6 Tips To Start Selling Dietary Supplements Online -

Every online nutritional supplement company owner has the same goal. To help people achieve better health and live a healthier life.

It doesn’t matter if you’re marketing herbals, gummies or a nutritional sports drink.

But with so many competitors for a customer to choose from, reaching that goal can be difficult.

To achieve that goal, you must “out-market” your competition, and stand out from the crowd.

This is a difficult task for dietary supplement marketers. Restrictions by compliance regulations is enough of a challenge. Not to mention a mistrusting audience, from an endless flood of conflicting health information in the media.

To gain the edge you need to stand out. You need foresight. You need an understanding of the marketplace and insight into your consumer.

Years of working in the industry, allows me to distill what it takes to stand out.

Here are my top 6 tips for supplement enterpenures:

1. Your unique mechanism is what sells… But your hook is what scales.

Your unique mechanism is the solution to your main marketing story.

It’s the “thing” found within your product, that delivers the promise to your prospect. It is the reason why your product works.

It gives your prospect Hope. Which is one of the four buying forces I’ve identified in how people buy supplements.

Hope that this solution is “the one” that will work for them. This is a big part of what sells your supplement. (As long as it is actually different than what’s out there on the market.)

A unique mechanism is important, but it’s your Hook that will allow your supplement funnel to scale. The Hook is what sparks interest. It pulls the prospect through your sales message. A good Hook has the power to spread your message. When it works, it’s like nothing the market has ever heard before, and it catches on like wild fire.

When marketing dietary supplements, there’s never enough focus on testing different Hooks. This is one of the main reasons why it’s so difficult to scale marketing campaigns.

Successful dietary supplement companies test their Hooks, are you?

2. Don’t try to be everything to everyone

Many dietary supplement brands go after broad markets so they can sell to everyone.

This is a big mistake.

Big companies like Swanson can afford to do this because they have money to burn.

The smaller, one to ten million dollar supplement companies, can’t afford to do that.

The common approach for smaller companies is to niche down the brand to a specific market. That’s only the start. Yes, your line of products need a common thread. Which is usually the single health condition that you choose to serve.

But there’s more to it than just a niche market. The successful smaller supplement companies find their point of difference by being different. That’s key number two to marketing dietary supplements.

There are many ways to be different. Having a mission is not strong enough of a differentiating factor. Every supplement company has one and it’s usually the same. To help people be healthy.

A better approach is to have a common enemy.

What evil are you slaying?

What wrong are you righting?

And what do you stand against?

That’s more powerful than what you stand for.

Because, people will do anything for those who:

-encourage their dreams

-justify their failures

-calm their fears

-confirm their suspicions

-and help them throw rocks at their enemies.

3. If you don’t live it, it will show

Every company has a positive mission statement. Read any health company mission statement and remove all mention of the brand name. Odds are that you won’t be able to identify the brand at all from understanding their purpose.

They are all generic. There’s no differentiation from one company to another. Everyone declares the same hopeful future.

Expressing the mission is more than pictures of happy people and a positive goal.

It’s the culture of the company that defines the mission not what you say it is, but how everyone in your company acts.

Our behavior is how we’re judged. Not by what we say, but by what we DO.

This is the basis of how gradual trust builds, which forms the bond between brand advocate and company.

Living your company mission through culture all comes down to this…

People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

4. Know your Audience

When crafting a sales message, knowing your prospect gives you the unfair advantage.

But so few companies truly know their customer.

They know their demographics. Their age, if they are mostly men or women, how much their household income is.

But they don’t know…

What their emotional connection to your supplement is?

What are their deepest fears?

Open ended online surveys can help you understand them better.

But actually talking to them one-on-one is best.

That’s the only way you’ll uncover their beliefs, and how they think about your supplements.

So many direct response companies know this but so few actually take the time to do it because it’s not easy.

Instead they trust the copywriter will do this and it will result in some killer copy that will convert.

Never extracting the customer insight and never building on customer knowledge.

It’s forever trapped in the sales copy.

It’s too valuable for that. Knowing your customers beliefs informs the strategy of your entire health business.

5. Who are they buying from?

Your audience needs to connect to you on a deep personal level, that goes beyond your mission.

Consumers want to know the real story behind you. Who are they buying from? Are you part of the same tribe?

Hiding behind your brand is not going to work in the longterm.

Videos help a lot with making this type of connection with your audience. Show them pieces of your life. The more real you are the stronger the bond of trust will form.

6. Clearly communicate your values

Keep it real, from Keto to Vegan, natural health customers live their values everyday. They tend to buy from companies that also have the same values.

Health buyers want to know what they are buying. How is it made? What’s the story from the source to the store?

Yes, GMO is top-of-mind, but shoppers look for more than that.

Fair trade, responsible production and safe animal testing is also on the top of their list.

To establish a deeper connection with your customers, express your values in the things you do. This includes how your product is sourced and distributed. It’s all part of the supporting value story.

There you have it, 6 tips to market dietary supplements online and out market your competition. It’s a difficult journey but worth the effort. Helping people achieve better health and live a healthier life is what this world needs.