The Middle Way of Health & Wellness Marketing
Twenty years ago when Pulse was just getting started, there was a very limited toolset available for marketers looking to promote health & wellness consumer brands. You purchased ads in health-focused consumer magazines. You attended consumer health expos and health professional conferences. Maybe you sent some information to health professionals in the mail or posted some relevant content on the brand’s nascent website.
Oh, how times have changed. The quiver of health & wellness consumer marketing tactics is overflowing with arrows. Online and off, there are myriad ways for marketers to communicate with consumers and professionals about the features and benefits of their healthy brands. There now exists a broad spectrum of approaches and tactics available.
But we have noticed something interesting happening over the past few years—companies moving to one extreme of that spectrum or the other, ignoring the approaches and tactics in the middle (which may just be the most effective of all).
Let us explain:
Think of this spectrum of health & wellness marketing as running from extremely granular on one end to extremely high level on the other. At the granular end you find detailed clinical and nutritional information, monographs and clinical studies, a narrow focus on a specific need-state or functional benefit, and communication that reaches health professionals only.
On the other end of the spectrum, the high-level end, you find large corporate and public relations initiatives, sponsorships of health-related causes, partnerships with non-for-profits and advocacy groups, and ESG initiatives.
Let’s be clear: all of these tactics are a net positive, helping to educate health professionals about nutrition and other health topics, adding value to local communities and underserved populations, and demonstrating how corporations can serve the public good while also making a profit.
The question to ask, therefore, is not whether or not these approaches have value, but rather, what’s missing from the mix and what is, ultimately, most effective when it comes to marketing a healthy brand.
What’s missing is the easy question to answer. Basic, foundational nutrition and product information delivered directly to professionals and consumers is missing from the extremes. So is brand and health information that is practical and actionable. Delivering this information through sources consumers trust (hint: it’s their own health professional, not social media or TV personalities) is missing as well.
The granular end of the spectrum focuses too much on health professionals alone, is often too clinical, can be seen by health professionals as not relevant to their practice or not easily translatable to the conversations they have with patients and clients, and often never reaches consumers.
The high-level end of the spectrum is often too amorphous and non-specific, doesn’t offer practical or actionable advice, doesn’t explain the practical benefits of the brand or product, can be seen as lacking relevance to day-to-day healthy lifestyle decisions, and again, often never reaches consumers.
So, what’s the most effective approach? Likely, it’s a mix of tactics across the spectrum. But the sweet spot lies at the intersection of health promotion and commerce. You want to meet consumers where they want to be met with
Useful, meaningful, actionable, and practical education and solutions: This includes easy-to-understand nutrition education and brand information, along with specific recommendations that can help consumers make better choices.
Delivered in the appropriate context: That means consumers are most receptive to health information and recommendations when they are seeking out advice, not when they are looking to be entertained or otherwise engaged.
Through trusted, credible sources: Here’s where we remind you that consumer research shows that consumers trust their own health professionals most for nutrition guidance and trust influencers, bloggers, and social media the least.
Ultimately, an effective marketing strategy for a healthy brand needs to be customized to meet a brand’s specific attributes, goals, and opportunities. But far too often we see companies move quickly and instinctively toward the extremes of the spectrum, ignoring the middle way, the path to true engagement with consumers.