face to the Customer) + People (customers and employees) = Marketing Success.

© 2006 Marketing Hawk

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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Starting a business is a stressful endeavor. There is so much to consider regarding basic operations and so many forms to fill out and papers to file. It is truly a wonder that businesses are able to get off the ground at all. If you are a new business owner, you know that insurance of all types is very much part of the equation in the development and opening of your business.

What will the advertising executives think of next? Many small businesses will try new forms of advertising because the Yellow Pages doesn't work. In fact one of the most interesting new ways to advertise is to buy a space above urinals and it was proven that that works five times better than yellow page ads.

Ten years of competitive hell! That was the title on the seminar brochure I received recently. As I survey some of the forces flowing through our economy, and witness the way in which they effect my clients, I have to agree. The Information Age is certainly one of the most turbulent times business people have ever seen.

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