Say your 4yearold son, daughter, niece, or nephew walked into your office one day and asked, “What are you doing?” “Working on my marketing plan,” you’d answer, hoping that would satisfy the child’s curiosity. Fat chance, as anyone who’s been around small children knows. “What’s that?,” the child continues. Now you’re stumped. How do you explain an entire product marketing strategy to a 4 year old well enough to answer every “what for?,” “how come?,” and “why?”. With Simplicity and Focus Children represent the voice of simplicity.With uninhib ited clarity, they ask direct questions and are satisfied with no less than direct answers. Complicated explanations — such as, “That’s our POA2 substrategy to maximize IM trial for expansion into blah blah blah” — just won’t work. We’ve all been told repeatedly that simple, focused, sin gleminded ideas are what communicate best. But in the midst of daily pressures this basic, but critical principle, often gets overlooked. If it’s not simple, how in the world will a busy physician understand your brand’s position and what it has to offer? Straying from this rule, which happens a lot, results in issues that spell marketing trouble — fuzzy posi tioning, too many audiences, complex message statements, confusing creative, and disjointed tactical plans.Think of the proverbial “elevator” pitch. If you had 30 seconds to describe the unique benefit of your brand or summarize your marketing plan, could you do it? Simplicity, however, doesn’t necessarily equate to basic or easy. If you can say your brand’s objective is to change an aller gist’s prescribing behavior, that’s certainly simple and focused. But easy? Hardly. But with a focused objective, you know what you’re working toward and have a standard by which to eval uate the impact of potential strategies and tactics. We know that the board of directors and CEO demand explanations and details in the body of the plan. But if you can’t articulate your main points simply, you may have some issues you want to address. Because if you’re unclear about what you are trying to achieve and what your brand stands for, that’s how it will come across to your mar ket. And in the market, it’s not a preschooler who demands clarity … it’s your customer. Topin & Associates Inc. Abby Mansfield VP, Creative Director Alan Topin President AGENCY SERVICES TOPIN &ASSOCIATES INC., Chicago, is a fullservice advertising and medical and healthcare communications agency. For more information, visit topin.com. What a If you’re unclear about what you are trying to achieve and what your brand stands for, that’s how it will come across to your market. SO HERE’SAN EXERCISETOTRYWITHYOUR CURRENTAND FUTURE MARKETING PLANS. TAKEA LOOK,ANDTO DETERMINE IFYOU CANANSWERTHE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: . Can you summarize your plan in one page or less? . Can you describe your main objectives and strategies in a sentence each? . How many audiences are listed as primary? As secondary? . Does the message you’re communicating to your audience have a singular focus? . Can you give a onesentence rationale for each tactic relating to your objectives and strategies? 4YearOld Instinctively Knows About Pharma Marketing
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What a 4-Year-old Instinctively Knows About Pharma Marketing
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