Credibility can make you or break you

Life is good.

The nutraceutical market is expanding; by 2023, it should be worth $319 billion, according to Market Research Future.

Even better, the complementary and alternative health market is expected to reach $201 billion by 2025, according to Grand View Research. That’s a growth rate of 17 percent.

And even medical centers are getting into the act. Hospitals associated with John Hopkins, Yale and Duke are promoting various alternative therapies. And the University of Florida’s teaching hospital now offers cancer patients consultations in homeopathy and traditional Chinese herbal medicine.

What’s more, consumer trust in traditional medicine has been slipping for some time, according to NRC Health. No surprise, considering Americans spent $3.65 trillion on health care in 2018, according to a report from Axios. And yet, the United States ranks 27th in the world for its levels of health care.

So the alternative health market will continue on with smooth sailing and full steam ahead, right?

Maybe.

Notice the elephant in the room

It’s a crisis of trust. Because, while the public’s mistrust in traditional medicine grows, they are also becoming more wary of nutrition science, according to a report in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

This is a result of more bloggers with questionable motives, celebrities who tout their new diet “which are at best ineffective and at worst harmful,” the report says. What’s more, some information may be intentionally biased.

This crisis was seconded by Dutch researchers whose editorial in the European Journal of Nutrition said, “nutrition science appears to be in crisis and is currently confronted with a public reluctance to trust nutritional insights.”

There are other issues

Adding fuel to that fire are 274 recalls of nutraceutical products in the last few years, which accounted for eight percent of FDA recalls and involved 250 companies, according to a report from Stericycle.

All of which may very well lead to increased government regulation and more restrictions.

Then there are the multiple often unpredictable variables of homo sapiens involved in the clinical tests of nutritional products. It’s not nearly as easy as, say, doing field trials on a new Toyota.

Which may account for the lack of tried-and-true products in the alternative health market. For example, mainstream medicine has established several drugs as blood thinners. But its natural counterpart depends upon who you talk to—garlic, grape seed extract, or bromelain.   

Then, a new study can refute a previous study (eggs used to be bad, low-fat diets were good). And the public becomes more and more confused.

All these hurdles lie in the road to consumer trust, and thus credibility. That word is defined as “believable, worthy of belief”, derived from Latin credibilis, “worthy to be believed.” 

How to become worthy of being believed

1.   Use only science. It should be the foundation of every action: clinical trials, marketing, hiring—everything. The word “science” is derived from scientia, “knowledge,” according to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary.

A true science, notes The National Science Education Standards, is “consistent, observable, natural, predictable, testable and tentative.” It has no place for opinion, emotion or favoritism.

2.   Document everything. Several times in several places. Here are a few ways to put credibility into words:

a.   Customer Case Studies. These in-depth testimonials include Interviews with customers who used your product successfully. As before, get your cheerleader’s full name, picture, occupation and where they live.

Answer in the interview such questions as: what condition were you trying to handle? What had you tried? When did you first try XYZ supplements? What were the results?

Again, no compensation of any kind. The whole point of a customer case study is to enable the reader to relate to the problems of an “average Joe” and show that your product handled that problem.

Full names, photos and such curb the readers tendency to consider your promo as fakery and fraud. The heartfelt words in the customer case study may ring true to the reader.

b.   Testimonies. Yelp and other commendations have their place, but they can backfire with negative or spammy accounts. Dig through your customer files to find your cheerleaders. Get their full name, hometown, occupation and photo. NEVER give them compensation for their praise.

c.   White papers. These sales tools are rarely used with alternative health, but they have been used successfully as an unbiased, no-hype way to explain a complex or different method. A “third-party” way with verifiable facts. All documented with bibliography and footnotes. Tends to eliminate the “snake-oil” image.

3.   Get well-organized. You can’t afford to have a marginally efficient organization, which teeters in the first economic slowdown.

a.   Test them scientifically. You need to really know who is working for you. Give potential employees tests that show aptitude, IQ and personality tests before you hire them so that you always hire honest, trustworthy and dependable staff. It is much easier to catch the bad seeds at your gate than to let the passive-aggressives wreak havoc as you document each step. You will also know who to promote.

b.   First-rate customer service. It has to expand beyond what your customers expect. Cajuns call it “lagniappe,” giving a customer a little something extra that they weren’t expecting. They ordered 10 blue balls; you give them 11—for the same price.

A recent report from NewVoiceMedia showed that poor customer service from U.S. companies costs them $75 billion. In 2016, that figure was $62 billion.

c.   Goals and purposes aligned. TC North points out in Nutraceutical World two traits that are vital in high-performance natural foods and nutraceutical organizations: alignment and shared values, both of which are vital for success. 

