Others - Writing and Speaking

In Part I of this article, I discussed the basic essentials every freelance writing e-course should have.

To recap briefly, they are: i) selling you - putting your background/experience on dis

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

play; ii) offers - as in, piling on the freebies (websites, e-books, software, etc.); and iii) money-back guarantee - offering this makes potential buyers more comfortable.

Now that you have these in

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

Examples of combination products may in

place, it's time to include the meat: eg, the heart of the course.

What to Include in Your Freelance Writing E-Course

1. Concept: As in, what will your course cover? I believe in coveri

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

g a niche; eg, How to Become a Technical Writer; How to Become a Medical Editor; How to Target the Legal Community with Your Freelance Writing.

Niching it makes your e-course easier to sell because yo

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

u can get specific. Every discipline is different and has a different lingo. The more specific, concrete advice you can offer, the more valuable your course will be.

Exception: If you ha

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

Combination pro

e years of experience as a generalist (a freelancer who's worked across various disciplines), teaching an e-course on freelance writing in general is something you can easily do. Why? Because you have

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

the background to back it up. That's why it's important to sell you.

You can use simple case studies (eg, specific examples) from your past experience as learning tools in your e-course. Nothing sells

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

like first-hand experience.

2. Organizing Your E-Course Material: Once you know what you're going to write about, then you have to organize the material.

How you organize your material is just

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

as important, if not more so, than the topic itself because an e-course - or any educational venture - should present material in a learnable, usable format (eg, Step I, Step II, Step III, etc.).

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

our e-course should at least cover the following: Marketing; Samples; Pricing; a Rudimentary Business Plan; & Freebies.

There is so much info that can go into an e-course that after you sit down t

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

o write it, you might discover that you have the makings of two or three courses. That's why it will take at least a couple of months to put one together.

Just like writing a book or an article, you w

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

Following aspects would a

ill add, revise and cut material over and over to get it right.

3. After Publishing: After your e-course is published, you will have to market it. This is where the real work comes in.

Some of

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

the easiest marketing I've done is via forums and article marketing. Beyond that, you can place ads on websites that writers frequent, newsletters they read and publications they subscribe to.

Remembe

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

r, this is an e-couse; "E" standing for electronic. So, most of your prospects will be found online. I wouldn't even waste time or money on offline marketing methods - although they can be effective, i

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

's usually more expensive to market this way and it takes a while to track the results.

Tips for Getting Sign-Ups to Your Freelance Writing E-Course

a) Start marketing months in advance:

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

According to conventional marketing wisdom, a customer has to see your ad between 7 and 28 times before they will purchase.

If you start marketing six months in advance, this gives you plenty

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

of time to reach them.

b) Take advantage of free and low-cost advertising: As mentioned above, freelance writing forums and article marketing are two of the best free outlets out there f

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

or this. It may be a slower build than paid ads in targeted newsletters for example, but if you start far enough in advance, it may be all you need.

c) Offer aftercare: As in, offer cons

.

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

ltative time after the course ends. You can put a deadline on this - usually within a month after the course ends. This does two things: i) rids prospects of the "they'll take my money and run" fear; a

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

nd ii) builds a rapport for future business.

Writing and publishing your own e- course can be a highly profitable income stream for years to come -- if you take the time to develop it correctly.

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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Others - How to Put Together & Sell A Successful Freelance Writing E-Course (Part II of II)

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