Our Blog
Dieting and Direct Mail
The dietary environment in America has already passed the crisis level. With over one-third of all adults classified as obese, proper diet and eating habits have been at the center of nearly all the messaging by major food industries, government officials, and diet gurus across the nation. But even with the plethora of information readily available on what foods to eat and how to eat healthy, Americans still struggle with their diets and continue to steer themselves down an unhealthy path of death and disease.
Saying that Americans are eating themselves to death is not an exaggeration; 20% of all deaths in the U.S. are related to obesity. And with 30 million Americans admitting to having an eating disorder at some point in their lives, the relationship with food in this country is one that is both important and disturbing.
Countless diets have surfaced over the past couple decades claiming to combat poor eating habits and maintain nutritional value. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet was highly rated this year, mainly for its effectiveness in fighting high blood pressure, but other well-published diets have also been valuable in fighting obesity and overcoming or preventing cardiovascular diseases.
If you are a company advertising or selling products that aid in healthy eating, you know there is a tremendous amount of potential to do good. According to the direct mailing list experts at Macromark, a large consumer base makes it even more essential to target your direct mail marketing campaign to the people that your product will most benefit.
Your product, for instance, may help with high blood pressure or some form of cardiovascular disease, or it may be able to assist with cosmetic weight loss or obesity. Either way, it is imperative you know which consumer is looking for which product before beginning your direct mail marketing campaign.
Once you have narrowed down the precise consumer, you must then decide what type of mail to send them. Maybe you would prefer educational pieces for younger consumers, encouraging them to practice healthy eating habits and explaining how your product is incorporated in that practice. Or perhaps you should send informational pieces to Millennials detailing how they can use their diet as a means to prevent potential health problems they could face down the road. For retirees, more aggressive pieces may be necessary in order to convince them that your product will directly help with whatever diet-related medical condition they are currently experiencing.
However you decide to go about your campaign, it’s not a guessing game. Yes, there may be periods of trial and error, but if you can match the precise consumer with the precise content, then Macromark can use their experience and database to provide you with the most accurate mailing list to best execute your plan.
It’s easy to bundle customers in the same “diet” bracket, especially when considering the wide base of consumers that is prevalent in this field of healthy eating. However, direct mail marketing calls for focus, even when it appears as if you may only be targeting a single consumer group. An effective direct mail marketing campaign will always be most effective with a segmented audience.
Sources:
“U.S News Ranks Best and Worst Products of 2014,” Huffington Post, January 7, 2014; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/07/best-diets-worst-us-news_n_4549208.html.
Mercola, J., “11 Charts That Show Everything Wrong With Our Modern Diet,” Mercola.com, February 24 2014; http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/02/24/modern-diet.aspx.
“How Does Diet Impact Health?” University of Minnesota web site; http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/enhance-your-wellbeing/health/diet-nutrition/how-does-diet-impact-health.
David Klein