Americans spend billions of dollars each year trying to stay or get healthy. The diet, health, nutritional supplement, pharmaceutical, and medical industries all play a part in today’s health market. Nutritional and vitamin supplements are intended as preventive measures, while doctors are involved in diagnostic and treatment measures when there is an existing illness.

It seems that an overall comprehensive approach, combining preventive care with the treatment of illness or symptoms, would create optimum healthcare for today’s health-conscious consumer. This balance would include a combination of traditional and alternative medicine, with the patient’s best interest and health in mind.

The good news for nutritional supplement companies is that more people are becoming comfortable with alternative medicine and recognizing the need for preventive medicine. Consumers do not need a doctor’s prescription to buy supplements, and nutritional companies have the freedom to market directly to consumers, making it easy for Americans to create this balance all on their own.

There are other positive signs for supplement companies. Physician practices all over the United States are beginning to see the benefits of nutritional supplements, and are bridging the gap between conventional and alternative medicine when treating patients. These practices are recommending vitamins, nutritional supplements, and alternative methods—not to take the place of other medicine, but to be used in conjunction with traditional medicine for a whole health regimen.

Supplement companies typically sell products directly to consumers through stores or online, but there is a shift taking place. Many supplement companies are looking to break into the healthcare providers market, especially private-practice physicians. It is the ultimate endorsement for a nutritional supplement company to have its product line recommended to patients by physicians. Direct-to-physician marketing is a smart, proactive approach that is paving the way to the doorsteps of private practices, chiropractors, and pain-management clinics, nationwide. It puts nutritional products directly in the hands and minds of the physician, creating a relationship with doctors as well as product awareness.

Marketing directly to doctors’ offices and healthcare providers requires a different approach in copy and packaging, but ultimately, the message is the same. The target audience is physicians at their practice addresses. There are a number of lists on the market that reach healthcare professionals and doctors. The American Medical Association (AMA) and the Little Blue Book are two premier lists in this marketplace. The AMA list includes all physicians in the United States (active and retired), while the Little Blue Book lists active practicing doctors nationwide.

Marketing directly to pharmacies and pharmacists is another approach for the nutritional supplement marketer to consider. Independently owned pharmacies would be a key target audience when breaking into this market. The Little Blue Book makes the names of more than 67,000 pharmacies available.

Having nutritional products recommended by a healthcare professional is truly the ultimate endorsement for any nutritional supplement brand. Nutritional companies want to break the barrier with the medical market and bridge the gap between traditional and alternative medicine. With healthcare costs so high, healthcare is quickly becoming a consumer-driven model. Many Americans seek out physicians that look at healthcare comprehensively and are not afraid to recommend alternative measures. Nutritional companies do have an audience in the medical market that should be penetrated and considered a major part of future marketing initiatives and growth.

Tracy Donohue is vice president of new business at Macromark Inc., a list- and database-marketing company specializing in the health market. She can be reached at tracyd@macromark.com.

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I cancel every paper catalog that is mailed to me and send promotional mailings straight to the recycle bin without reviewing them. I also do a lot of my shopping and research via the Web and never purchase anything via a 1-800 number, so I naturally assumed that direct mail was on its last, dying breath. Well, apparently I’ve been wrong. According to David Klein, CEO and president of Macromark Inc., direct mail is still very much alive—especially in the dietary supplement and nutrition market. “Direct mail advertising for nutritionals is booming,” said Klein, whose company specializes in direct marketing and mailing list management for nutrition products. “Every year we do more and more business in this space.”

Klein said two trends are currently boosting the direct mail business for supplements: The increase in the number of companies that are bringing new supplement products to market and the swelling population of consumers who are over age 50 and still prefer to learn about health-related products via print. “Many supplements are targeted to older consumers, and this demographic is still direct mail responsive and not as Internet savvy,” said Klein, who estimated that the United States is home to 15 million to 25 million consumers who are primed to respond to nutrition-related direct mail pieces.

Performing particularly well in the direct marketing arena for supplements are solo direct mail pieces that provide in-depth science-based information on one supplement product, Klein said. Although such pieces can utilize a wide range of formats, each is created with similar goals: to educate consumers about a health product’s proven benefits and then motivate those consumers to pick up the phone and order the product via a 1-800 number. Of course, to be successful, a solo direct mail piece must reach the right consumers—which is where Macromark’s expertise comes in. “The quality of the mailing list is very important,” Klein said.

