Main Subject - Business

If you’ve studied marketing at all, chances are you’ve run across the phrase Unique Selling Proposition, or USP. That’s because having a strong USP is critical to marketing your business effectively. You see, your U

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

SP is what sets you apart from the competition. It’s the reason why—all other things being equal—someone would choose to do business with you instead of the guy down the street. It is also the reason someone should

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

Examples of combination products may in

uy your product or service over anyone else’s.

If you can’t tell your prospects why what you offer is different—or better—than the competition, they have no reason to buy from you other than price. And price is not a

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

good differentiating factor. Because, thanks to the Internet, there is almost always someone out there who is cheaper than you.

Unfortunately, a lot of entrepreneurs don’t understand what makes a USP effective. So th

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

ey end up focusing on a “USP” that isn’t really unique at all. Let me give you an example… I have a client who’s a chiropractor. With six other chiropractic clinics within a two-mile radius, he really needs someth

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

Combination pro

ng to differentiate him from the doctor literally down the street. So I scheduled a brainstorming meeting with my client and his staff to talk about what they provide that might be both different, and valuable, to h

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

s target market.

Throughout the meeting, everyone kept throwing out features like:

* Convenient hours
* In-house X-Ray machine
* Relaxed, kid-friendly atmosphere
* Treatments for infants through eld

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

erly
* Payment plans
* Emergencies seen same-day
* The staff has a pleasant, upbeat energy
* The doctor has 12 years of experience
* On-site massage therapist
* They use special exe

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

cises to strengthen and loosen your spine before adjustments

Of course, my client was positive that convenience and experience were what made him unique and worth choosing over his competition. And at first glance, i

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

seems like could be true. Except for one problem… Nothing on the list was any different from what the other chiropractors were already doing and marketing. He was simply not going to stand out from the competition.

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

How do I know? Because I spent an hour doing a very simple competitive analysis. I called all the other clinics in the area with a short list of questions, and took a quick look at their Websites and Yellow Pages a

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

Following aspects would a

ds. Then I compiled all the information into a basic spreadsheet.

The result?

At a glance I could tell that every single thing my client was so sure made him different, didn’t. In fact, every chiropractor I talked t

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

offered, and advertised, the exact same services and conveniences. What would have happened if I hadn't taken the time to survey of the competition? We would have wasted a ton of time and money on marketing that was

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

not going to make his practice stand out from the crowd. The bottom line is; a competitive analysis is one of the most valuable tools you can use to come up with a USP that drives effective marketing. After all, you

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

can’t be sure what you offer is unique unless you know what everyone else is offering. You can use this technique to discover all kinds of information that can have a tremendous impact on your marketing—and your su

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

cess.

How do you do your own competitive analysis?
1) Start by creating a spreadsheet for all your data either on paper or in Excel.
2) Down the left side put the names of your competitors. If you don’t kn

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

w who your competition is, do a quick search online and in your phone book.
3) Label the columns across the top with all the things you think might be part of your USP, plus columns to list their products and/or

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

services, hours, location, specialties, guarantees, special offers, experience or expertise, and USP (if you can tell what it is).
4) Visit the competition’s Websites, pick up the phone and call them with a f

.

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

w questions, and look at any advertising and marketing materials you can get your grubby little mitts on. By the time you finish filling in your spreadsheet you should be able to tell at a glance what makes you diffe

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

ent. Once you know your USP, be sure to communicate it in every piece of marketing or advertising you do. Soon you’ll become known for what makes you unique, and people will be dying to get what only you can give them

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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Norman Woodland, a 27-year-old graduate student at Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia developed the first code system that automatically read product information during checkout. Woodland and his friend Silver were awarded a patent for their application titled Classifying Apparatus and Method on October 7, 1952. Many experts are of the view that the Woodland and Silver bar code was the basis of what would soon become a global phenomenon.

Marketers take note. Print is dead or dying. There are too many alternatives that are cheaper, more effective and easy to track.

There are five specific caps a person can wear at work. Each cap identifies where you are most likely to have the greatest success in the marketplace. Here is a brief description of each one.

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