Nutritional Supplement Market
Still in Desperate Need of Good Copy
The nutritional supplement market in the U.S. is enormous – and growing fast as health-conscious baby boomers age.
The Dietary Supplement Information Bureau (DSIB) reports that three in five consumers (59%) now take supplements on a regular basis.
Estimates of the size of the market in the U.S. range from a low of $4.6 billion to as high as $30 billion. Worldwide the entire market is estimated to be $162 billion.
The good news for copywriters and marketers alike is that a huge chunk of these sales come through direct-to-consumer channels, such as direct mail and Internet marketing.
Companies such as Health Resources, NDI Solutions, Doctors’ Preferred, Nutri-Health Supplements, Nature Rx, Tabak’s and many others mail millions of pieces annually – and are in constant need of new packages.
“Some people think the pie is the same size and we’re all fighting for a piece of it,” says Deeba Jafri, president of D.J. Direct Response, Inc., and a direct marketing strategist who specializes in nutritional supplements. “But the truth is, the pie is growing rapidly. Business has never been better for nutritional supplements.”
According to David Klein, a list broker and CEO of Macromark, who works with Jafri on many projects, it’s a myth that direct mail quantities are declining in the nutritional supplement niche.
He says that it all depends on the particular company and the products that are being promoted.
“Every mailer is different,” Klein explains. “We have mailers we started with three or four months ago who were mailing 25,000 to 50,000 pieces a week and now they’re mailing 350,000 pieces a week.”
Klein concedes that recent postal increases and the seeming glut of direct mail packages “are not helping,” but, he says, overall direct mail continues to grow year over year consistently relative to other media.
What’s critical, he says, is good copy.
“Copy is still king, especially in the nutritional supplement market,” he says.
The problem that copywriters and marketers face is coming up with new ways to position products to an increasingly sophisticated buying public.
For example, health newsletter companies have been complaining in recent years about the glut of free information available on the Internet and a jaded public – and yet Healthy Directions’ Alternatives newsletter has a new acquisition package that has added 63,000 new subs in just the past few months, Klein says.
A great direct mail package, in other words, can still hit a homerun despite rising postal and paper costs, a glut of competing packages and tons of free information on the Internet.
What’s new is that there are more and more ways to test packages and offers – through e-mail marketing, banner ads, video promotions and so on.
“We’re seeing a lot more supplements on the Internet,” Klein says. “But the Internet has its own challenges.” He believes that the Internet model, at least for supplement marketers, is more risky than traditional direct mail. Internet marketing often requires taking a loss upfront, he says, whereas a decent direct mail campaign can usually break even on the front end.
Jafri agrees.
She’s seeing more and more companies who were once exclusively Internet marketers moving into direct mail.
Some companies use the Internet to test copy themes and headlines – and, once they have a winning Internet sales letter, cautiously test it in the mail as well.
As for trends in supplement marketing, both Klein and Jafri say that postal increases have pushed many supplement marketers into the smaller formats, such as slim jims and digests.
“There is a lot of stuff out there,” Jafri concedes. “The challenge is to figure out who is mailing what successfully, separate the wheat from the chaff and ignore the rest. I just got six supplement packages in the mail yesterday, so anyone who says direct mail is dead isn’t looking at the bigger picture.”
It’s also a myth, these experts claim, that Big Promise copy and highly promotional, flashy magalogs no longer work.
Jafri says it’s “just rubbish” that Big Promises are no longer effective. “Look at the world around us, with reality TV shows. Things are way more sensational than they were even five or ten years ago.”
“People are still making big promises,” Klein says. “One super-successful tabloid package has a headline with the claim, ‘We Can Now Cure Cancer.’”
Both Jafri and Klein believe the secret to success in the nutritional supplement niche, as in all markets, lies in research. Copywriters, especially, they say, have to dig deeper than ever before to discover the secret longings and hidden fears that a company’s product can address.
They remain deeply optimistic, however, about the future of the nutritional supplement niche – and about the contribution of top quality copywriting to the market.
“It’s an awesome market right now,” Jafri says. “I think it’s only going to get bigger and stronger in the years ahead.”
