STP – Your Guide to Healthy Marketing

If I watch one more weight loss commercial, I just might sign up. I know I should not be surprised that the weight loss people are everywhere at the beginning of a calendar year. They’re on every TV channel, in every magazine, on every billboard, on Facebook and even on Twitter. I actually received a note in the mail with my name and age on it asking me “if now was the time to lose those extra pounds from the holidays.” How did they know?

So who are these ‘weight loss people” anyway? They are health clubs, food manufacturers, magazines and and even video game companies. Yes, video games! Santa actually brought me the Wii Fit game for Christmas. I didn’t even ask for it, it just showed up under my tree. I’m sure there is some sort of subliminal message from Santa.

A couple of groups that I have not heard from in this mass marketing of weight loss messages, are the healthcare plans and pharmaceutical companies. Curious. You would think health plans would be so interested in your health that they might hunt you down with all sorts of incentives for you to lose weight and get healthy this year. Maybe offer you some reductions on your co-pays or premiums if you lose weight, or reduce your blood pressure or something. And what about the pharmaceutical companies? They make drugs with indications that suggest better outcomes if used in addition to diet and exercise. So why are the healthcare companies not on TV or in the newspapers, or on Facebook or even in my mailbox? Maybe they’re still in Washington shaping the healthcare bill.

Or maybe they haven’t figured out the marketing mix in this space yet? Perhaps these companies should follow the lead of the well-oiled machines of health clubs, diet meals and fat burning pill makers. And there’s room because consumers spend billions in the diet and exercise industry each year. If you really want people to focus on improving their health, you have to get in the game of communicating that message. And it looks like they are willing to pay for the potential benefits.  

Your message needs to start with a strategy taken from the textbook of Marketing 101: STP — Segmentation Targeting and Positioning.  

1. Segment the market to see what group you want to go after.
2. Maybe your Target is the elderly or maybe it’s teenagers sitting around gaming all day instead of exercising.  
3. Then create your unique Position in the market with the 4 Ps of the marketing mix, Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

So what are you waiting for? Didn’t you know that most New Year’s resolutions have something to do with losing weight and getting healthy? Now’s the time to get in the game!