Main Subject - Business

There are few things in life we choose to do while blindfolded – the act of covering our eyes while performing a task, even a routine one, instills emotions such as fear, anxiety and confusion. With our eyes covered, any acts we attempt are done with uncertainty, taking a longer path toward our goal, if we reach the goal at all. A perfect example is the ado

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

lescent game of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, which invokes instinctive and reactive behaviors, often ending with a misplaced tail.

Metaphorically speaking, the billion-dollar industry of online marketing grinds forward in a similar fashion, driven by millions of visually impaired marketers in pursuit of a moving target with a recipe that rarely produces the

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

Examples of combination products may in

same results twice. And if it did, they would be none the wiser.

The Internet evolution has been one giant paradigm shift, which now touches almost every aspect of daily life and is redefining the very core of the global economy. At the epicenter is the rapid proliferation of faster and cheaper technology, which is fueling growth of online window shoppers

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

and the ever-increasing need for targeted and effective marketing. Yet, for most businesses, Web-based marketing remains elusive and mysterious.

"I know that half of my marketing is working. I just don't know what half!"

This well-known marketing lament may be humorous, but it is also much too true. Unfortunately, for many marketers, if half

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

of their efforts were successful, they would be doing far better than they currently are. The stark reality is that most marketing campaigns are executed without measurement, and the success or failure of that effort goes unknown. To make matters worse, these impotent attempts are often repeated because of the lack of any evidence to indicate a subsequent

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

Combination pro

ttempt has any merit.

If you don’t measure, how can you manage?

This is a question I ask business owners every day. Most who do some sort of measurement consider their current methods sufficient and the results a foregone conclusion. What they fail to recognize is that, in this era of rapid technology growth and invention, new tools are emerg

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

ing that are as dynamic and evolved as the very people they seek to purchase their products and services.

For those who "market by blindfold" and are looking for a better mousetrap, there are tools and services available that are designed specifically for various marketing vehicles such as Pay-Per-Click, banners, e-mail, newsletters, and others.

I often h

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

ear, “I get Web analytics from my hosting provider, and it’s free.” Immediately, I picture someone trying to build a house with only a hammer and a few nails. If you rely on a free tool to determine the effectiveness of any marketing that directly impacts your financial marketing budget, I strongly urge you to consider another age-old adage, “You get wha

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

t you pay for.” Whether it is Google or your Website host, "free" does not make it the right tool for the job.

You must consider the tools. A few needed for effective marketing management include:

Managed e-mail distribution
Real-time visitor tracking (Web Analytics)
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
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Pay-Per-Click and banner ad conversion analysis

With a little looking, you will find that many tracking services are less than $100 a month. Consider this: If you spend $1000 on marketing and $100 to track it accurately, you could realize what half is ineffective (saving you $500 the next month). The

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

, by the end of the 2nd month, you are ahead $300! It would then follow, if you applied $500 more to the marketing that is actually working, you could continue to improve your efforts by tracking it and applying what you learn from the results!

Managed E-mail Distribution

Whether you send 10 e-mails or 10,000, knowing the “who and what” of th

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

Following aspects would a

at campaign is vital. Many managed e-mail distribution services make sending opt-in e-mail newsletters and offers very simple and affordable. The benefit of using a service is that they have relationships with the largest ISP’s and SPAM filters, which ensures your messages will arrive.

For example -- if you sent 10 e-mails and you could actually track the

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

results and see that one was a bad address, two were never opened, seven read your message, and two from the seven clicked through to your Website…what would you do? You could immediately re-send to the two that did not read the message and re-market to the five that did not click through. 100% effectiveness, 100% proven results.

Real-Time Visitor

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

Tracking (Web Analytics)

Let's say we have executed our marketing strategy and people are clicking on our Website. Now what? Can we see how many people are responding? What they are doing at our site? Web Analytics provides the clues and evidence that show the cause and effect behind your marketing campaigns. Tracking the activities of your Web visito

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

rs will give you valuable insight not only to the effectiveness of your marketing, but the virtual merchandising of your Website.

Just think – if you had 10 Website visitors, seven of them left after viewing your home page and three viewed only a couple of pages. What would you do? You could immediately

verify that your mar

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

eting message and audience reach is relevant to your business;

ensure your home page conveys your sales and marketing message;

test your Website to be sure it displays properly in a variety of Web browsers;

test your navigation to

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

be sure there are no broken links.

Pay-Per-Click and Banner Ad Conversion Analysis

Tracking ad conversion is actually easier than you might think. Tools to track conversion are available by most Pay-Per-Click providers. However, tracking visitors through to checkout is also possible with Web Analytics tools. This is sometime

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

s more insightful, as you are able to identify behavioral patterns with analytics that may lead you to further refine your marketing and Website messaging, resulting in greater returns.

A Proactive versus Reactive Conclusion

When it comes to online marketing, there is nothing better than seeing the fruits of your efforts in real-time. This is

.

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

a paradigm shift in itself for many marketers because many of the tools that allow a “big-brother” view are relatively new. To be able to watch your visitors click on your ads, and to see how they interact with your Website once they arrive, allows you to make decisions about your marketing approach proactively. This gives you the ability to make changes o

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

n the fly, increasing effectiveness and reducing cost immediately.

It is absolutely possible to spend less money on marketing and increase your sales. Marketing is the catalyst that drives revenue and maximizing your performance will have a direct impact on revenue. Good Web Analytics allow you to feed your marketing engine and feed your bottom line.

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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Main Subject - Blindfold Marketing - You Cannot Manage What You Cannot Measure

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