How do you market the potential health benefits of a product?

I was speaking to a potential client the other day about their product. Without giving away the details it is a product that can offer a healthier alternative to a product line currently on the market. Think of this as diet soda to soda with sugar.

Now the issue is that the health benefits are not medical ones. We do not lower cholesterol or improve your heart rate. This is simply a better way to live your life and offers a number of benefits when compared to the alternatives. This is what makes it such a challenge because the marketing of this product needs to be forceful enough to capture the attention of the audience while not stepping on any of the myriad of land mines that exist.

What I have recommended and would recommend in this case is that the client pursue a policy that stresses the unique benefits of the product. Don't simply market it as product X with these benefits but instead stand up and claim that this product stands out in the market place because it can offer you the following benefits that no other product can. Be brave, be bold and stand apart from the crowd.

As for the health benefits themselves, they should really not be the focus of a non-medical product. They can be a secondary element of the marketing strategy, but the focus should be on what unique benefits the product brings to the market. If the health benefits are one then fine, but health benefits are so transitory that one needs to be careful and remember the graveyard of all health fads when going down this route. Instead focus on the tangible product advantages.

I did watch the all-star game yesterday and was sad to see Tim Wakefield not make it into the game. Supposedly he was there to eat up innings if the game went into extra innings but after waiting so long it would have been nice to see him pitch one inning.

The weather was so nice yesterday that I took a long lunch and went to Sullivan's in Boston for lunch and ate what had to be the sweetest clam strips ever made! God they were great!

Well back to work and I have a few other online discussions with potential clients which should prove interesting.