Snow Companies Featured in Marketing Textbook
March 30, 2011
WILLIAMSBURG, Va., March, 2011 — Snow Companies has positioned itself yet again as an industry leader, this time with a case study on navigating the legal challenges of the highly regulated pharmaceutical industry in the second edition of Contemporary Direct and Interactive Marketing. The textbook was written by Christopher Newport University professor Dr. Lisa Spiller and Martin Baier in 2010 and will be used in classrooms starting in 2011.
The case study feature discussing Brenda Snow’s innovative business model was published in a chapter entitled “Understanding the Industry’s Environmental, Ethical, and Legal Issues.” Targeted marketing is highly effective, but navigating the legal and regulatory issues can tangle up many initiatives in the industry. “I wanted to feature Brenda and Snow Companies because I firmly believe that Snow’s direct-to-patient (DTP) programs provide an excellent platform to discuss the impact of legal regulations and ethical issues on marketing,” Spiller said. “Brenda’s opening vignette enables students to better understand the challenges marketers face in the highly regulated pharmaceutical industry.”
Brenda Snow agreed that the stringent federal regulations make for a challenging regulatory environment in pharmaceutical marketing, but with some creativity and a little strategic implementation, there are ways to address those issues. “In order to reach patients, you have to be able to share authentic messages while still considering the scrutiny of the industry on your communications,” Snow said. “We’ve found innovative ways of dealing with those issues while successfully getting those messages out in the marketplace.”
“Word-of-mouth marketing” is a contemporary term used to describe the personal interaction involved in delivering messages from one consumer to another. It’s a component of relationship marketing—an industry buzzword for all marketing professionals. “In today’s society, with its many mass communication channels and many irrelevant communication messages, marketers need to focus on methods that break through the chatter,” Spiller explained. “They have to be relevant and engage their target audience, too.”
Word-of-mouth speaks on a more personal level with a target audience, which achieves greater credibility and generates stronger persuasive impact. Snow Companies has demonstrated this with its word-of-mouth marketing. It’s a critical component to creating and cultivating relationships that result in an intended action. That’s exactly why Spiller selected Snow Companies for the textbook. She said she believes word-of-mouth marketing is both contemporary and interactive.
Snow Companies congratulates the authors on the new edition of their textbook. Not only has Spiller been an advocate for the unique Snow business model; several Snow employees have come through the ranks of the Joseph W. Luter III College of Business and Leadership at Christopher Newport University.
About Brenda Snow
Brenda Snow is an award-winning communicator, a gifted public speaker, and an experienced and proven strategist. Snow was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the early 1990s, and the experiences and challenges she faced served as a catalyst to empower people to take charge of their health care and treatment. In the mid-1990s, she created “MS Talk with Brenda Snow,” one of the first live Internet programs about living with a chronic medical condition. In 2001, Snow founded Snow & Associates and developed the proprietary Patient Ambassador® model to uncover unique stories of patients living with chronic medical conditions. With the help of Snow & Associates, Patient Ambassadors inspire and motivate others through the power of personal stories. And as the company took on a larger client portfolio, Snow & Associates later evolved and expanded into what is now known as Snow Companies.
About Snow Companies
Snow Companies is a full-service, boutique agency providing customizable direct-to-patient and word-of-mouth solutions. Through the proprietary Patient Ambassador™ program, Snow was the first in the industry to bring strategic, regulatory-compliant, real-life patient stories to direct-to-patient initiatives and has effectively changed the face of word-of-mouth marketing.
###