“Basic laws of physics state that the greater the amount of energy you have moving in one direction (toward the vision) and the less resistance you encounter, the faster you progress.” Shared values, he says, are “shared among all team members and drive all interactions…

Be like Mohandas and Martin

4.   Don’t get argumentative. When someone strikes at you, they’re just looking for a target. it is natural to want to return the blow—in person or online. just like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind,” said Gandhi. They never backed down from what they knew to be true, but neither were they confrontational. That just creates more problems. A boxer cannot fight an opponent who is not in the ring.

5.   Create a win-win situation. Traditional medicine has its place in the healing arena, as demonstrated by integrative medicine. Whatever improves a person’s wellbeing the best, and tradition medicine plays a part in that: setting bones, doing tests, or a life-threatening situation; a paramedic shouldn’t hesitate to give strong pain killers to accident victims sprawled on the pavement.

6.   Defend the truth. You’ve got your data well documented from highly reliable sources. You have lots of studies that are not skewed or altered. All opinions have been labeled as such. It is a point of integrity.

7.   Take the high ground. You’ve already got two strikes against you. Mr. North again: “Because consumers have a lack of trust in the supplement industry, organizations need to have impeccable values.”

Indeed, squeaky-clean values. That means sky-high purposes—actions which do the greatest good for the greatest number. No politics, no preaching. Make your company purpose be of benefit to all.

8.   Go beyond the law. The FDA pulls no punches: “Unlike drugs, supplements are not intended to treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure diseases. That means that supplements should not make claims, such as ‘reduces pain’ or ‘treats heart disease.’ Claims like these can only legitimately be made for drugs, not dietary supplements.”

That viewpoint in mind, assume additional governmental regulations are on the horizon in the U.S. and globally. So, if new restrictions require X, you do XX. For two reasons: Should legal requirements increase, you don’t have to scramble to comply. Also, it’s a public relations point: “the FDA require X, we care about your safety, so we do XX.”

Would you buy from you?

9.   Generate superior marketing. “Promotion” is derived from Latin promovere “move forward, bring to light, reveal.” Marketing, then should be the act of enlightening.

Because people who are enlightened make much better customers. They become your cheerleaders, they are loyal and they eagerly spend money. That in mind, here are several points:

a.   Know your target audience. You can’t enlighten them until you know them. That will take scientific surveys, including positioning, so your audience won’t think you are “just like the rest of ‘em.” You need to discover their tone, their pains, their pleasures and a lot more.

According to “Trends in Consumer Trust”, a recent study by Salesforce Research, 54 percent of customers say they want more relevant marketing messages. Again, proper surveys will accurately enable that.

And 84 percent of that group are more likely to do business with a company that treats them like a person rather than a number. Once again, you can discover through surveys how to do that precisely.

b.   Be 100 percent transparent. That same report notes that 91 percent of customers say they are more likely to trust companies with their personal information if the company is completely open as to how they will use that data. Again, think “lagniappe”—give the public more openness than they expect. Give them the good, the bad and the ugly.

Scott Steinford, writing in Nutraceutical World, says it well: “…trust is only as valuable as it is visible, which is why we need to achieve trust transparency in our organizations and consumer relations.”

That includes safeguarding one’s personal data. After all, baby boomers still drive the nutraceutical market and they are more wary about handing out personal data. Conducting business in the bright light of day is essential for credibility. 

c.   Create a favorable public image. Again, trust always comes before the sale. According to Edleman’s 2018 Trust Barometer, the pharmaceutical industry was the sector most frequently blamed by survey respondents for the high cost of care. True or not, it is what the public perceives. 

Push for the quality of food and supplement clinical trials to be standardized. Show on your labels “exceeds International Food Standards.”

One of the big reasons that alternative health has made the inroads it has is due to the missteps of other segments of healthcare and business in general.

10.        Educate your public. “Knowledge is power,” said Francis Bacon. Arm your public with the cold, hard facts of the body. Never talk down to them or assume they know. Define all Latin or medical terms.

Get creative. Maybe a three-minute video series on the functions of various body parts: “Gallbladder 101.” NO SALES PITCH. Or a webinar on the different types of cholesterol, with a free ebook to all attendees.

Be a clearing house for all information on specific body issues, with no intention of selling them anything. Wouldn’t you rather be known as a knowledge base and a trusted source of unbiased, accurate information than “just another vitamin company?”

11. Get them self-determined. A sky-high goal with these points is to make your customer more proactive about their health—presently and in the future. Give them ALL the facts and let the chips fall where they may. They will greatly respect you for helping them to be self-determined.  

A big part of that is providing them with facts—verifiable, usable, solid data as a bedrock to improving their health, and thus, their life.

And that equals trust. “If people like you, said Zig Ziglar, “they'll listen to you, but if they trust you, they'll do business with you.”

So there’s the challenge: discover and write down 10 ways you can get people to like you.

Paul Economen is a freelance content writer for alternative health and an avid supporter of entrepreneurs everywhere. startups. His email is [email protected]