Marketing Health and Nutrition to Women: Using Customer Personas to Dig Deeper

Marketing Health and Nutrition to Women

Women make the vast majority of health and nutrition purchasing decisions, and they are much more likely to be the primary caregiver of children and elderly family members.1 It just makes sense for health and nutrition brands to understand how, why, and where they search for information.

Many health and wellness marketers lump all women into one huge category, making sweeping generalizations about their habits. Some of these stereotypes are particularly presumptive, such as, “Women want to be part of a club,” “Women make more emotional purchasing decisions than men,” or “Just make it pink.”

As a woman, an athlete and a marketing professional, I’m here to tell you there are dozens of categories of female consumers in the fitness industry alone. From Millenials to Baby Boomers, serious athletes to moms who are trying to shed a few pounds, outdoor enthusiasts to Soul Cycle enthusiasts: Women are not of one mind.

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How Customer Personas Can Help Market Your Health or Nutrition Brand

Brand Persona

Health and nutrition companies that want to connect with their target customers must stop generalizing about who their audience is and get real. Learning to define comprehensive Customer Personas is the first step.

Customer Personas are fictionalized characters that marketers use to bring audience segments to life. Personas dig deeper than traditional customer profiles, because they are based on research, industry insights and core customer values. For instance, rather than marketing to a woman in her 40’s, a health or nutrition brand that uses customer personas would market to Janelle, a 40-year-old office professional that works out 3 times a week, supports environmental causes and prefers cooking her own meals to dining out.
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Is Whole Foods Fumbling Its Marketing Play for Millennial Health & Nutrition Dollars?

Whole Foods

After losing 20 percent of their value in the last year, Whole Foods is hoping to tap into the buying power of the “thrifty” Millennial generation by opening a less expensive chain of stores in 2016.

Unfortunately, the famously overpriced health food store brand that is referred to nationwide as “Whole Paycheck” may be facing an uphill climb. Here’s why:

Millennials Shop Differently
In my last post 5 Ways Millennials Shop (and How It Affects Health and Nutrition Marketing) I explained that Millennials are less brand and channel loyal than other generations of shoppers. This is true whether they are buying household goods or organic produce. They want convenience and quality at a fair price, and they don’t care where they find it. Continue reading

5 Ways Millennials Shop (and How It Affects Health and Nutrition Marketing)

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Out with the old, in with the new is the mantra when branding today’s Health and Nutrition products. That’s because a whole new generation of shoppers are changing the rules.

There was a time when the Baby Boomer generation dictated what was on store shelves, but today, the biggest influencers in the food markets seem to be the Millennials. I happen to be one of the nearly 80 million Millennials (also known as Gen Y) born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s. I definitely agree that there is a difference between how we shop and the more traditional way Baby Boomers shop.

Here are 5 things Health and Nutrition Marketers should know about the buying habits of Millennials: 

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Creating AdWords Campaigns for Your Health Nutrition Brand

SEO, Internet Marketing, AdWords

6 simple ways to improve your Google marketing ROI

I recently took a Google Marketing class to learn more about Search Engine Marketing (SEM) campaigns. I wasn’t there to learn how to create a campaign—though the refresher on best practices was nice. My main goal was to make sure I was spending my clients’ dollars wisely. Some brands have large budgets and others have very small budgets, but they all want the best return on investment. So, I wondered, how much money does it take to run a really effective Google AdWords campaign?

The answer: You don’t have to spend a lot of money on Google pay-per-click advertising, but you do have to invest the time to make sure you have the right strategy.

Here are 6 ways to create a more successful AdWords campaign:

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Keeping Your Health Nutrition Marketing Ahead of Trends

digital world

3 new ways to market in the digital world

After recently attending the Direct Marketing Association in San Diego, I found out that not only am I not behind on current trends, I actually know much more than I even thought. I left breathing a very big a sigh of relief. These days it’s hard to know what we know, so moments like these are priceless.

As always, marketers are searching for their niche in an increasingly overcrowded, noisy market. What I discovered is too many brands are trying to be everything to everyone. A better approach is to simplify your Health Nutrition brand’s main marketing message and share it more effectively in the digital world. Here are 3 ways to do that:

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Marketing Your Health Nutrition Product as Non-GMO

Can using an industry buzzword help boost your sales?

Everywhere I go these days, it seems someone is talking about GMO’s. Consumers are concerned that scientists have genetically altered their food and for good reason. Although genetically modified foods are based on the natural model of breeding out unfavorable characteristics, the process is complicated and slightly mysterious. Health-conscious people want assurances that the foods they buy are made the way nature intended, and GMO’s are anything but that.

“Non-GMO” is a word that seems to put consumer fears at ease. Using it on your product label could be the key to driving more sales. Here’s why:

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Marketing Sports Nutrition Products to Everyday People

#active

Is broadening the scope of your health nutrition brand a good idea?

The majority of sports nutrition companies that market products like energy bars, powdered supplements and sports drinks have traditionally, and almost exclusively, targeted professional athletes. That trend seems to be changing.

According to an article by Stephen Daniells of nutraingredients-usa-com, leading OTC company, Swisse Wellness is now focusing on what they term  “a premium quality sports nutrition range designed for everyday men and women who lead busy, active lifestyles.”

The article also cited a 2013  report by Packaged Facts that suggested sports brands could improve profits by focusing on casual athletes such as fitness walkers and yoga buffs.

I  can appreciate the need for companies to expand their offering to keep growing. However, as a professional athlete and a veteran marketer, I can’t help but wonder
if some of the brands that follow suit will run the risk of diluting their marketing messages. And will the added sales be worth that cost?

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Improve Your Health Nutrition Marketing with Clear Communication

#communicationiskey

4 ways to improve how you connect

There are hundreds of health and wellness influencers out there, and they are all trying to figure out how to reach your target audience. Content marketing is a great way to carve a niche for your brand. Unfortunately, it isn’t cut and dry. Content marketing can be frustrating when you aren’t seeing measurable results, and you aren’t sure if your efforts are worth it. They are! You just have to stay on target, use the right tone, and be sure that you are speaking to the appropriate audience.

Here are 4 ways to help your brand’s message break through:

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Take Your Health Nutrition Marketing Back to the Basics

Grassroots Marketing5 grassroots tactics that can refresh your brand 

Many Health Nutrition marketers (including myself) have been so focused on digital engagement strategies lately that they may be forgetting the obvious: Health-conscious consumers respond to brands that are genuine, honest, and community-focused. These are all qualities that you can talk about online, but when it is time to demonstrate those qualities, it is time to go offline.

Lately, I’ve been considering the impact Grassroots Marketing can have for Health Nutrition brands. Grassroots Marketing is true engagement marketing because it challenges you to simply and directly connect with your target audience in the places where they work, eat, shop and relax. I’m convinced that now is the time to refocus on strategies such as this. Marketing at a street level will help build interest and trust in your brand, and it will give you even more to talk about online. How can you lose?

Here are 5 ideas for getting back to basics with Grassroots Marketing:

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