Stephen Young's Online Journal

Brand Yourself: its all about image

In MGMT 250, there is an article entitled; "Brand Yourself" that discusses a man named Tavis Smiley. He talks about many steps that people can take to make themselves an active participant in the company they are in. I found that the steps he uses to market himself and his talents can also be used to market a product. A pharmaceutical company can use these steps to effectively create and distribute a product to the public.

STEP 1: FIND YOUR NICHE
Find the group of people that will most likely use the product. Selling Viagra to 16-30 year olds will probably not be very effective because not to many of those people will have the need for the product.

STEP 2: IS YOUR BRAND MARKETABLE?
Is it a product that people would actually want to buy? If it looks to be useless, then it probably is. However, if you have a drug that people might really have the need for, then you can move to the next step.

STEP 3: SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP
Normally the drug company itself doesn't market their own products. Instead they hire a professional marketing/advertising company that is skilled enough to effectively create an image for the market.

STEP 4: PROMOTION, PROMOTION, PROMOTION
Doctors use it, patients use it, friends use it, and everybody (that should use it) is using it! Once you create the perception that this drug is being used by everyone, the fear of it will diminish. Once the fear of it is gone, people usually have no problem spending money on something that will improve their health.

STEP 5: BRANCHING YOUR BRAND
Extend the product to as many places possible. For a drug product, there is a large sunk cost, but small variable costs. The more products you sell, the faster you will be able to cover the fixed costs.

STEP 6: GOING BEYOND THE BRAND
Many drug products offer other related products. They figure since they already have the trust of the consumer, then that trust can be converted to more sales. A cholesterol reducing drug might offer other drugs that strengthen the walls of the arteries or increase cardiovascular circulation.