Useful Advices - Business

Pretty powerful combination you might think. What would Brian Boru have done faced with 10th century marauders wielding 20^th century weapons? He would not have had a hope! That is what dynamic imagery does for advertising and marketing. It provides an unstoppable combination that is gua

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

ranteed to get results. So what's missing?

To be honest, without ammunition, the Vikings actually would not have had a hope. For a start, Brian and his gang of Celts, would not have known what the machine guns were, and secondly, the Vikings would not have had any other weapons to combat the fu

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

Examples of combination products may in

ry of the zealous Celts.

It is vital that you have ammunition for your machine guns! Your Value Proposition, expressed in terms that your customer understands, is what gives your marketing the firepower required to get results. Without the right message, no-one will understand w

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

at you really stand for!

Creating your Value Proposition

So how do you go about creating your unique value proposition? First it is vital that you are disciplined, and you have to hand the following material.

A list of all customers

For each customer you need to identi

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

What they bought

A testimonial and/or value statement from those customers

Where they are geographically based

The industry they are in

Their size and turnover

A list of your competitors and information on their

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

Combination pro

products.

An industry specific magazine that your best customers would read

A print-out of the Mission statement of your best 5 customers

We run ? day and full day workshops on this, using tried and tested questions to get you really thinking about what your offe

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

ings provide. However you can try do this yourself, if you budget is limited.

Which ever category you fall in, I suggest, that to avoid firing blanks with your marketing budget, you undertake this exercise, and start getting the results you deserve.

Step 1 - Know your customers

To really be able to

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

market successfully, and by successfully, I mean getting qualified leads that turn into sales, you must relate to your prospects. If you already have customers, then they must like what you are offering. But what was it about your offering that made them buy?

Ask them!

You need to

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

be able to identify their

Needs – what need in their business or life are you fulfilling?

Wants – What do they really want, because a lot of purchases are based on wants not needs – I mean who NEEDS a Porsche?

Pains
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
g> – what pain do they currently have that ownership of your product will ease or cure?

Because when you know those, then you know WHY they bought, and subsequently, it will be easier to ensure you have more customers.

Step 2 - Know your product

Successful business people all sh

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

are a common trait; they are passionate about their offerings and they are persistent in ensuring it successful. So you know your product inside out. Agreed, you may not see it precisely as your customer sees it, but you do know it!

So you must identify the top ten benefits of your product. Use the c

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

Following aspects would a

hecklist below as a prompter.

Service

Price

Uniqueness

Revenue generation

Cost reduction

Compliance with regulations

Fulfilling a desire

Better way of doing things

Proximity to customers

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

Now map each of these benefits to your customer's needs, wants and pains.

Step 3 - Know your target market

So you know what your customers want and what you can give them. But who are your customers? There are many ways of finding out your target market, i

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

ndeed books have been written on it. The best way is to use data that is available to you, such as;

Existing customer Data

Market research you may have conducted or bought

Who Influences, decides on and pays for your product. You need to target your mes

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

sage specifically to the right people. And different people within the decision process will want different things!

Finally, you need to determine on how to extend your target market, from your existing customer base, using factors such as;

Location

Industry

Pro

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

ucts

Customer Profile

Step 4 - Know your competitors

There is an old saying that goes – “keeps your friends close and your enemy closer” It is imperative that you know precisely what your competitors are offering. You need to know what they offer, at what price, to who

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

m and where. You also should understand what it is about your competitors that your prospects like, and what they dislike.

Once you understand this, then you need to clearly differentiate, your top customer aligned benefits, from your competitor's benefits.

Step 5 - Create a value statement for your

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

top 3 benefits including;

This can be the most difficult step, since many people find it difficult to put their thoughts into words. With a clearly defined Customer Value Proposition Statement, your prospects will be able to clearly identify the benefits, in their terms, to enable them to make a buy

.

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

ng decision.

If you feel you can do this, you should be sure to include the following 4 items in the Value Statement for each of your offerings and niches.

Time to benefit

Value of benefit

Benefit

Target Audience

Conclusion

Once

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

you have your Value Proposition, clearly defined in a couple of concise statements, you can then start looking at your marketing plan and Budget. Quite simply, in my opinion, spending any money on marketing, without the correct message, is like attacking the high king of Ireland without viable weapons

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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Useful Advices - Mars And Venus - Part IV - What Makes Sense To Buyers?

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