Robert Hutchinson
Guest Contributor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE™
Robert Hutchinson is a veteran copywriter and author whose clients include Rich Schefren’s Strategic Profits, Boardroom, The Motley Fool, Rodale Books, Healthy Directions, Health Resources, and many others. You can visit his website at: http://www.NinjaCopySecrets.com
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18 Comments »
Join the Discussion!
Let us know what you think. Or ask us anything. Or offer your own sage advice.
The only rule: RESPECT THIS HOUSE! Postings that contain abusive language and/or personal attacks will be cheerfully VAPORIZED. One cross word and – POOF! – your well-thought-out post will be gone in a puff of smoke.
– Clayton
Comment by Pam Magnuson — April 17, 2008 @ 9:31 am
My niche market is dietary supplements, nutraceuticals and functional foods. I work in both B 2 B and B 2 C. Much of what Mr. Hutchenson says is true, but I take issue with his "big promise." A big promise like "We can cure cancer!" is going to land his client in terrible trouble with the FDA. You simply cannot make structure/function and disease claims legally.
He might be getting away with it because it’s direct mail, but eventually he will get caught, and his client will pay a very high price for such a false and mis-leading claim.
If he wants to stay in this lucrative market, he’d better start boning up on FDA/FTC regulations for dietary supplements.
Pam Magnuson
Nutraceutical Copywriter
Comment by Peter Schaible — April 17, 2008 @ 9:34 am
As the late Gary Halbert once said, "Prevention doesn’t sell. Cure sells."
It’s much easier to sell someone a product that relieves his existing pain then to sell a supplement that may prevent a painful condition from beginning.
Against that background, it should be noted that writing for the dietary supplement market is pure "selling the dream." Some of your audience is literally holding on for dear life, dreaming of a new cure for a life-threatening disease.
And then, too, the copywriter has to wonder whether he can, in good conscience, write glowing copy about products that may be untested, unproven and for which there is only anecdotal evidence that that work.
None of us wants to be a snake oil salesman…
Comment by Lauri Beamish — April 17, 2008 @ 9:55 am
Thank you so much for the article and the encouragement. I am one that also thought the market was just too big for my vitamins and supplements. It’s encouraging to know what I really need is to improve my marketing (always).
Comment by Sarah Clachar, natural health copywriter — April 17, 2008 @ 9:59 am
As a journalist who covers the natural health market, writing for Health and Nutrition Business Journal, I absolutely agree with you - it is stong, with room for lots of growth. And from all reports, market analysts and CEO’s alike, even economic crunches won’t go too far in softening it since more people are seeing health products, especially preventative health products, as an essential part of their life - not a luxury.
However, as a copywriter who specializes in this area and as a former health educator, I have to concur with Pam on the FDA problems lurking as well as the increasingly savvy and skeptical audience you’re writing for. Well-researched, credible copy - that still is benefits-oriented - is what more and more people are responding to. And with the tightening financial situation, people are getting more conservative about their purchases and what they’ll take a risk on.
Skillful copy is key. As I heard over and over again when researching my ebook on nutritional supplement copywriting (for which I interviewed Clayton - Thank you, Clayton) - a litany of scientific data is not what people look for in convincing them. The Hartman Group, wellness market analysts, have also found this to be true. Prospective nutritional supplement buyers want good info, threaded together skillfully with emotion-tugging reasoning. As Carline Anglade-Cole explained to me, they’re looking for someone to justify their purchase - that’s your job as a copywriter.
The big problem with inflating your promise is that you lose the repeat customer to disappointment. Your real profit is in the longterm business built on trust and good solid products that live up to people’s expectations.
Comment by Phil Spinelli — April 17, 2008 @ 10:41 am
I’ve been in the supplement business for 10 years, we have two websites and a retail store. I’m 42 and have been into health and working out since my teen years.
IMO
You need to be careful with bold claims such as "cures cancer".
Instead you could talk about how cancer starts, or spreads, then talk about how your product can address "these issues" without a direct statement of "cures cancer" unless you would like us to make you a cake with a file and hack saw in it.
