I recently had the opportunity to hear a speech by a famous author and life coach about how to gracefully move through each decade of life. Her talk, full of humor and sage advice, advised the assembled group to take some time to “stop and reflect” before entering the next decade of life.
As healthcare marketers, are you doing the same for the products under your care? Are you taking time to evaluate the needs of your product as it moves into a new phase of the product life cycle? One of the most challenging stages of the product life cycle is the “late in life” or “mature” period.
How do you know that your product is reaching the mature phase? Have you heard or experienced the following?
- Senior management refers to your product as “mature” or “ripe for harvest”
- The clinical team is no longer investing in new studies for your product
- Despite being known as a promotion-sensitive drug, sales force support is to be reduced or withdrawn entirely in the next sales cycle
- Despite this change in promotion support, often revenue expectations are unchanged, if not increased, for the next fiscal year
Sound familiar? No need for a midlife crisis, but it may be time to reassess your strategy and approach. A few questions to reflect upon:
- Have you looked at your product from the view of your prescribers and customers? What perceptions, either positive or negative do they have?
- Do you know what your prescribers think of your product? Where are they comfortable using it? Where are they not? Does it align with your product strategy and positioning?
- Do you have all the relevant contact information for your prescribers?
- Do you know who the prescribers that write most of your product scripts are?
- Do you know what content motivates your customers?
- Do you know the best way to reach them in the digital space?
- Will the product have sales force support? How frequently? How many customers?
- How might your digital strategy need to evolve to address the lack of sales force support, so your message reaches and engages the right customers?
We at LUCKIE can help you map out a plan, develop motivating creative to engage your customers, and flawlessly execute digital tactics to nurture your “late in life cycle” products. Ask us what we’ve done to help our clients successfully navigate each phase of the life cycle.
