Nutrition Marketing – Get Your Content Strategy Right!

Nutrition marketing requires the ‘right’ content marketing strategy. Right content can help brands reach their target audience and support growth and expansion of food and beverage products, operating in the health and nutrition aisle space.

Following are 3 steps to guide the development of a robust nutrition marketing strategy:

Step 1: Nutrition Content Marketing - Understand your target consumer

In the health and nutrition aisle space, you see three types of consumers:

• the hard-core health fanatics e.g. fitness trainers;
• health-conscious folks;
• the fence-sitters – who are mulling over leading a healthy lifestyle, but they don’t know how and when to start.

The former two categories of consumers are more likely your first niche consumers and over time you could use the first two to speak to the third category of consumers. Try to understand who they are; their point of view about nutrition, functional ingredients, overall health, their lifestyles; the social media channels they use and what they like to read.

WITH NEW LAUNCHES - FOCUS ON HEALTH FANATICS & HEALTH CONSCIOUS CONSUMERS FIRST. IN PHASE 2, MOVE TO THE FENCE SITTERS.

You can get this information from 3 potential sources:

1).Consumer health and wellness reports - These reports provide tons of information about different consumer segments and their point of view about nutrients, ingredients, overall health and lifestyles. This should be your first port of call.

2). PR Agency - Work with your PR agency to get more information about your target consumers.

3). Concept data - Consumer concept results can also help shed light on the target consumer, their likes and dislikes; perception about the nutrition attributes of the product; and how and when they plan to use the health food product you are marketing.

Step 2: Nutrition Content Marketing - Get to know your product USP

Assess attributes and benefits of your product and competitors’ products and list your unique selling point (USP) versus the competition and emerging trends. Also, while your starting point can be a list of approved nutrition claims, sit with your in-house nutritionist and regulatory team to brain storm other possible benefit options for e.g. regulatory approved claims may include ‘xg of fibre per serve’ and ‘fibre helps support gut health’, but information about fibre deficiency in the population, and how difficult it is to meet the daily 25g fibre level, could also be leveraged for nutrition marketing.

If the organization has invested in clinical research that highlights additional health and nutrition product benefits, and the research has been published, you could also consider highlighting research results. If multiple research studies have been conducted, a range of benefits can be listed with references and used for developing an attractive brochure online; or even a YouTube video.

Compile all the benefit information and use it to build a story line that highlights product attributes and emphasizes differentiation versus the competition. This information forms the foundation for content creation.

Step 3: Nutrition Content Marketing  - Effectively leverage different content formats to publicize USP-linked content

This is essentially a 3-step process.

 1. List different content formats

-that can be used to support your content marketing strategy. Content formats could include: long and short website articles; blog, Facebook, Instagram posts; Recipes; Eblasts;  YouTube videos; Tweets and Twitter images; webinars for health care professionals and consumers.

2. Define how you could leverage content formats to highlight product benefits

- healthy eating or dieting tips, relevant health and nutrition information; motivational posts on impact of adopting healthy lifestyles; menu planning for families, Instagram photos and healthy recipes; the science linked with new product benefits; scientific research results etc.

The key communication goal here, is to establish a link between your product and your consumer.

KEY  COMMUNICATION GOAL IS TO ESTABLISH A LINK BETWEEN YOUR PRODUCT AND YOUR CONSUMER.  

 

3. Track new nutrition trends

-for e.g. intermittent fasting or fitness apps etc., and weave new trend conversations into the content, as consumers will be more likely to read your content, if the topic is popular. Basically, give consumers the content they desire and keep them engaged to maintain loyalty and re-purchase. This will also motivate consumers to recommend the product the others.

4. SEO optimize all content

- as consumers need to find your content.

Conclusion

In Summary, nutrition marketing needs a well-defined content strategy. This is a 3 step process. First, you need to identify your target consumer and understand his / her needs. Second, you need to understand your product USP or Unique Selling Point, especially versus the competition. Third you need to use different content formats and social media platforms effectively, so that you connect your product with your consumer.