Even So-Called Experts Guarantee Failure for Lilly, Prizer and Roche in Marketing Campaigns On The Internet

The other day I was speaking with direct marketing expert Perry Marshall.  

One of the points that I brought up in our conversation is the lack of video on the Internet.  Most savvy people in direct marketing on the Internet know that the use of effectively constructed video will increase sales dramatically.  That's a fact not conjecture.

I asked Perry, "why do you think few internet marketers are using video?"  He felt that there are a couple of reasons, one, a lack of what to do to make a compelling video, and lack of equipment.  I suggested that he start using more video to appeal to the type A, ADHD, Entrepreneur.  For $10,000 you can create excellent movie quality work and you own the equipment and can keep producing great work without using an outside company.  Heck you can even scale down and get a great in office studio with all the software, high powered computer to render video and a great camera for under $5,000.  When you own your equipment and feel like shooting you shoot, period.

The more you are in front of camera the more you grasp how to work with the camera.  The more you step in front of the camera the more confident you get. It's like learning how to ride a bike you will need training wheels--it's a process.  

Even if you don't have the equipment you can shoot several high quality pieces at some small studios or rent the equipment for $500 or less.  You could probably shoot three or four videos for under $500, and edit them to your liking (as long as you shoot those videos consecutively during the same filming session).

I also suggest you get a teleprompter and work on your pitch to make it the best you can.  You can buy teleprompters that work with I Pads for less than $150.

To educate yourself tape hours of TV commercials and look for commercials that compel you to act urgently.  Few commercials invoke urgent action.  They are a waste of time and money.  When you get a hand full of great commercials story board those commercials and study the structure of the argument. Granted, instead of sixty seconds (shortest format that is successful on TV) on TV you can have a three or four minute, (and much longer video on line) as long as it's compelling and holds the viewer.

Most of the videos I see on line are really dysfunctional and don't have any real format to them.  A lot of people disclose that they just want to increase awareness with video.  If that's you you're missing the point. The purpose should be to make the sales process consistently perfect with video.  Next to in person, or over the phone sales there is nothing like video for driving sales on line.  It's a lot easier to watch TV then it is to read.  Keeping this in mind is important in order to achieve direct response marketing, direct marketing or DRTV success.

Start watching commercials more intently than regular programming when you are watching TV and start studying the structure of the copy, the call to action, the guarantee that is used, and most of all the claims.

This is critical in direct to consumer drug marketing, and direct to consumer medical marketing.

                                                  written by Brad Richdale

Increase Your Sales By 200, 400 even 800 percent In 12 MONTHS-- Direct To Consumer Medical Device Marketing

I'm 59 and the reason I'm continually documenting what I know to be fact is because I've helped millions of entrepreneurs globally and want to help more.

I'd like to see thousands of people in the medical devic9 industry know what I know.

Here we go for today....

When you have a prospect audience (prospects are garnered from suspects that you speak to after using direct response avenues and then narrow down the suspects to prospects as they respond) you now have to make them customers.

Let's say you know that folks who buy from you are doing so for THREE VERY specific reasons. Knowing this will take some outbound telemarketing; you should contact at least 100 recent customers and ask them why they bought?  They will tell you.  If possible make the calls yourself (even if you are the CEO), you will be fascinated about how much your customers have to say.  Simply ask them "why did you buy our product?"

Do the same thing with your new prospects.  Here's a great question to ask current prospects, "why did you call or respond for more information?"  They'll tell you--those are your hot buttons and you will find the same hot buttons that prospects have are the same as your current customers.  They might have a different sequence to their number one, number two, or number three reasons as to why they responded to your lead generation, but it will probably be the same sequence of hot buttons that your customers have.

Then you stress by order of the prospects hot buttons why they need to buy today. This is how you specifically move a prospect to customer. YOU SELL THEM WHAT THEY WANT TO BUY!

I see the Medical Device industry GOING TO THE MOON because rich people are going to take care of themselves with Obama Care in place.  I could see $15,000-50,000 worth of medical devices in a person's home who's making over $1,000,000 a year within 5 years if medical device companies learn how to get prospects and then convert them to customers.

If the medical device companies ignore hot buttons as described herein then I'll be wrong, (but I doubt it). Direct Marketing is the path to prosperity in medical device sales.

This also appears at Direct to consumer medical device marketing.


