functional foods | Content for Biz Inc.

As a content writer and strategist I go through a lot of information every week. I rely on my own systems (using various methods for filtering the glut including Google Reader that I described in another post). I keep them in a “Smart Ideas” file. I remember some content from mere memory. Smart ideas don’t grow easily but this week’s plums were there for the picking.

From the Supply Side Community forum Alissa Marrapodi, managing editor for Inside Cosmeceuticals, writes:

“The consumer is driving the cosmeceutical market. No longer are manufacturers introducing niche markets and suggesting consumers’ needs proactively; but the consumer is putting their demands out there via social media, etc., and manufacturers are now reacting and responding to consumers. The shelves are not setting the trends; consumers’ demands are…A total of 63 percent of purchasing is driven by beauty blogs.”

From Seth Godin’s blog post on How to be Interviewed:

“If your answers aren’t interesting, exciting or engaging, that’s your fault, not the interviewer’s. “ He also says that interviewees don’t need to take every question posed literally. Redirect and talk about what you care about.

From a live conversation with Investment Banker Doug McConnell:

After a meeting with owners of a B2B company start up, Doug said to me: “It’s good to have an outside source filtering industry information to them. Entrepreneurs tend to become insular, only seeing what they want to see.”

Questioning Smart Ideas

Sometimes I ponder questions posed in an article, even when it’s the smartest sounding idea. In her article, A Better Way to Get Vitamins, Anita Marlay, R.D., L.D. writes: “Really, wouldn’t eating an orange for a snack make better sense than eating a processed fruit snack with added vitamin C?”

It would seem so, but another choice is emerging through the fast growing Functional Foods industry. Commercial organic farm operators that pick fruit when it’s ripe and freeze dry it immediately can create powerful antioxidant rich compounds. New ORAC (total antioxidant capacity measurement) tests show a fresh plum has an ORAC value of 9.49 (per gram); compared to a dried plum (prune) with an ORAC value of 57.7 (per gram). The same is true of grapes. Fresh grapes have an ORAC value of 4.46 (per gram) versus dried grapes (raisins) which have an ORAC value of 28.3 (per gram).

What makes sense is that drying removes the water and concentrates the antioxidants. Bio technology firms are positioned to partner with companies to offer new food or beverage products that are not only convenient but lend scientific support to the effects of added nutritional ingredients. That’s a long answer to her question, but sometimes it’s good to stop and think about what you know.

Do you have a smart ideas file? How do you retain those you’ve read or heard?

Knowledge workers spend 2 ½ hours a day searching for information to do their jobs. That’s what Ardath Albee, author of E-Marketing Strategies for the Complex Sale, said at the ConFab content strategy conference a few weeks ago. Scott Abel, who blogs at The Content Wrangler showed how efficient the content curation process can be using social networks. Steven Rosenbaum, author of Curation Nation, discussed how human choices are not made with algorithms.

Because the B2B buying cycle is long content must include depth, diversity and dimension according to Albee. Here is my practical 3D view on what these speakers were talking about. Good content writers who know how to curate can lessen a prospects search time by creating content that matters.

Add Depth by Collecting

The call for focused, edited, or filtered information is important from one end of the buying cycle to the other. We need to create meaning. Some ways of doing this are to talk with your own subject matter experts. Every company has them. You can also search the deep Web using the word “database” after your subject topic. For example, I am working with product developers in the functional foods industry. My search term would be: “Functional Foods database.” My search results lead me to information from PubMed and other credible sources. Another entryway to the deep Web is using “site: edu” in your search. The term “Functional Foods site:edu” brings me to sources at UC Berkley and the University of Michigan. Try searching your topic term followed with the words “white paper.” For good industry sources look at the bibliography of the white paper you find. That’s what brought me to Food Business News, Nutrition Business News, and Nutritional Outlook – all aggregators of good content for manufacturers, suppliers and distributors doing business in the functional foods industry.

Create & Diversify With Context

Content writers don’t create content in a silo. I often include the sales force from the beginning. I ask them what they know and what they need. Start collecting and creating information from within the company. What can the Human Resources and Engineering Departments add? Ask them.

Content writers sometime write for a persona, but we are aware that the audience is often made up of thousands of people with their own questions and concerns. We anticipate what they are looking for. I like the conversational tone on the Nutritional Outlook site: “Here’s where you’ll find information on.” It lists ingredients, market coverage, manufacturing know how, regulatory information, and research updates. Very simple, friendly and clear.

Here is another example at New Hope 360.com, that describes itself as a “digital marketplace that connects the healthy lifestyle industry from supply to shelf.” “Don’t see your product? It’s a big world of products, but we can help you cut through the clutter. List your company today to ensure that decision makers can find you!” They also have an “Editor’s Pick” column with a listing of relevant articles.

As content writers we know how to move site visitors from problem to solution. The buying process begins with the status quo and moves to a priority. Research is required. They ask: “What are the options?”We help them validate, then make a choice. We also monitor responses along the way.

Be Multi-Dimensional and Distribute

Content should be integrated through multi-platform channels including social media, blogs, articles, mobile and email. Your audience has an audience too. Ask them to share.

Deep content engages in different ways. It educates, offers expertise in the form of trends or methods, and adds ideas. Evidence can come from customer stories or your own. I found an article on the New Hope 360 site that included an interview with Shawn Parr, CEO of Bulldog Drummond, a branding and innovation consultancy in San Diego. He shares this advice: “Think about your origin story—not only about how your company was started, but also where your ingredients come from and the relationships you have with your suppliers.”

Scott Abel shows the efficiency of a content curation process using his own twitter account as an example. He sets up an RSS feed to gather information, then reviews and approves what goes out for distribution. By carefully choosing what is distributed, he reduces the noise and adds value to the conversation through social networks.

The master at video curation is Steven Rosenbaum, author of Curation Nation and CEO at magnify.net. He says in the book that discerning quality is a human task, not to be allocated to search engines. Content curation needs qualitative judgment. Since there are no longer gatekeepers, access to an audience will come from gathering, creating and distributing the best and most relevant content. He was kind enough to sign his book for me at the Confab conference. In it he wrote: “In a busy world on the move – curation will make us trust again.”

How are you creating more efficient ways of creating and collecting information that matters?

Tag: functional foods

The Smart Ideas File