3 ways to increase your brand presence in the allergen-free market
Millions of Americans have allergic reactions to food, and there is no cure other than eating foods that are allergen-free. Though this is a growing problem for consumers, I see it as a great opportunity for Health Nutrition marketers to develop more and better allergen-free products.
The allergen-free nutrition market used to center on simple things like leaving out peanuts and soy, but it is expanding all of the time. According to a new report from the Global Industry Analysts (GIA), the global market for foods developed for those with food allergies and intolerances is expected to grow to more than $26.5 billion over the next five years.
Most of the new growth in the allergen-free marketplace is stemming from wheat-free, gluten-free, and lactose-free diets. Numerous celebrities now try out the benefits of gluten-free and wheat-free diets for weight loss and general health. Others are convinced that going gluten-free can help treat diseases and disorders such as autism, chronic fatigue syndrome, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder, multiple sclerosis, infertility, migraines, and more.
With such a huge opportunity in the allergen-free marketplace, it is a great time to get into the act if you haven’t already. Here are the 3 steps you can take to make sure your customer knows about your existing or new allergen-free HNM product:
Blog About It
By this I don’t mean just sign up with a blog hosting site and start writing about product benefits. There’s a specific strategy behind business blogging that will get your product to the top of Internet searches. Your content should be about allergen-free options in general, not just an advertisement for your product. The idea is to provide useful, interesting content to your audience. Remember to keep your headlines and content focused by using topic-specific keywords. By consistently using the same keywords, you will set your blog apart from the competition and position yourself as a thought leader in your category. Every time your keywords come up in an online search, the search engines will remember your blog and will sort you to the top. The next step is:
Subscribe to Several Social Media Platforms
Sign-up for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and start feeding the keyword-rich blog posts you write to these social media sites. Don’t forget to frequently post fresh and compelling content and share it on these sites. When I’m actively posting to Twitter, I increase my followers, which in turn drives new readers to my blog. By continually refreshing your content, you can do this, too.
Create an eNewsletter
Once the 2 steps above are generating a buzz, now it’s time to gather email addresses to send out an eNewsletter. My HNM newsletter is sent out every other week to a database of 10,000. The content I provide in my newsletter is often taken from my blog. Emailing your contacts on a regular basis will keep them engaged with your brand.
Positioning your Health Nutrition brand as a thought-leader in the allergen-free market is the first step in becoming part of the growing industry.
If you enjoyed this article you may also be interested in:
The Role of Celiac Disease in Health Nutrition Marketing
Continued Changes in Marketing Health Nutrition
Social Media Platforms for Health Nutrition Marketing
photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/3013714061/”>stevendepolo</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/”>cc</a>
Jessica is a competitive athlete and the President of Energize HNM, a health and nutrition marketing agency. Jessica is committed to supporting health brands of every size by helping them define their missions and connect with their customers on a deeper, more meaningful level.