For RDs: Breaking News! You Still Have Influence (even if you aren’t an “influencer”)

2/6/2021

For RDs: Breaking News! You Still Have Influence (even if you aren’t an “influencer”)

If you think about it, everyone has some degree of influence. You influence your friends, your family, your co-workers, clients, and most people you come into contact with.

No matter which area of dietetics you work in, you are still connecting with people to educate and share your nutrition message. So really, the term ‘influencer’ is a bit misleading, because we’re all influencers, even if you aren’t insta-famous.

So, if you’re still wondering how to position yourself to a brand if you don’t have a huge social media following, or what it is that brands want from RDs, or even places we see opportunities for RDs to work with brands- we’ve got all the info you need, below!


How to position yourself when trying to work with brands

Let’s kick it off by talking about what it is that brands want when partnering with RDs. The number one thing that you bring to the table is your credibility as an expert. But it is essential to remember that your RD credential is not your only value or your selling point (see Do’s and Don’ts for landing brand parnterhsips, here). The great news is that credibility is only one piece of the pie! 

Remember, they aren’t just looking for any RD, they are looking for the right experts for their brand. So, when it comes to positioning yourself to the brand you need to showcase the various value-adds you would bring to a partnership. What is the specific value you bring? It doesn’t need to be a large following. Remember, it should be a mutually beneficial partnership. Your value may lie in your specialty or niche, food photography skills, experience writing, upcoming events and presentations, your food allergies, dietary preferences, or personal experiences with food and nutrition, and on and on it can go! Truly there are so many different ways to partner and bring value. 

The key to positioning yourself is positioning your unique value. When positioning your value and what to highlight, consider the below list as things brands want from RDs.

What brands want from RDs:

  • Credibility
  • Trust
  • Ways to stand out
  • Brand Awareness
  • Product in the hands of their target consumer
  • Nutrition Insight – substantiate or help identify nutrition differentiators
  • Consumer Insight
  • Advice on product innovation
  • Nutrition communications 

Also, in your brand pitch, along with your unique value, be sure to include how your value relates specifically to their company, products, or what they stand for – it’s all about building the relationship and creating the best possible connections.


Areas of Opportunity

Opportunities are endless, really! Consider what you are currently offering to clients and think about where a brand may be able to fit in. Are you hosting a workshop, cooking class, or presentation? Do you have a membership, course, or podcast they could get involved with? Are you writing a cookbook? Do you love to write or develop recipes? Do you have experience in food science and want to offer your expertise on the product development side?

  • Offer to take over THEIR social media accounts (again you don’t need to have thousands of followers to be on the brand’s Instagram giving nutrition tips in your specific area of expertise!)
  • Share product samples with your clients 
  • Participate in ambassador programs
  • Write for their blog if the brand’s audience aligns with your expertise
  • Be a source for media mentions
  • Create content
  • Offer consultations on your specialty to help them learn more about communicating with this audience
  • Webinar sponsorship
  • Join RD-hosted conferences
  • Host workshops – Food Photography, Culinary Nutrition, etc.
  • Podcast ads
  • Sponsored speaking engagements & presentations
  • TV segments

See more ideas in this blog post too! Tell us, how have you worked with brands off of social media? Tag us with #linkrd to show or tell us what amazing things you are up to! 

For Brands: Finding Powerhouse Partners

2/6/2021

For Brands: Finding Powerhouse Partners

You likely already have a few partners who really are powerhouse partners, whether they build awareness, drive sales, regularly promote you on social media, or share product samples. If this doesn’t sound familiar to you or you are still seeking those powerhouse partners– we’re here to help!

To us and our Link brands, nutrition experts are some of the most powerful partners for a health and wellness company. Their expertise offers your brand credibility among consumers, helping you to stand out in the highly competitive better-for-you space. (Learn more about standing out in this competitive space, here).


Finding the RIGHT RDs

When we work with brands, rather than connecting them with any and all RDs, we focus on connecting them with the right RDs for their brand, thereby creating an atmosphere to build powerhouse partnerships! We (virtually) sit down with the company and ask them more about their target audience, current goals, upcoming campaigns, store launches, and more. We think critically and strategically about how certain dietitians could help to support bigger picture goals (read more here) like supporting key retailers, reaching ideal consumers, or contributing to company marketing campaigns.

When we do this initial download, we often find that we bundle RDs by their industry, specialty, or their location. Industry, meaning retail, media, clinical, private practice, corporate wellness, etc. Specialty meaning, gut health, plant-based nutrition, child nutrition, sports nutrition, diabetes, etc. And the location is usually to support various target markets or store launches.

To find the right RDs for your company, think through who it is that you are trying to target – and this may vary throughout the year. During back to school, you may be focused on reaching moms and kids, when you launch in a new retailer, you may be focused on reaching people in specific cities. At other times you may be interested in media, or podcasts, or guest blog writers.

The benefit of RDs is that the people they reach whether in their local communities, online, on tv, or in their practice are all interested in health and wellness. Their expertise gives them instant credibility and trust among the consumer.

So, where do you find these powerhouse partners? (Also, see Are RDs Right For My Brand?)


Where & How To Find RDs

Dietitians are visible both online and within their local communities and there are a handful of ways to find them.

Social Media

More and more RDs are now on social media, specifically Instagram. You can try searching for RDs with dietitian specific hashtags like #rdchat or #rdsofinstagram.

Google

If you have more time on your hands, you could always try to Google ‘dietitians near me’ or include more keywords for a specific type of dietitian.

FNCE

Typically, this is a highly recommended event for any brand seeking to connect with RDs. In the past, the annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) attracts over 10,000 RDs from all over the world to the conference each year. Due to the pandemic, the 2020 show moved online and they recently announced that they have decided to host the 2021 show online as well. RDs have shared that they enjoyed the virtual format for the education sessions but that a virtual brand expo was not as much of a draw as it usually is in person.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

This is the large organization of nutrition professionals. They offer state, national, and subgroup level sponsorships. If you have it in your budget, this can be an okay option for mass outreach to RDs.

Link

Naturally, we have to mention Link here! We created Link based off of our work consulting with brands by helping them to connect with RDs. As mentioned above, we most often find that brands need to seek out RDs based on their specific industry, specialty, and location. When Link brands access our RD database they can filter through the experts by exactly that– making finding your powerhouse partners accessible with just a few filters! 


Not all partnerships are created equal and while all nutrition experts bring a level of credibility and awareness to your brand, at Link we want all your partners to truly move the needle for your business and be powerhouse partners! We also don’t think it should be SO difficult to find partners that meet your specific goals, campaign needs, or new initiative KPIs. By using filters like location, specialty, and industry, among other factors, you can truly feel the powerhouse connection!

Link makes it easy to seek out sampling and partnership opportunities with the right experts for your brand. Create your free account here and see for yourself!

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