8 Ways to Make Your Supplement Stand Out
With hundreds of supplement companies operating in the industry it’s clear to see that competition is fierce. Setting your supplement company apart from the competition is the only way to get head and succeed long term.
The million dollar question is how do you make your supplement company stand out?
One-of-a-Kind Formula
One of the primary ways to make yourself stand out in the supplement industry is to have a one-of-a-kind formula that no one else is selling. It could be one special ingredient that no one else is using, a particularly potent combination of ingredients or including the right amount of ingredients for amazing results.
Designing a unique formula sets you up with great unique selling points (USPs) that you can use throughout your marketing. If you can’t vocalize what makes you better than the other guy selling something similar, it will be hard to win and keep customers. Without any USPs you have to rely on branding and price alone which can be difficult.
1. Use Premium Ingredients
It’s always important to use the highest quality ingredients possible if you really want to grow your supplement business. Brands like Ritual have grown thanks to their premium ingredient lists. Ritual boasts a completely natural, non-synthetic ingredient list and that’s exactly what has drawn so many customers.
Another way to make your supplement stand out with ingredients is to find an ingredient that no one else is using and build a formula around it. You could even include this unique ingredient in a variety of supplements. People like consistency so it’s a good idea to have a theme that links all your supplements together like weight loss, immunity, etc.
By including this unique ingredient in your supplements you can create a product line with a cohesive feel. With this method you can draw customers in and keep them with a wide variety of products that include the benefits that attracted them in the first place.
2. Develop Unique Formulas
Those in the supplement industry know that some supplements are packed with lots of the cheap ingredients and very little of the good stuff. It’s easy to get away with when you include a proprietary blend where you don’t have to list the amounts of each individual ingredient. It’s pretty common practice across the board but you want to stand out, not blend in (or should I say proprietary-blend in).
If you take a stand for including the right amounts of the right ingredients you can really catch customers’ attention. It might take some education but once you point out why your supplements are better your customers will stick around. Other supplement companies will be reluctant to match you because good supplements are more expensive to make.
Including the right combination of ingredients can also be very effective. There are some supplements that create a synergistic effect of building off each other and making the other ingredients more effective, for example turmeric and black pepper.
3. Consider Popular Certifications
More and more customers are looking for options that have the right certifications. Is it organic, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, vegan, kosher, non-GMO? The list could go on and on. And everyday there are more demands on just how “clean” and “natural” your supplements should be.
Take Nature Made supplements for example, certifications play a major role in their marketing and advertising. In many of their ads they call out the “USP seal” by name. USP means United States Pharmacological Convention and they certify supplement companies in order to let consumers know that a supplement meets their cleanliness and purity standards.
With so many supplement companies on the market it’s tough for consumers to know who to trust so having these types of certifications is a great way to capture their attention and trust.
Amazing Customer Support
Not everyone has the money to make an out of this world supplement formula. That’s understandable. Hiring a contract manufacturer to produce a custom formula can be expensive let alone creating a formula that’s high-quality enough to attract attention. Or maybe you already have a supplement line that you’ve established and you can’t upgrade anytime soon. What you can do is offer amazing support.
4. Offer Great Customer Service
Never underestimate the power of good customer service…. Or the destructive power of bad customer service. One reason that people want to start a supplement company is because it comes with built in repeat business, IF you play your cards right.
Think about Zappos! Zappos doesn’t always have the lowest prices but everyone knows that they have the best customer service and if you want good customer service that you should shop with them.
Doing things to go the extra mile in order to charm your customers not only helps you to retain customers but also gain new ones. Word of mouth is a real thing whether good or bad. Many customers check reviews before making a purchase and if you have amazing reviews that rave about your customer service and products that could put you ahead of the crowd.
5. Create a Community
Another great way to add big value and support is to create an exclusive customer community. This a place where people in your niche can interact, bond and discuss over common interests. If you sell weight loss supplements it could be a weight loss support group, if you sell nutraceuticals it could be a health and wellness club where people discuss their latest hikes, favorite fitness trends or upcoming races.