Macromark works with supplement companies ranging in size from $25,000 to $400 million in annual sales, Klein noted. Many of these companies use direct mail to market supplement products targeted toward conditions that are particularly important to older consumers, such as digestive, prostate, cognitive, vision, cardiovascular and sexual health.

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There are several advantages that direct mail offers when it comes to marketing your supplement products.

Here are the main advantages of using direct mail for prospecting:

•    There exist vast sources of competitive lists available to mail your sales piece to.
•    Demographics of supplement buyers are ideal for direct mail marketing.
•    Life time value of customers is greatest when acquired through direct mail.
•    The sales piece or mailing piece gives you unlimited space to tell your “story”.
•    You can establish a one to one relationship with your customer.

The lifeline to a successful business in direct mail is to have ready, abundant and  a growing number of sources for prospecting.  While a lot of companies have transitioned advertising dollars to the internet, when it comes to the supplement market, direct mail continues to grow and prosper.  This is good for nutritional supplement companies. From a marketing and product perspective this trend not only makes sense but it should continue for years to come.

Nutritional supplements are used by consumers in all age categories across all income
levels. What makes direct mail so dynamic for supplement marketers however is not the  availability of names and addresses with income or age, but the competitive behavioral purchasing and psychographic variables available in certain lists.

The market for nutritional supplements through direct mail is already very strong.  Thus there are a lot of lists on the market that offer direct mail sold users of nutritional supplements.  This behavioral and purchasing characteristic of being a “known” nutritional supplement buyer is the difference between night and day when it comes to your marketing results. This one magical variable makes all the difference in the world when marketing your product through direct mail.

It just so happens that the biggest users of nutritional supplement products are the aging baby boomers, they grew up on direct mail, they enjoy direct mail and they are heavy information seekers.  This makes them ideal candidates for receiving direct mail on all types of nutritional supplements.

Most of the successful direct mail pieces for supplements tell an interesting story about the product and how it came to be available.  Many times there is a doctor or a scientist that endorses the product or perhaps they even created it, giving further validity to the combination of the ingredients found in the supplement.

The benefits expected from using the supplement are really what most of the mail piece should be focused on, the importance of the ingredients and how they can help the user of the product. Mail pieces can be written in many different formats and designs.  They can be mailed as components in an envelope, as a self mailer that looks like a magazine or a “digest” sized publication.  They can even be mailed in a post card format. Typically the more relevant information or sales copy provided the better. Direct mail doesn’t have limits to the marketer regarding the amount of content provided, so to the consumer or prospect can make an informed purchase decision.

Probably the strongest advantage of direct mail can be found when developing your own buyer or customer list from the prospect mailings that you do.  These customers respond to your next mailings or subsequent product mailings at much higher response rates than your original acquisition efforts. It’s not unusual for these customer mailings to produce results two to four times better than what your “cold” or prospect mailings yield.

This lifetime value of mailings to your customer list with the same product or other products from your nutritional supplement line creates the lifeline and the enterprise value for your direct mail supplement business.  These customers will power your growth

There are probably close to 70,000 different lists or sources for names available on the list market, but targeted lists made up of nutritional supplement buyers numbers between 100-200 different lists making the testing and developing of successful direct mail plans very manageable and highly predictable.  This availability of lists continues to be the fuel of growth for all future marketers of supplements looking to use this media for marketing their products.  With lists averaging in size between a couple thousand names and several hundred thousand names, the universe of buyers is well over 10 million individuals.

All marketing or communication channels have their unique advantages and disadvantages that set them apart from each other, but when it comes to nutritional supplements, direct mail has proven itself to be the hands down winner.

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It seems an overall comprehensive approach, combining preventative care with the treatment of illness or symptoms would create optimum healthcare for today’s health conscious consumer. This balance would include a combination of traditional and alternative medicine with the patient’s best interest and health in mind.

The good news for nutritional supplement companies is more and more people are comfortable with alternative medicine and recognize the need for preventative medicine. Consumers do not need a doctor’s prescription to buy supplements and nutritional companies have the freedom to market directly to consumers making it easy for Americans to create this balance all on their own.
There are positive signs for nutritional supplement companies. Physician practices all over the U.S. are beginning to see the benefit of vitamin and nutritional supplements and are bridging the gap between conventional and alternative medicine when treating patients. They are recommending vitamins, nutritional supplements and alternative methods, not to take the place of other medicine, but used in conjunction with traditional medicine as a whole health regimen.

