So you have amazing ingredients to offer customers in their vitamins, mineral and dietary supplement formulations—now how do you responsibly and effectively market them?
Present How Your Product Helps the End Consumer
People take vitamins and supplements to solve a problem or address a health concern (e.g., soothing a cough, boosting the immune system, promoting hair growth, etc.). Therefore, it needs to be blatantly obvious what health or nutritional needs your ingredients address. The biggest mistake you can make is to market your products without showcasing the end results they can bring to the consumer.
For example, if your vitamin D ingredients can boost the immune system, emphasize any facts or statistics that show an improved immune system and decreased possibility of getting sick.
Embrace Your Claims, But With Caution
Emphasize any health claims you can legally make about your product. As stated above, vitamins and supplements serve a purpose to the end consumer.
But be careful and always consult with an expert, such as an attorney, when making claims—especially structure-function claims. Such claims include statements such as:
- “Biotin strengthens hair and nails”
- “[insert ingredient name] can suppress your appetite”
- “[insert ingredient name] can reduce inflammation”
- “[insert ingredient name] minimizes chances of developing cancer”
Structure-function claims are subject to review by the FDA. Manufacturers must have substantiation that their claim is truthful and not misleading and must submit a notification to the FDA no later than 30 days after marketing their product. Therefore, it is critical to have an attorney audit your vitamin, mineral and dietary supplement marketing campaigns including structure-function claims to help you avoid fines or even lawsuits.
Use Disclaimers and Appropriate Language
Disclaimers are critical to legally marketing your VMS products—especially when using the aforementioned health claims. All marketing efforts, including structure-function claims, must also include a disclaimer that their claim has not been evaluated by the FDA as well as disclaimers that state that the dietary supplement product is not intended to “diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease,” because only a drug can legally make such a claim.
Language used in a claim can also lead consumers to believe a product can diagnose, treat, cure or prevent a disease, and therefore could be classified as a drug by the FDA. Claims often use the following verbs to display their benefits without using language that could lead to classifying the product as a drug:
- Supports
- Stimulates
- Maintains
- Regulates
- Promotes
Have an Integrated Marketing Strategy
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket!
To market your products effectively, you must define your target audience and a variety of marketing channels to ensure exposure to that audience. It’s sometimes easy to identify your one most effective channel and focus on it. But there’s no one channel that reaches your entire audience. And oftentimes potential customers need to see your company multiple times—often in multiple places—before they interact with your marketing or consider your product.
For example, if your target market is active on LinkedIn, of course post to your company LinkedIn page and consider LinkedIn ads. But don’t rely solely on only LinkedIn to reach your audience—you need to be sure to expand your marketing to additional channels, such as print ads, newsletters, Google Ads and more.
Marketing your health and nutrition brand can be tricky, but you don’t have to do it alone. With the help of ColinKurtis Advertising, you can stay aware of the latest trends and deliver trusted VMS marketing strategies that keep you top of mind the next time your customers are looking to create a new product.
Contact Mitch Robinson at Mitch@colinkurtis.com or call 815-965-6657 EXT. 1 to learn how ColinKurtis Advertising can work as an extension of your team and help you reach your company’s growth goals.
Blog post from:
Valette Piper-Bledsoe
Vice President, Client Services
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