Digg It - Business

I admit that for some time I was resistant to doing any marketing via old fashioned snail mail. After all, email is FREE (at least for the time being). Why pay to print and mail anything at all? I mean, I'm the Ezine Queen - not the direct mail queen! And I was already making hundreds of

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

thousands of dollars a year using the Internet.

Well, I can tell you I've changed my tune based on several mailings I've done over the past year. A test of sending out few simple postcards and one sales letter mailing helped me exponentially increase my response to two of my programs o

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

Examples of combination products may in

ver the last several months. I'm now SOLD!

If you aren't collecting any physical addresses right now from your clients, customers, and ezine subscribers, please get started now. Because not only will offline marketing supplement your online efforts immensely, but email

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

eliverability gets trickier and trickier to maintain.

Email can (and will) change in the future. How, I can't tell you. But the good old U.S. Postal Service will be around for a long, long time just the way it is. (And if YOU want your business to be around a long, long time, you'd bett

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

er start getting those addresses now!)

Best of all, direct mail marketing will supplement your online efforts for even better results. It's a no-brainer, folks. Time to get with it.

So, if you're ready to venture into direct mail, here are a few dos and don'ts I'd like to share with yo

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

Combination pro

before you get started...

1. DON'T blow your whole budget on one mailing!

Imagine Nissan coming out with a new car and running ONE single television ad spot, never to be repeated. Ludicrous, yes? But many small business owners somehow think one mailing will do the tri

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

ck. The biggest mistake most new marketers make when venturing into direct mail is doing ONE mailing, and judging the response solely from that. You should plan a campaign that involves at least three steps, and five to seven for best results. (If you want to keep it super simple, you ca

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

n just mail the same darn thing repeatedly!)

2. DON'T do an expensive mailing your first-time out, even if you can afford it.

Why? I learned this the hard way when I did an exciting, pricey mailing without first realizing how many undeliverable addresses there were on

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

y list. Remember that some people mistakenly mistype their addresses into your system, and people often move, sometimes with no forwarding address. I recommend doing an inexpensive mailing such as a postcard first time around in order to help weed out the undeliverables on your list! (Re

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

member to include your return address so you'll get these back.)

3. DON'T overlook how important your copy is in order to get attention and get response.

The great thing about mailing a postcard is the recipient reads what you have to say right then and there. If you s

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

nd something in an envelope, it has to get opened first. That's why master marketers recommend printing a headline or teaser on the outside of any mailing that's done in an envelope. Example: "Look inside to learn 5 ways you can increase your sales by next week!" I say just do a postcard

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

Following aspects would a

to keep it simple (and less expensive than doing an envelope mailing).

4. DO keep your graphics simple and attention-getting.

Don't go crazy paying some designer thousands of dollars to create a mailing for you, when you can keep things simple and get just as good - i

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

f not better - results. I used to pay an artist beaucoup bucks on a regular basis to make everything I sent out looked picture perfect. Once I stopped that and started focusing more on the message, I started making (and keeping)a LOT more money. Remember it's WORDS that sell, and the job

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

of graphics is to get attention and support your message.

5. DO give them a reason to take action NOW (and not wait until later).

Include a deadline or expiration date on your offer, even if it's for something free, or emphasize there are a limited amount of spots/prod

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

ucts left. Of course this will all depend on what you're offering, but you get the idea! You don't want to risk the recipient putting your postcard or letter in the "get to later" pile (which never gets touched).

6. DO track your mailings carefully so you can judge your return-o

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

-investment.

If you are driving people to a website to opt-in or buy something, make sure you give them a separate and simple URL (web address) that is ONLY for the purpose of this mailing. You don't have to create a new website or anything, just make sure you can track it. For

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

example, I bought BlueprintWorkshopPostcard.com and then had that redirect to a tracking link I set up using the easy ad tracker program in my shopping cart system. This way I could tell exactly how many people typed

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

in that URL, AND also how many people also actually registered for the workshop from the postcard! (VERY valuable information.)

7. DO work with a vendor who can make this all EASY for you.

I tried several different companies this past year, and now I only work with an

.

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

recommend TWO. For full-color postcard design, printing, and mailing, I use Modern Postcard. (They did all my postcards for the Online Success Blueprint Workshop, including design, printing, and mailing, with quick tu

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

rnaround too!) For mailings with goodies (called "premiums") inside them and more creative stuff, I use my friend Mitch Carson at Impact Products. He's the consultant I pull in when I truly want to make a BIG impact in the mail

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.diggit.org.ua/article/30775/diggit-Its-Probably-Time-for-Your-Marketing-to-Go-OFFLINE--How-to-Get-Started-With-Direct-Mail.html">It's Probably Time for Your Marketing to Go OFFLINE! How to Get Started With Direct Mail</a>

BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.diggit.org.ua/article/30775/diggit-Its-Probably-Time-for-Your-Marketing-to-Go-OFFLINE--How-to-Get-Started-With-Direct-Mail.html]It's Probably Time for Your Marketing to Go OFFLINE! How to Get Started With Direct Mail[/url]

The Federal Trade Commission recently put forth a report to the franchse industry for comments to use in an upcoming rule-making event, which is sure to modify the current franchise rule. Many have been critical of additional rules in the industry, but none more critical than myself.

Branding and the celebrity endorser and how it can make or break your business. Always keep in mind that this is all about business so don't get awed by the celebrity. You are the boss at all times and that should be made clear from the first contact with the celebrity. Branding should be fun and profitable.

Passing a job interview is the primary requirement in order to get the job. Job interviews provide the applicant the opportunities to prove himself worthy for the job. Here, he can either sell himself or impress his potential employer.

Tags

Links

Digg It - It's Probably Time for Your Marketing to Go OFFLINE! How to Get Started With Direct Mail

Related Articles: