Main Subject - Business

A great small business marketing strategy includes a mix of tactics. Advertising and PR are two very important tools that all small business owners need to be using regularly. Many small businesses I talk to do one of the other, but don't co

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

mmit to doing both. Each has its strengths and weaknesses and are complimentary to each other.

Small Business Advertising Strengths:

-The biggest advantage with small business advertising is your complete control over the message. You get

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

Examples of combination products may in

to focus on whatever you want, write the text, and choose the visuals. You ensure that your marketing message is delivered.

-You control placement. You choose the exact timing and media in which your advertising is placed. This is a huge ad

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

vantage because naturally you are going to choose to place your ads where your target market is most likely to see them.

-You can repeat your messages over and over again. Effective small business marketing incorporates a high degree of rep

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

etition and consistency. Advertising can and should be run on regular schedules.

-With advertising, you (and your budget) control your marketing saturation. You can run the same ad across different publications serving the same market, run

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

Combination pro

matching Internet advertising, put an ad on the radio, do cable TV, do outdoor advertising, etc. Ideally you need to be reaching your target market at least 4 different ways for them to respond.

Advertising Weaknesses

-Advertising generall

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

y costs money. Most small businesses don't have a huge budget for marketing. Sometimes being creative can help defray costs. Sometimes you can trade for advertising space. You may be able to do co-op advertising.

-Small business advertising

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

needs to be very targeted to be effective. Sometimes the only choices you have in your community are mass-market like newspapers. You still need to advertise, but some of your marketing dollars will be spent to advertise to people who don't

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

want or need what you're selling.

-Most small business advertising stinks. I hate to say it, but it's true. Many do-it-yourself advertisers don't understand that there are advertising fundamentals that work. A good ad will always out-pull a

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

bad one. Here's my plug: If you can't invest the time and money to learn how advertising REALLY works, get yourself a small business marketing coach to help you build more effective campaigns. It will be money well invested.

PR Strengths:

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

-It's FREE! OK, you might incur a very small charge if you hire someone to write and distribute a press release for you, but this is minimal. I think the reason why most small businesses don't do PR is that they don't know how it's done. Ag

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

Following aspects would a

ain, get some coaching, or pay someone to do it for you.

-Press is trusted more than advertising. If you read a review that says that a new restaurant is the best thing in town, there's some credibility there. We tend to assume that a perso

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

n who is writing an article is an expert, and that they are an uninterested third party.

-You can distribute PR globally. As long as what you are doing is actually interesting globally, you can distribute your press releases globally. This

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

isn't necessarily as targeted as your advertising needs to be, but you're not paying for editorial. By the way, never pay for editorial, and don't advertise with media that promises to give you editorial as long as you advertise. This is une

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

hical and transparent - and the credibility of the media will always be in question.

PR Weaknesses:

-You have no control over what the press is actually going to write or say about you. They may spell your name wrong, they may get some det

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

ails wrong, they may choose to focus on something you don't want to highlight. In general this isn't a big issue, as long as they are saying good things about you.

-PR tends to be single exposure. Unless circumstances are really unusual, th

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

e press is not going to run the same story over and over again. I have been involved with an exception to that. I was doing something that corresponded with a current event and the press came to me again and again over 4 weeks for TV intervi

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

ews. This was pure timing. It's difficult to engineer press like that without seeming mercenary.

-There is no guarantee that you're even going to get coverage. I was called to do a TV interview once and rushed into the city to meet the repo

.

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

rter and photographer. On my way in ,the reporter called me on my cell phone to tell me they were pulling the story because there was breaking news that they had to go cover. Depending on what's going on you may get tons of press or none at

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

all.

You see that small business advertising and PR are different things. You need them both, and you need to work at both of them consistently. They are two important tools in your small business marketing toolbox.

Copyright 2005 J D Moor

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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Many of us wish we didn’t have to be at someone’s beck and call from 9 till 5 and more often longer than that! There are many successful home business ideas out there in today’s modern world but could we ever be sure we could earn enough money to cover the rent or mortgage if we jacked in our regular jobs?

There is a flourishing business in Used Conveyors and conveyor parts. Original users sell them for various reasons, like expanding, streamlining or modernizing their facilities. Dealers with large storage space buy secondhand equipment for resale. These are sometimes sold as they are or, in many cases, reconditioned or rebuilt. Such transactions benefit all three segments, the first user, the dealer and the buyer. Almost all parts and complete conveyor systems are available through this channel.

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