How to get into PR if you’re a nutritionist
I wasn’t always involved in science communications. After my PhD, I worked as a hospital dietitian, a food industry nutritionist, an administrator, and a university lecturer. But then I got bored and wondered if I could break into the world of public relations as it seemed exciting and fast paced.
I spotted an advert in PR Weekly for a London-based agency, called CCD, which specialised in nutrition comms, so I wrote a letter to the Managing Director - Justin Clark – to ask if there were any openings for me on a freelance basis – and he replied!
As luck would have it, Justin had just secured a new contract to promote an omega-3 fatty acid ingredient to consumer media. My expertise and knowledge fitted so I was able to work on the project. This led to several other PR projects and connections, enabling me to launch my full-time consultancy, Nutrition Communications.
This month, I’m celebrating 20 years in business, so I decided to ask Justin – who remains a friend and colleague – a few questions about how his business works with nutrition professionals.
How important is it to your business to work with nutrition experts?
Working with nutritionists is essential to our work. Most supplement brands are not bought because they taste or look good, they are bought because you trust they will help you in the way they say that they will help you. The best way to install trust in the product/brand is through trusted sources who are qualified experts in nutrition.
Consumers have great confidence in nutritionists and dietitians and are more likely to follow their recommendations than any self-promotion from the brand. They are also more likely to read a nutritionist’s comments, because they are independent compared with brand advertising.
In what ways do nutritionists contribute to your day-to-day work?
We ask them to assess health and wellbeing products, especially supplements, and give their qualified opinion in the form of a quote that we can include in press releases and media alerts. We are also working with more and more influencers that are nutritionists to push the product benefits out to consumers as trusted reviewers.
We connected 20 years ago when I wrote asking if you would consider giving me some freelance PR work. What persuaded you to take a chance on a nutritionist with no communications experience?
It was immediately obvious that you were very knowledgeable and professional. I didn’t have any concerns that you would not deliver and would probably add more value than we had requested for each piece of work, which turned out to be exactly the case. I thought that you may also be good at helping us pitch for business, which also turned out to be the case, being pivotal in winning the Horticultural Development Council account, which was a sizeable long-term client.
You’ve been in business now for 30 years! What’s the secret of longevity in the PR industry
Specialising and getting to know a sector inside out. One of our main selling points is that we can support brands across all aspects of marketing but stay in the narrow channel of health & wellbeing. We put a lot of emphasis on creativity in our approach to promoting products and consider ourselves content creators first and foremost, adapting to the myriad of channels that there now are. We also, fortuitously, specialised in our passion and this helps us to remain focused and be interested in the whole sector. Video meetings have meant that we can work closely with a much wider range of freelancers, having them in relevant meetings without hundreds of miles of travelling for everyone.
What would you advise nutritionists who would like to work in the PR industry?
Research any PR agencies that have, or have had, supplement clients. These agencies will know that expert endorsement is key in this sector and will want a range of nutritionists to tap into. It’s good to have a specialism in an area of nutrition so that the media can flag you as an expert. If you’ve written a book, been involved in research, supported an institution or government agency, then make it known. Perhaps even have a page on your website with how you can help PR agencies.
Costs are important, many nutritionists price themselves out of the market, so give a range of services. For example, you can help the agency keep the costs down by giving a lower cost if they draft the quotes and you edit/approve them. If you are just starting, then it would be good to generate some case studies by offering some time/quotes for free in exchange for being able to publish feedback. How you give credibility to a product is similar to how a client can give credibility to you.