Creating one of these communities is not only a way to create a bond between your customers it’s a great way to create a two-way communication channel for you and your customers. A private community like this is the first place you can catch and correct customer complaints. It’s also a great place to hear more directly from your customers to understand their pain points. These pain points can and should inspire future products and solutions.
On top of all of that customer communities are a great place to provide exclusive content and offers. Want to know how to add value and keep customers coming back? Make them feel special. Give more than you ask or the community can turn from support group to just another ad platform which can drive customers away.
If executed correctly, a private community can become a major selling point for future customers. You might even have non-customers asking to join because it’s so popular.
Attractive Marketing
The ultimate way to make your product stand out among the crowd is with your branding and marketing. There are many supplement companies that attracted a lot of attention due to their marketing efforts. Of course if your product stinks and your customer service is crap, those customers probably won’t stick around for very long. So just keep that in mind before pouring thousands of dollars into your marketing campaigns.
6. Design Eye-Catching Labels
Whether your product is sitting on a virtual shelf or a literal shelf your supplement needs a label that is going to stand out in a good way. Your label is a first impression of your brand, it communicates a feeling and a message. And you definitely want to be in control of that message so putting some thought and effort behind designing your label in important.
Some brands will mimic another brand’s designs instead of investing the time and money to create something unique. Don’t do this. These kinds of practices are fishy from a customers’ perspective and only serves to hurt the reputation of the industry.
For tips on creating a supplement label that will stand out check out our blog post on How to Design Instagram Worthy Supplement Labels.
7. Work with Influencers
One of the simplest ways to make your supplements stand out is with influencer marketing. Again this can kind of depend on the supplement you’re selling and your target audience but influencer marketing has been around for ages from celebrity endorsements to doctors approval.
One example of how influencer backing can shoot a supplement to success is Sugar Bear Hair. They’ve enlisted hundreds of top influencers to get attention for their gummy hair vitamins. The cute packaging and adorable bear shaped gummy vitamins only serve to make these popular supplements even more Instagram worthy.
They created such a viral campaign that now even non-influencers are posting pictures of the supplement on their Instagram feed. It’s the definition of going viral! It’s why Starbucks loves coming out with crazy new drinks like the Unicorn frappe. Sugar Bear Hair turned a simple thing like a beauty supplement into a status symbol.
Most brands can’t afford to pay Kylie Jenner to promote their product but even if you start out with smaller influencers in your niche you can really ramp up your customer acquisition.
8. Gather Testimonials
When it comes to supplements you can make all the claims in the world but if reality doesn’t match up with what you’ve problems customers are going to figure it out eventually. That’s just another reason why customers are often wary to trust a supplement company. They’ve been let down in the past by supplement that don’t match up with the promise.
By featuring real testimonials in your marketing your providing your audience with social proof instead of making them go and find it themselves. Like we discussed earlier, customers will do their research and they will find reviews and testimonials but if you can provide them with powerful testimonies right in your marketing materials that’s even better.
Including results like before and after pictures are even better. Obviously not all supplements will before and after results but if you’re selling sports nutrition or beauty supplements the more you can show that your supplements work, the better.
Whether or not you use the testimonials in your marketing getting reviews is essential to your success. According to Lumina Intelligence, “the whole sports nutrition category which included plant and animal-based protein powders, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), probiotics, creatine and pre-workout blends had gathered some 2.5 million reviews in 20 countries, growing 15% in the six months between September 2018 and March 2019. In that period growth in the Asia-Pacific was even more robust at 25%.”
The Takeaway
Making your supplements stand out is the challenge and goal of just about every supplement company. With so much competition out there it seems nearly impossible but that’s just not true. With hard work and the right strategies you can make your company stand out and draw attention in the best way possible.
We can help you create unique custom supplement formulas that will set you apart from the competition. From formulation to testing to manufacturing and packaging we can help with the entire process of creating a winning supplement.