This business is BIG but also can be tough. You need a unique product.
When selling items that everyone and their brother (or sister) are selling, you’ll be competing mostly on price. Many of the big supplement discounters online are making single digit margins, unless they have their own products.
This post has some good information if your a supplement store trying to compete.
http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/troy-white/how-to-create-web-store-excitement-and-loyalty.html
thanks,
Phil
Comment by Richard Armstrong — April 17, 2008 @ 10:54 am
You write too many headlines like "We Can Now Cure Cancer," and you may wind up in the slammer, sport.
Comment by Swans Paul — April 17, 2008 @ 11:47 am
Dear Robert Hutchinson:
Thanks for the article. Great ideas.
And…
I’ve got a quick question for you.
"Where does a good copywriter find a list of nutritional supplement marketers who are really looking for a good direct response copywriter?"
Here’s why I am asking you this question. I just produced a new control for a nutritional supplement company. The new copy is selling a colon cleansing product.
In fact, the marketer told me, "My traffic increased. And my conversion rate increased. In fact, I’ve had so many sales that I couldn’t fulfill all the orders."
This current client and I worked on second project. But the company that commissioned the copy is still hesitating about running the new piece of copy.
And I am sure that again, this new piece of copy for a mouth cleaning product will beat their control again.
So I am looking for a few nutritional supplement marketers who truly value good copy.
Besides your list,where else should I look? And if you have direct contact with some of them, and if it doesn’t cause a problem to you, you can forward them my information: Swans Paul, email: swans@salesmaninprint.com, and I’ll show them the new control. I wouldn’t place the control here since the market is hyper competitive and good copy is hard to find.
And without bragging, quite often, when I see a nutritional promo online, I see different ways I would beat it.
Sincerely,
Swans G Paul
Comment by Richard Armstrong — April 17, 2008 @ 12:15 pm
Hey, Swannie, did you write that bookalog with all the photos of … er, fecal matter? That was pretty terrific, if you could get past the gross-out factor. Not recommended for reading at the dinner table.
Comment by Sara Lovelady — April 17, 2008 @ 12:26 pm
As a copywriter who has specialized in dietary supplements for the past 13 years, this article saddens me. It seems like more and more people are getting into this niche because of the perception that they can make lots of money, rather than because they actually think that using vitamins and herbs is a really cool way to help people attain the best possible health. Of course, I want to make a good living, but I was an alternative health fiend long before I was a copywriter.
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
Comment by Phil Spinelli — April 17, 2008 @ 1:40 pm
This may be a little off topic?
"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.
Comment by deanna — April 17, 2008 @ 1:43 pm
Bob,
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
Comment by Robert Hutchinson — April 17, 2008 @ 2:22 pm
Great comments all!
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!
Comment by Phil Spinelli — April 17, 2008 @ 2:27 pm
Companies should be careful about cutting their advertising to much.
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
Comment by Glenn Grundberg — April 17, 2008 @ 3:53 pm
[quote]
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.
[/quote]
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.
Comment by Swans G Paul — April 17, 2008 @ 5:59 pm
Dear Richard Armstrong:
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
Comment by Raymond Merz — April 18, 2008 @ 9:35 am
Do you think nutraceutical is a good term?
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?
Comment by karen — April 18, 2008 @ 3:36 pm
I’m not a writer so I don’t know if I’m going to phrase this properly, however, I did read the article and it seems to me the biggest lesson here after reading all the comments is that nearly everyone who commented read something different just by catching on to the big "c" word and not catching the gist of the article. So many could not get past that cancer phrase. Without noticing what context it was written in. Would that not mean that perhaps the audience you are writing for does that same kind of thing when they are reading your copy … Caught up by only one word or phrase? Deanna’s comment clarified. Fascinating.
Comment by Kim Krause Schwalm — April 21, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
Richard, I think Carline Anglade-Cole wrote the "poop" package you’re referring to. I agree it’s a great package. A little disgusting at first, but then it draws you deeper into the problem and does a highly effective job of selling the solution.
–Kim