Marketing Directors and Business Owners:

Is your natural health marketing falling into the credibility gap? 

A recent survey conducted by the Council for Responsible Nutrition found that public confidence in the safety and effectiveness of supplements has dipped from 78% to 69% between 2003 and 2006. 

To bridge this chasm, you need a freelance copywriter who accounts for these three significant factors shaping the health marketplace:

√  Internet access:  With a global library at their fingertips, your prospects are increasingly sophisticated about nutrition and health.  According to Internet World Stats, in 2007 nearly 211 million Americans used the internet.  And don't make assumptions about age.  The over-70 crowd is one of the fastest growing segments of internet users.

√   Media coverage of health product safety problems from lead contamination in calcium supplements to the Vioxx disaster contribute to a rising consumer skepticism about how healthy health products really are.

√   DIY healthcare:  As the Natural Marketing Institute reports in their Trends for 2008, consumers are becoming Dr. Me’s, becoming their own primary health care provider.  Consumers are adopting DIY healthcare with the same passion that they adopted Home Depot’s DIY home repair. 

Put these three trends together and you’ve got consumers who are very savvy about their health and determined to take charge of it.  They’re looking for allies in this endeavor – companies who can give them answers and support them as they assume control over their health.

Health consumers are looking for credible companies, companies they feel have their best interest at heart.

And the beautiful thing is that by working on building your role as a trusted ally, you build relationships with your consumers for the longterm – a benefit any marketer can relate to.  It’s the returning customer who builds your business.

But be careful, loading your campaigns with scientific data will not necessarily win you the trust you seek. 

Consumers are also looking for someone who understands them. 

This goes back to the beginning of human relationships:  People gravitate to people that they feel are sympathetic to their situation.  So your copy also needs to be benefits–driven.  It needs to hone in with pinpoint accuracy to your prospects’ emotional state and communicate that you understand their challenges and their dreams. 

As a former health educator with a degree in Biology, I welcome this increase in consumer responsibility and authority.  And as an educator, I also understand that the most powerful technique for engaging people is to start with where they are – what they know, what they believe and what they care about.

As a professional natural health copywriter, I understand how to incorporate these two elements – credibility and empathy -  into writing effective copy that connects your quality products with the people who can use them to change their lives.

This heady combination will make your copy a powerful marketing tool.

But in addition to good copywriting skills you’re also looking for a few other qualities to make sure the job gets done:

√ Reliability:   Copywriting is just a link in a long chain of getting your product on the market, your campaign out the door, your ad in front of your prospect.  Deadlines are for making sure that everyone can meet a schedule and get the job done.  When you hire me, I am just as invested as you are in insuring that my contribution only helps your campaign move forward – not lurch, or stall out.

√ Collaboration:   You are the authority on your product, your business and, in many ways, your prospects.  Only through productive collaboration can we create the best package for your product.  Collaboration draws fully on the expertise of you and your staff, other consultants and my own. 

√ Enthusiasm:   Truth be told, even the best writer cannot disguise an absence of passion for the product they’re writing about.  My passion for natural, common-sensical health products goes beyond words – it’s how I live and care for my own family.  I bring that enthusiasm to every job I do. 

Your success is my success.

Contact me to discuss what we can do together to really connect with your market.  Email me at clac@metrocast.net to set up an appointment for an initial consultation.  All initial consultations are free.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sarah Clachar, Health Copywriter

P.S.

And if you send me an email right now to clac@metrocast.net, I'll send you this FREE, very topical report, Turning Adversity Into Advantage:  Nutritional Supplement Marketing in the Context Of Adverse Events Reporting Laws. 

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