Main Subject - Business

The number one rule of being successful in the world of publicity (or in just about any other field, for that matter): Don’t sabotage your efforts with dumb -- and easily correctable -- mistakes. Here then are the dumb things that publicity seekers do. Avoid them, and you’ll be well on your way to scoring great coverage!

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

1. Thinking Like an Advertiser

The more you remind a reporter that you’re a commercial entity seeking promotional exposure, the less chance you have. Blatant ad copy, excessive use of trademark symbols, overblown quotes, puffed-up claims and other techniques better suited for advertising copy are sure ways to assure t

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

Examples of combination products may in

hat your release gets trashed. You must think like an objective journalist and have a sense of perspective about who you are and what you sell, and communicate that in your materials. If you just can’t do that, chances are you’ve been...

2. Getting Too Close to Your Product

If you spend all day eating, breathing an

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

sleeping packing tape, it’s easy to start believing that the slight change you made in the thickness of your company’s new packing tape is an advance on par with the printing press and the polio vaccine. Now, if you’re planning on working with Packing Tape Monthly, perhaps the editors of that fine publication will agree. B

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

ut the guys down at USA Today may hold a different opinion. In deciding (a) what’s newsworthy and (b) how to present this news to the media, it’s vital that you take many steps back and view your company as a marginally interested outsider might. If you can’t do that, ask friends, family and other outsiders to help.

3.

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

Combination pro

Getting too Close to a Journalist

I’ve worked with lots of reporters whose company I enjoyed. I’ve shared meals and drinks with a bunch of them. One thing I’ve never done, however, is forget who they are and what their jobs are. If a reporter is interviewing you, whether in person or on the phone, never say anything y

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

ou wouldn’t want to appear in a story. Journalists have different interpretations of what "off the record" means, and it’s foolish to try to test those limits. Carefully think about everything you say, don’t be pressured into commenting on things you don’t feel comfortable about, stay on message, don’t gossip, backbite or s

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

hare secrets. In short, just as the journalist has his or her job to do, so too do you. Stay smart.

4. Obsessing Over the Big Hits

Maybe you really will get on Oprah. And maybe you’ll win the lottery and never have to work again. In either case, it’s probably a good idea to have some backup plan in place in case

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

you don’t beat out the 10 million or so other folks who harbor the same dreams.

It’s fine to think big, but smart publicity seekers know that time spent getting actual press coverage is a better investment than chasing dreams. So go ahead and send that press kit to Oprah but, in the meantime, work your butt off to get place

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

ment in weekly papers, syndicates, e-zines, local radio and other less glamorous places. Scores of successful businesses have been built on such "small" publicity. You don’t need Oprah or Newsweek or the Today show. You need coverage - anywhere and anyway you can get it. Dreamers dream. Publicists get publicity.

5.

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

Reading from a Script

It’s pretty annoying to pick up the phone at dinner time only to have some guy reading a script about how great vinyl siding is. Now imagine how a journalist, who’s busy working on deadline, feels about "publicists" calling up to do the same thing again and again. If you’re planning to phone pitch

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

Following aspects would a

a journalist, never read from a script or repeat a rehearsed spiel. She’s a human being, so talk to her that way. (And always start your call with "Is this a good time to talk?". Never just launch into your pitch.)

6. Using Outdated Media Lists

News flash: Look magazine is out of business. So too are about half

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

of the new magazines launched in the past decade, for that matter. Your media list is the lifeblood of your publicity seeking efforts. Take the time to keep it fresh and up to date, or you’ll be wasting your time. Invest in Bacon’s media guide (www.bacons.com), visit websites of publications that interest you, visit your

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

local library or bookstore's magazine rack. Do a little homework and you’ll get a big edge.

7. Not Understanding Timing

A non-savvy publicity seeker would ask, "Why do a story about Christmas publicity in June?" A smart publicity seeker understands completely. It’s all in the timing. If you’re not thinking months

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

ahead, then it’s probably too late. In early summer, you should be working on "back to school" releases for newspapers and other short-leads (it’s already too late for long- lead magazines). Have something to offer for Thanksgiving? Start planning now. Learn the lead times for various publications, plan out a yearly sche

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

ule. Plan ahead. Plan ahead. Plan ahead.

8. Not Being Accessible

If a journalist wants to use your release, he may call to get some more information, get some clarification or even to see if you actually exist. If he gets voice-mail (or a busy signal) and doesn’t hear back from you, you’ve probably blown it. On yo

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

ur releases and pitch letters, include the most accessible phone number you have (your cell phone, perhaps, if you’re on the road a lot) and an e-mail address you check throughout the day. If you miss a call from a journalist, or receive an e-mail, get back to him immediately. Don’t put it off -- he could be on deadline a

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

nd have calls in to your competitors.

9. Not Telling the Truth

There may be worse people to lie to than journalists -- detectives, IRS agents, the guy who’s administering your lie detector test -- but not many. Think about it folks: these men and women are trained to discover the truth. They know how to do research

.

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

and how to talk to others in your fields to determine whether or not you’re being truthful. So don’t take any chances. Don’t even think about inflating your sales numbers, or making up a story, or pitching something that’s mostly BS. Not only will they figure it out, your attempts to bamboozle them may even make it into th

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

e press.

10. Being Sloppy

Typos, bad printing, hideous press kit covers, poorly shot photos, improperly formatted press releases...these are the signs of an amateur. Amateurs don’t get coverage. Before you send out anything, proof it. Then proof it again. Then give it to someone else to proof. Then proof it agai

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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