–Kim

You are in an industry where you are trying your hardest to NOT be a drug.  Why would you voluntarily sell a product with "ceutical" in it?

Supplements have been around a long time.  They don’t need the consumer benefit of being mentally linked with the better known pharmaceutical product. 

They also don’t need the detriment of being linked with pharmaceuticals from a regulatory standpoint. 

What do you think?

I am sorry to disappoint you. I didn’t write the copy you’re familiar with. So I can’t take the compliments.

But my copy is really good since more prospects are buying.

The product I created copy for is a little bit classier than that. It uses a totally different mechanism.

Sincerely,
Swans  G Paul

I’m with Bob here…

I write nutraceutical promos frequently for several different products, including Men’s health supplements.

My experience has shown that big promises, even ones where the proof is absolutely unequivocal, require such a huge burden of proof that you may actually wind up over-writing in an attempt to "defend" the claim instead of focusing on the benefits to the prospect.

I have had better luck being more realistic, and targeting the top fear of the market in question, be it age, vanity issues, etc. and then making several "smaller promises" that ease that fear and are more supportable and can be fleshed out in the copy as benefits rather than trying to "eat the whole elephant" at once.

Research shows that cutting back on your advertising to much during a recessing can be devastating.

We don’t plan on much cuts in that area, just better tracking and spending wiser.

People still buy. Companies need to keep their name/products out there.

thanks,
Phil

First of all, Deanna is correct:  I was merely reporting what these experts said, not advocating a particular copy approach. 

Regarding big promises, it’s been my personal experience that credibility is crucial and that big promises, even when backed up by solid evidence, are not as effective because they’re not believable. 

Also, you have to make a distinction between what health newsletters are allowed to say in their promotional materials – as well as ordinary news magazines – and what nutritional supplement companies can say. 

As all the comments indicated, supplement companies must adhere to far stricter guidelines than news publications and cannot talk about "curing" any disease.  In fact, in my experience most promotions for supplements avoid discussing diseases at all and focus instead on symptoms or use euphemisms ("joint problems" instead of "arthritis").

What this article was actually about is the fact that, contrary to popular belief, direct mail quantities in the nutritional supplement niche are still quite substantial.  What these two experts said is that this is an expanding, rather than a contracting, market.  And that should give all copywriters reason to cheer!

This is a great article.  With everything we’re hearing about the economy, and how many direct mailers are cutting back, it’s good to know that there’s plenty of work for copywriters in the alternative health market.

Now about the "We Can Now Cure Cancer" headline …  Bob was just quoting something David Klein, a list broker, said.  We don’t know who wrote the package.  And all we’ve seen is the headline.  I don’t think we can accurately judge the package as hype or worthy of throwing someone in a slammer just by looking at the headline.  We’d need to see the entire package - or at least the deck copy and lead - to judge if the "big" promise is credible or not.

Just a thought …

Deanna
Copywriter 

"Sorry, but there is no proven natural way to cure cancer," There is plenty of ad copy out there that implies this. And yes, it’s maybe wrong without proof.

However, I do believe we can greatly decrease this disease. It’s now accepted knowledge that most (up to 80 percent) cancers are caused by environmental factors.

"Year 2007
 The AP wire and the US and Canadian news services have been buzzing with the huge 1000+ page report, Nutrition and Cancer, just issued by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute of Cancer Research. The Report represents an amazing turnaround by the medical establishment, and shows definitively that the nutrients in many common plant foods prevent a wide variety of cancers, and that numerous processed foods, overweight, and lack of exercise cause a wide variety of cancers"

I believe there are natural ways to slow the spread (and maybe help prevent it).

From the studies I’ve seen. , there is a natural product that works in the lab to slow it down (btw, I’ve never seen this product sold for cancer purposes), was synthetically reproduces by a Pharma company (I won’t say what it is for risk of jail time, however, it’s available in most health food stores) but caused major side effects. You can’t mimic mother nature.

I’ve had a few family member pass away from this disease, and I’ve done mountains of research on the topic.

As a consumer, I would like to read about anything natural that "might" help.

I think the only people who really have a problem with this is are the pharma companies. In fact, I believe "some" medical procedures make thing worse. It’s called Practicing Medicine for a reason. They are not really sure about many things.

So if your a copywriter writing about cancer, heart disease or any other serious problems, don’t make up claims, instead educate me, inform me, help me. Some natural treatments (even though not proven by our medical community) "can" help.

When I have a problem, I’ll go the the end of the earth in search of information. Give me good information, care about me and not your product.

Not only is it completely illegal to say that supplements cure cancer, or even to talk about cancer at all and then address “these issues” later in your copy, it’s downright unethical. Sorry, but there is no proven natural way to cure cancer, and copy like that makes the whole industry look bad. No wonder these natural remedies have been written off as “snake oil.” When 5% of the players make outrageous claims, it brings us all down.

Sara Lovelady
Wordgirl
Dietary Supplements Copywriter