The focus of this article is how anti-aging supplement companies are moving forward, and how any company can do the same.
As you will see, marketing anti-aging supplements requires remarkable creativity and the ability to develop strategies to persuade older audiences to buy them.
Start with a case study.
MEET THE PATIENT
I’ll call him ‘Mr. X’-just to keep the story of him private.
Mr. X was aging fast, too fast for the number of years he had already been on this planet.
He was a former smoker and drinker.
His blood pressure was going up.
He had the growth hormone levels of an 80-year-old man, when he was only 42!
Unsurprisingly, he was taking a number of prescription drugs.
He was an old man ahead of his time.
On top of all that, his family’s health history was not encouraging. Her family tree was dotted with diabetes, allergies, heart disease, neurological disorders, and senility.
That was three decades ago, when the ‘anti-aging’ movement was beginning to gather steam.
Mr. X was a smart guy (still is). He paid attention to new developments in what could now be called ‘functional medicine’.
His attention turned to the science of nutrition, that is, supplements to rejuvenate his ‘old man’ metabolism.
He did extensive research on published studies. He thought of a series of supplements based on what he found.
His efforts paid off.
Fast forward to the present.
Mr. X is currently 72 years old.
By all measures of health, he now lives in the body of a younger man.
Enjoy lower than average blood pressure, resting heart rate, fasting blood sugar and insulin levels, cholesterol, triglycerides, and body fat percentage.
His functional strength, lung capacity, and heart capacity are now better than the average 40-year-old.
At an age where many in his age group are slowing down, Mr. X is busier than ever. He can snow ski down the steepest slopes, climb to the top of the mast of his sailboat, and keep up with the 30-year-olds at his cycling club.
Mr. X is the poster boy for anti-aging supplements.
MUSIC FOR MY EARS
Mr. X’s story seemed to be aimed directly at me. We are both more or less the same age. We both had so-called “age-related” health problems. We both look for natural ways to slow down and even reverse our symptoms of rapid aging.
Now, because of her story, we both share better health thanks to anti-aging supplements.
Although my health was not as bad as his, I did benefit from the products he promoted.
My blood pressure dropped. My fasting blood sugar dropped. My body fat percentage decreased. My muscle tone improved. The skin on my cheeks reddened again.
My personal youth movement continues to improve.
Most importantly, my prospects for a longer, healthier life are right where I want them to be.
It’s a great feeling.
OH, WHAT A FEELING!
Mr. X’s story led me to take action, the right action, to slow down my own aging.
That is what makes a good story.
First of all, it is an irresistible read. As soon as I started reading about his experience, I had to read all the way to the end.
By the time I was done, I had already made a list of the supplements that he recommended for me.
And so I started buying them.
Ultimately, becoming a client was based on the persuasive psychology of good storytelling.
This is a powerful principle behind persuasion marketing. It may be the most powerful of all antiaging supplements.
THE 1-2-3 OF THE PERSUASION NARRATIVE
On second thought, the supplement company behind Mr. X’s transformation did three main things that led me to become a customer.
They are what any company that sells anti-aging supplements can do.
1) First, they caught my eye with a bait I couldn’t live without.
It was offered directly on the home page of your website. The language of the offer convinced me to click on a link that leads to a ‘persuasion’ page, that is, a page designed to persuade me to give my name and email address in order to obtain the report.
This is a common list building strategy. What was unusual was his success in breaking down my resistance to giving out my contact information.
2) The report itself was essentially a long-form sales letter about the company’s anti-aging supplements. The heart of it was the story of Mr. X.
3) This step was perhaps the most important of all: the company contacted me, one on one, to establish a human connection with me personally.
They tracked my purchases with messages from a real person with a real email address.
not from someone in [[email protected]].
not from someone in [[email protected]].
No, a real person with a real reply address.
The reason I say this is perhaps the most important step of all is because of how I felt about it.
I felt significant. I felt valued.
Psychologists explain how everyone looks for these feelings every day.
The experts hit the nail on the head.
Good storytelling caught my eye and made me a customer.
Good psychology keeps me coming back.
ASCENDING THE GROWTH CURVE
The rapid growth in the antiaging supplement market is enticing. However, on its own, the expected CAGR of 7% over the next five years is a moot point.
How a company capitalizes on that growth is what makes all the difference in moving up the curve.
That’s where good storytelling plays a crucial role for sales conversions and customer retention.
WHAT OTHER THING?
Various types of written materials drive the market for antiaging supplements.
For starters, the marketing copy behind what I’ve described here involves a ‘subscribe’ page, a bait piece, and follow-up emails.
It’s also based on finding and curating ideal stories like Mr. X’s. In other words, stories that speak directly to the target audience.
One more element, without which even the best marketing copy fails, is an effective call-to-action (CTA). I don’t just mean a ‘Buy Now’ button. I mean the copy that drives people to click that button in the first place.
(Believe it or not, I’ve seen a lot of marketing copy with no CTA at all!)
These are some of the most persuasive elements behind marketing strategies for antiaging products.
Additionally, persuasive copy for supplement marketing must be based on good science.
This means citing and explaining the data from the best available studies in terms of understanding by the general public.
That’s where I come in.
I am the rare combination of a persuasive writer and a research scientist.
I draw on my scientific background and writing skills for nutraceutical marketing.
Would you like to explore what I can do for you? Then let’s talk.
