North America already has an estimated 23million sufferers of diabetic nerve pain, and the numbers are growing every year as the incidence of diabetes increases. Add to that list people with post-shingles and chronic nerve pain and there’s huge market potential for pain-relief medication. So how does a small Halifax-based company make an impact when big pharmaceutical companies are reaching out to that same audience?

 

For Origin BioMed, the biggest challenges in marketing its topical, non-prescription, homeopathic nerve pain medicine, Neuragen, were raising awareness and establishing product credibility in the marketplace. Plus, it was competing with oral medications that had the clout of major marketing budgets and the built-in credibility of being physician prescribed. The company met the challenges by analyzing the market and taking a mixed approach to traditional and digital media.

 

Neuragen ads were placed in newspapers and magazines, where they would get the best return on investment: publications that either had a high older readership or were specifically targeted to diabetics or particular age groups. For example one was placed in the AARP Journal, produced by the American Association of Retired People, which bills itself as the world’s largest circulation magazine because it is sent to all 40 million AARP members.

 

The Neuragen message is simple: You can get relief from your pain and return to a normal quality of life. Neuragen ads also drive readers to the product website to access more information and product-discount coupons. That, in turn, has allowed Origin BioMed to build a customer database at minimal investment.

 

But there was much more to Neuragen’s plan than that. “We looked at what the credible sources of information were that people were going to and focused on those,” says Jason Tutty, Origin BioMed’s vice-president of marketing. One element was producing hundreds of thousands of samplesand distributing them to registered diabetic educators. “Those educators are trusted sources of information for diabetics suffering from nerve pain,” says Tutty, “and a product recommendation from them is highly impactful.”

 

Along with the samples, the diabetic educators received clinical information, including the results of controlled trials by independent researchers at Louisiana State University. The trials, conducted in the spring of 2008, revealed that more than 80% of study subjects received significant pain relief from Neuragen, lending even more credibility to the campaign.

 

Origin BioMed also worked closely with its drugstore partners in Canada (including Shoppers Drug Mart, London Drugs, and other major chains), as well as the largest U.S. chains (Rite-Aid, CVS, and Walgreens), plus smaller American outlets by providing Neuragen samples and information for the pharmacies’ diabetic assessment clinics. For example, this December Walgreens is offering samples in 7,000 of its stores to coincide with Diabetes Awareness Month.

 

Those types of relationships have enabled Origin BioMed to keep its marketing arm in-house. “For lots of businesses, it works to use an agency,” says Tutty. “But we focus on one product, and when opportunities with a big chain come up we have to be able to respond right away with no back and forth. So in-house is best for us.”

 

Finally, the marketing team looked at diabetics’ most trusted online information sources: WebMD.com and dLife.com. “If you go to either of those sites today you’ll find a significant Neuragen presence,” says Tutty, “which adds credibility and marketing oomph.”

 

The marketing campaign has been measured through discount coupon printing and redemption, professional requests for samples and information, website visits, and search engine activity. Of course the best measure is sales, which have risen more than 340% since the 2009 campaign began, with the total value for the year reaching more than $12million.

 

“My biggest challenge right now is doing better next year,” says Tutty with a laugh.