                                                  written by Brad Richdale
                                                        copyright 2017


This story also appears at http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/direct-marketing-expert-brad-richdale-preps-plan-to-return-stokely-usa-to-profitability-74749682.html

How To Use Text Message Marketing to Instantly Super Charge Press Release Response For Medical Device Companies!

Here's a technique I've used to get free coverage by ABC and now the calls are coming in consistently for other networks and syndicated shows.  It works for the direct marketing medical devices, direct consumer medical marketing and the direct to consumer medical device marketing.

Stop living inside the medical device box of spending a fortune at medical shows and start becoming an innovative direct marketer.  You'll spend far less and have more fun.

Here's the story that's getting shared on Twitter.

http://bradrichdalebusiness.blogspot.com/2014/12/news-for-facebook-cbs-nbc-fox-or-abc.html

                                          written by Brad Richdale Author

Master the 80/20 Rule and You Will Master The Medical Device, Direct To Consumer Medical Marketing And Direct To Consumer Drug Marketing by "Brad Richdale"

The great thing about getting older is you begin to see trends that are true and consistent no matter what the economy or what's going on in Geo-politics.

One thing that has always held true in my life is the 80/20 rule.

Here's my friend and direct marketer extraordinaire, Perry Marshall in a five minute talk about the 80/20 rule.

Whether you are direct to consumer drug marketing, direct marketing medical devices, direct to consumer medical marketing, selling direct drugs direct to consumer, direct to consumer medical device marketing, or running, Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Lilly (LLY:NYSE) or ABBVIE (NYSE:ABBV), Abbott (NYSE:ABT) or Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) you need to always be cognizant that the greatest enemy a CEO and leadership faces is being bogged down in the mud on stuff you need to do delegate.  The very definition of the 80/20 rule.

When you delegate remember that people can lie about the numbers but the numbers never lie. To get what you expect, inspect...always!

Get your marketing department to subscribe to www.perrymarhshall.com you will learn more about the details of marketing successfully on Google NASDAQ:GOOG), Google Display Network and FACEBOOK (NASDAQ: FB) and on line.



                                      written by Brad Richdale Author
                                   copyright 2014 All Rights Reserved




This story is also transcribed at www.amazon.co.uk/Brad-Richdale/e/B00JGCDFM8

Here's a Great Model For a Direct Response Sales Letter For Direct To Consumer Medical Marketing

If you are looking for a great direct response sales letter simply go to www.successwithsanity.com.

This letter describes and proves the problem, the solution and also makes a juicy, better than risk free offer to the reader with great urgency.

It's a great model for a direct response sales letter from my friend Joe Polish.  It can be used in the business of direct marketing medical devices, direct to consumer medical marketing and direct to consumer medical device marketing.

                                                  written by Brad Richdale  Author

For Eli Lilly's (NYSE:LLY) Axiron Ad Campaign: How To Increase Profitability By 300% to 800%

It's not hard to increase the profitability by 300% to 800% for Eli Lilly's (ELY:NYSE) Axiron testosterone product within the next 60 days.

Let me dissect the campaign and then show you precisely, step by step how to do so.

Let's begin with TV.  The current 60 second TV ad is what I term a half pregnant direct response TV (DRTV) commercial.  They have a web address and a dedicated vanity phone number up for less than five seconds at the end of their commercial they also flash a graphic to go to another ad in a magazine.  Giving people three different options to respond is useless they simply get confused.  The consumer has to be led and told precisely what to do with a specific dedicated phone number for each station that airs the TV commercial to determine each station's cost effectiveness.  The web address should not be up at all.  If someone wants to search for Axiron after the TV ad they'll find the website.

The 800 number should be up for at least 15 seconds and the commercial should come to a close at 48 seconds with a motionless tag screen and only one option for response (a dedicated 800 phone number used only on the station where the commercial airs to mathematically determine cost efficiencies by station and airings). The 800 number should be mentioned at least twice.  This can be done artistically to bolster and enhance Lilly's corporate image.

I'd re-write the commercial and re-shoot it with a statement of why the low testosterone problem exists.  These changes would at a minimum triple response and profitability on TV.

By making these changes Lilly (Axiron) would also pay 75% less for direct response TV ad rates.  Eli Lilly's current agency would hate this because their billings would go down while efficiency goes up. The more they bill the more they make.

