Avant Healthcare Marketing Launches Avant Perspectives Best Practices Series.

Examines Critical Steps for Success in Strategic Marketing Throughout a Product's Life Cycle

CARMEL, Ind. -- Avant Healthcare Marketing announced today it has launched Avant Perspectives, a bimonthly, pharmaceutical product marketing best practices series for new and experienced brand managers. Utilizing more than 10 years of data aggregated over the life cycles of numerous products, Avant Perspectives offers insight into effective strategies in education and promotion, guidelines for evaluating strategic partners, tips on matching tactics to a product's life cycle stage, and more.

The premier issue, "Successful Life Cycle Management," explores effective strategies in education and promotion during each of the four product life cycle stages: Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and Decline. It graphically presents stage-specific tactics that product managers may employ, including thought leader identification; market research focus groups; promotional speaker selection, validation, and training; as well as designing and managing promotional series programs with field collaboration.

"Because of the demands placed on marketers, many healthcare marketing entities focus on only one stage of a product's life cycle," said Tammy Prouty, Vice President, Avant Healthcare Marketing. "The 'Successful Life Cycle Management' issue provides a strategic view of the entire product life cycle, something we believe the industry will find innovative and creative as it strives to maximize long-term goals for a product."

While educational tactics may be the same from one life cycle stage to another, the objectives and outcomes differ. For example, during the introduction stage, which is comprised of prelaunch and launch, heightening disease state awareness, identifying unmet educational goals, and connecting with experts is the priority. Broadening the target audience and building brand preference becomes more important during the growth stage. When a product reaches maturity, the focus shifts to product differentiation, and at the end of a product's patent life, the goals become maintaining brand value and educating healthcare providers about expanded indications.

Future issues of Avant Perspectives will focus on topics of interest to pharmaceutical brand managers, presenting useful information and expanding their professional "tool kit." The next issue will explore a checklist of seven critical questions to ask strategic partners.

To obtain a copy of Avant Perspectives please visit http://www.avanthealthcaremarketing.com.

About Deborah Wood Associates Healthcare Communications Group and Avant Healthcare Marketing

Deborah Wood Associates Healthcare Communications Group is a full-service healthcare communication company founded in 1994 and based outside Indianapolis in Carmel, Indiana. Avant Healthcare Marketing, the medical marketing division, serves more than 25 clients and executes hundreds of programs and activities every year in a variety of formats.