How to Market a Product on a Health Message Board
You've created a product, put up a website, selected key words, emailed all your friends and contacts, joined LinkedIn, created spots on MySpace, Facebook and so forth--and yet your health-related product isn't selling. So, you go on eBay and give it a whirl. You buy Google ads. Still no action. What's wrong? Perhaps your health product needs a more personal approach--message board marketing. Message boards can be a powerful tool in selling health-related products. Most people who come to health message boards are looking for help, answers or relief. Buying a product that helps with a health matter is a popular activity on message boards; one good plug can sell hundreds of products. And yet, how you reach out to health message boards can make or break your marketing approach. Learn how to market a product on a health message board in this article, to build sales and exposure.
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Instructions
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Research the health condition that is associated with your product If your product helps with back pain, for instance, read up on all of the latest research on back pain. If your product helps people with insomnia, read the latest articles in PubMed or in other online journals to know your market well.
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Join 10 to 20 message boards that come up in a search engine search related to your product or the medical condition associated with your product.
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Create a spreadsheet that tracks your accounts at these various health message boards, including username, password, terms and conditions that might affect you, and posting dates. Learn more about posting dates in Step 4.
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Track your posts and posting dates. You will generate suspicion if your very first post on a new health message board includes a link to your product. Plan to post at least 10 messages that are not related to your product. This improves your marketing and involves "guerilla" marketing techniques, but it works. People on health message boards can be extremely wary of product links, in part because heavy-handed marketers abused health message boards in the past with spam.
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Search for a topic related to your product. Search for "back pain" and then find the posts on the health message board that are associated with that term. Carefully post a link to your product as a suggested form of relief or support for the person making the original post.
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Post links to other products, though never competitors' products. You will gain credibility if your posts include links to products other than your own.
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Continue posting on a regular basis. Even quick posts, like "Thank you!" or "Congrats!" or "Welcome!" help you to maintain credibility.
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8
Return to the health message boards every few weeks to add a new link to your marketing campaign.
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Tips & Warnings
You may find you enjoy certain message boards and become a regular; this is fine as long as it doesn't interfere with your marketing goals.
Never give unsolicited medical advice on a health message board.