The calls would be best sent to either Live Ops or West Interactive, I'd use both and split test for call efficiency.  West Interactive would allow Lilly to take huge call spikes of 20,000 calls without blocked calls.  Live Ops could give the callers a better first time call relationship since the calls would be taken by live operators rather than a computer.

I'd immediately send the respondents, (Lilly's prospects), a four color postcard re-selling them on the product and a coupon to be redeemed after their Doctor writes their prescription.  I'd tell them step by step what to do to get Axiron on the FREE trial and then how to become a customer with their insurance approving them for the co-pay.

The website would of course also have a printable coupon so the prospect doesn't have to wait for the direct mail.  In the direct mail postcard I'd list a toll free help line for questions on getting their co-pay approved and also how to get the co-pay card on both the direct mail piece and the website.

On the Axiron website I'd have a way to add content to increase the relevance of the website under a variety of keywords, this would keep the pay per click pricing down and dramatically increase on line sales.

I've seen the Axiron ads on line and they're O.K. but they keep running the same ad which means they are not testing the components within the ad and their headlines. Testing on line would yield at a minimum increase of response of 300%.  The control ad (winner versus other ads tested) can then be used in print.

These changes could all occur along with testing within 60 days and totally change the profitability and response rate and conversion to customers for Lilly's Axiron by a minimum of 300%.



                                                       written by Brad Richdale
                                                copyright 2013 all rights reserved
                     


                           

Eli Lilly's (ELY:NYSE) Axiron Campaign Has Morphed Into A Customer Service Nightmare

One of the basic tenants of direct response marketing is to ship what a customer orders the moment they order it.  This requires that you have enough inventory on hand to do so.  Sounds simple doesn't it?  It isn't.

I've had to suspend all media because sales were so strong manufacturing couldn't keep up.  When a novice hears that you can't make your product fast enough they always say, "that's a nice problem to have."  Trust me, it's a nightmare.  Eli Lilly customers are in that nightmare right now and their outsourced inbound call center is suffering along with their new brand Axiron.  I waited in cue for 14 minutes yesterday, curious if they ever fixed their problem of printing co-pay cards.  I want to stress that we aren't making stuff in China and waiting for the boat to hit Long Beach, no in the case of Axiron someone in the chain of command couldn't get co-pay cards printed in time for all shipments of co-pay cards (probably after 12/26/12) with the new expiration date of December 30, 2013.  This is one of the worst things you can do in a product launch and it's probably good news for Pfizer's Andro Gel.

When the operator answered after 14 minutes in cue I could hear the frustration in her voice.  I was sympathetic and then confirmed after a few questions (asked with empathy) how bad the problem was.  She told me and it was a text book disaster.  Pissed off customers are calling and it's hurting the campaign.

Axiron has done a lot of things well in this launch but failed at the most important thing, they have proven an inability to convert the FREE trial customer into a permanent customer simply because they couldn't print up some plastic co pay cards that they knew were expiring on 12/31/12.  They have known about this for months and it will probably and rightfully so, end with a few people getting fired.  This is such a simple mistake that it's no longer funny, it's pitiful.

The CEO, John Lechleiter should be throwing chairs at people especially when they have done so many things well in their launch.  If Lechleiter doesn't know how to throw a chair he can call in Coach Bobby Knight for a quick lesson (just kidding Coach).

What's really sad is Eli Lilly will never know how many customers it lost because of this screw up.  They've also lost potential first call customers due to the length of being in cue by the inbound call center (this always leads to dropped calls).

I would have sent people a coupon for a dozen Cialis and an apology if I had come in while the mistake was in process.  I'm really surprised they couldn't get cards printed overnight.

This is a great lesson and case study for anyone doing a product launch.

Here's my advice...when you are responsible for a campaign don't trust anyone on your team EVER. Inspect every detail and get proof of every detail being done properly. Employees will always tell you what you want to hear rather than the truth to protect their job; vendors have to be managed also. Sadly, like employees they often lie to cover their mishaps.  If you want to get what you expect inspect...always.

The funny part of this story is the CEO of Lilly will probably make $30 million in 2013.  Drugs do have awesome margins and Axiron is a great drug.

If you ever have questions about direct marketing, DRTV, FACEBOOK CONNECT, Direct Mail or Google Display Network then follow and interact with me on Twitter https://twitter.com/BradRichdale and http://www.rocketstocks.tv

                                               written by Brad Richdale Author
                                              copyright 2013 all rights reserved