Supplement companies typically sell direct to consumer, but there is a shift taking place. Many supplement companies are looking to break into the Healthcare Providers market, especially Private Practice Physicians. It is the ultimate endorsement for a nutritional supplement company to have their product line recommended to patients by physicians. Direct to physician marketing is a smart, proactive approach that is paving the way to the doorsteps of private practices, chiropractors, and pain management clinics nationwide. It puts nutritional products and vitamins directly in the hands and minds of the physician, creating a relationship with doctors and creating awareness of their product.

Marketing directly to doctor’s offices and health care providers requires a different approach in copy and packaging, but ultimate the message is the same. The target audience is physicians at their practice address. There are a number of lists on the market that reach health care professionals and doctors. The American Medical Association (AMA) and the Little Blue Book are two premier lists in this marketplace. The AMA list contains all physicians in the US (active and retired), while the Little Blue Book reaches active practicing doctors nationwide. These lists allow your message to be put directly in the hands of physicians.

Marketing directly to pharmacies and pharmacists is another approach for the nutritional supplement marketer to consider. Independently owned pharmacies would be a key target audience when breaking into this market. The Little Blue Book makes more than 67,000 pharmacies available for rental. Again, this is a strong endorsement that will allow the nutritional product(s) to be recognized as a reputable brand.

Having nutritional products endorsed or recommended by a healthcare professional is truly the ultimate endorsement for any nutritional supplement brand. Nutritional companies want to break the barrier with the medical market and bridge the gap between traditional and alternative medicine. With healthcare costs so high, healthcare is quickly becoming a consumer driven model. Many Americans seek out physicians that look at healthcare comprehensively and are not afraid to recommend alternative measures. Nutritional companies do have an audience in the medical market that should be penetrated and considered a major part of future marketing initiatives and growth.

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Stock Marines has been in the financial business as a subsidiary of a 17 year old investment firm that specialized in the market side of the IR business. With a need to be on top of available information in the small and micro-cap markets, these investors can’t wait to see what Stock Marines will send them next.

For More Information
Contact: Cathy Gilmore (845)230-6305 cathyg@macromark.com

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These highly responsive buyers of diet and weight loss products make the perfect addition to your 2010 mail plans.

Test our best diet lists offering hot line names and healthy response!

*Excelerene Weight Loss Buyers
*Appetrol Diet Supplement Buyers
*Essential Health Acai Diet Product Buyers
*Essential Health Natura Cleanse Buyers
Barrysbootcamp Body Transformation
Best Names
Cylapril Weight Loss Buyers
Lipozene Diet Buyers
Permanent Changes
Shape Savers Diet Buyers
Slim And Wellness American Conglomerate
Tabak’s Diet Masterfile
Think And Lose Weight Hypnosis Buyers

For more information on our diet lists,
contact Star Rell at 845-230-6331
or email star@macromark.com

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The Little Blue Book is the ultimate Physician mailing list resource, ideal for many needs. It contains all 430,000 practicing physicians and is continuously updated by experts. No other guide or resource is more accurate than the Little Blue Book. It is well-known for more than twenty years. Receive excellent response rates and reduce waste. The Little Blue Book is your ideal, targeted Physician’s resource guide. Now this list is available directly to you from Macromark.

Macromark is so confident you will see success with the Little Blue Book mailing list, we offer deliverability guaranteed or 10x your money back. Please speak to our List Management Specialist, Eva Perretti regarding this unique offer. For a limited time, get the new iPod Video Nano for Free when booking your meeting with Macromark.

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Macromark’s Data Solutions is your source for resident, consumer, business and specialty list needs. Whether you are seeking to reach consumers by specific lifestyle, geographic segments with demographic data, local businesses or specialty mailing lists (doctors or associations) we offer unparalleled audience targeting at the best price with the best service.

Our resident mailing list reaches every household in the United States and our consumer mailing list allows you to target by age, income, presence of children and more. The business mailing list reaches every business in your geographic area and can be segmented by size of company, home business, contact name and more. The Data Solutions team offers the best price, incomparable coverage and professional, personalized service. Let our buying power and experience work for you.

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