Main Subject - Business

The call came into my office and the voice on the other end was very energetic, almost giddy: “I have finalized my marketing budget and need your help launching an advertising campaign for my new product,” he breathed. “Congratulations,” I replied, “but before we implement an ad campaign, I want to make sure you have explored potent

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

ial PUBLICITY opportunities that could generate some cost-efficient media exposure first.” Then, silence. “I never thought about that,” he sighed. “Frankly, I don’t know much about it.”

He is not alone. It’s a common conversation. Although many entrepreneurs or business people know a bit about publicity or media exposure, the major

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

Examples of combination products may in

ity of them simply don’t understand the full benefits of “publicity placements” or how to go about generating them successfully. Publicity placements have always been a cost-efficient way to market a product/business and generate clients or customers, but because of lack of knowledge or a misunderstanding of what publicity is and do

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

es, many entrepreneurs don’t take full advantage of publicity opportunities -- and that can lead to missed marketing chances.

I recently surveyed a few dozen business owners and entrepreneurs in some newsgroups and business chat rooms about their knowledge of “publicity placements” in the media. I found out that only 37% knew that

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

simple “product profile” in a magazine was generated as a result of publicity efforts. Most thought the company had paid the media outlet to run the feature, much like an ad. And of that 37%, less than half of them knew HOW to generate a similar placement.

Another interesting fact, because of the recent slowdown in the economy, ex

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

Combination pro

pensive advertising budgets have been slashed. As a result, many businesses, like your competitors, are turning to publicity/PR campaigns as a more affordable means of marketing to compete with other companies. Here are some ways to use publicity placements to help your business:

Editorial Placements/Media Notification What some en

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

trepreneurs might not realize is that we see editorial placements from publicity efforts everyday in the media: product profiles, feature articles and contributed by-lined articles in magazines, newspapers, trade industry newsletters or on TV/radio/cable newscasts & shows. This is not advertising, this is “EDITORIAL Placement” or “M

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

edia Notification” of a product, business or industry expert. Notify the appropriate media that your newsworthy product is on the market or your business is offering a unique new service and let them run a feature placement that will spread that message to your consumer market. These placements can detail your product or business ve

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

y effectively, giving consumers some objective, pertinent information that may well entice them to become future customers.

These editorial placements are looked upon much more credibly than ad placements. That is not a slam on advertising. Paying for advertising placements is indeed an effective way to market your product. But the

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

fact is, a positive editorial placement such as a product profile in a magazine or a newspaper can be much more persuasive than a glossy, over-hyped advertisement – and a fraction of the cost. My point is that editorial placements are an often time overlooked marketing vehicle for a business, and that entrepreneurs should understan

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

d the full benefits of these placements to make the most of their marketing efforts.

Editorial placements are a wonderfully reciprocal way for you and the media to work together for the betterment of your business. The media needs to fill its pages and airtime with interesting information -- and you need to get the word out to your

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

Following aspects would a

market. Research the media market to find those media outlets and editorial contacts with which you can forge that mutually beneficial relationship. But you have to do your part and do it right - or the media will forge that relationship with your competitor. Make sure your media message is solid, contains newsworthy angles and isn

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

t disguised as overly commercialized ad copy. Have high-quality photos and media samples available and do all you can to make the media’s job of featuring your product as simple as possible. It also helps to have some sort of clipping service in place to track your placements and get you copies so you can use them in your secondary

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

marketing programs.

Expert Branding This type of publicity placement generating takes advantage of the expert knowledge within a particular business. It is an effective tool for entrepreneurs whose businesses are more service related, like consultants or specialists. Expert branding basically treats the expert like a product. Alert

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

the media as to your expertise on a specific topic and avail yourself to serve as an expert interview resource for future articles or news feature segments. Additionally, the expert should write a few brief articles on a specialized topic and make them available to editors for review and possible publication. The challenge of this

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

type of publicity placement is the tedious task of finding out which outlets accept “expert editorial contributions” or contributed by-lined articles in their publications. Again, it comes down to meticulously researching your media market to find those media outlets that may be in need of the editorial content that you can provide

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

hem.

With some creativity, expert branding can be effective for product-based businesses as well. One client of mine runs a fresh wild salmon distribution business in the Pacific Northwest and was looking to increase consumer awareness of his products. Based on his more than 20 years of experience in the wild salmon harvesting busi

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

ness, we are expert branding him as a viable interview resource to health/food editors for features detailing the differences and benefits of wild salmon over farm-raised fish, as well as other related topics. In this case, my client (the expert) is identified and quoted in features and the name of the business and even a link to a

.

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

website are often included for consumers to check out. This is great credibility building exposure at little or no cost.

Overall, when using the media to help market your product or business, take advantage of as many FREE media opportunities as you can. If you lack the expertise or time, a PR agency or publicist can generate the e

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

ditorial placements for you. But the fee you pay them is a FRACTION of what it would cost you to buy similar sized ad placements. And those publicity placements typically lead to a much better consumer response right out of the gate – which is just what you need to boost your business to the next level.

Copyright 2006 Todd Brabende

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.mainsubjects.org.ua/article/33446/mainsubjects-The-Increasing-Power-Of-Publicity-and-How-It-Can-Benefit-Your-Business.html">The Increasing Power Of Publicity and How It Can Benefit Your Business</a>

BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.mainsubjects.org.ua/article/33446/mainsubjects-The-Increasing-Power-Of-Publicity-and-How-It-Can-Benefit-Your-Business.html]The Increasing Power Of Publicity and How It Can Benefit Your Business[/url]

Expense report forms are the formats to be filled out by an employee for claiming reimbursement of expenses of official or personal visit. Every organization will have its own format. It is advisable to use an expense report form rather than simply listing out all the expenses in an Excel sheet and submit that. Through the form, both the employee and the employer are in a position to have a clear-cut idea as to how much money is involved in the form of expenses so that reimbursement will be quickened. Thus, the process of expense reporting starts with filling out the expense report form. Some organizations have online versions of these expense reports in which the employees need to enter all the data and send it to the Accounting Department.

How to give performance feedback that will be well received by your employees and increase their productivity.

Amy Wright, 34, was extatic when her realtor showed her the three bedroom townhome overlooking the lushious golf course. It was exactly the home she was looking for. The interior was sunny and bright, with a newly remodeled kitchen, spacious bedrooms, and the perfect little study area to set up her new home office. It had a spectacular pool and a lovingly tended flower garden. Best of all—the seller had to move immediately, so the home was a steal and miraculously within her budget! Amy was already making moving preparations when suddenly, a devastating blow paralyzed her plans. Her credit application for a mortgage had been denied. She couldn’t understand how this had happened—just a year ago, her credit had been almost perfect! The last year had been a little tight, and sure she had a few late payments here and there…but she had no idea it was so bad that now she couldn’t even get the home of her dreams.

Tags

Links

Main Subject - The Increasing Power Of Publicity and How It Can Benefit Your Business

Related Articles: