Written by Paige Snell

Tucked away in the beautiful settings of the Wasatch Mountain range, Nutravate by Compound Solutions 2022 inaugural summit was held at Montage Deer Valley with the Pharmatech team in attendance.  This summit brought together industry experts and leaders from all parts of the country for a day of educational workshops and networking.  We’re here to break down everything we learned about building stronger, more innovative businesses in the nutritional supplements industry!

The day kicked off with an opening from Compound Solutions CEO Matt Titlow that walked us through examples of observation when it comes to creating innovative products.  We were taught to think widely when finding our target market to avoid the tunnel vision that so often happens in product development.  Copywriters need to understand the market, formulators need to understand the story, and online experts need to understand what came before to find our target market.  This is something we excel at but know we must continuously update our knowledge of the ever-changing world of nutritional supplement formulation.

The next session was all about market research to better understand the target market.  Titled “The Perfect Formula”, we were given tips and tricks for deep diving into our customers’ needs and recognize what triggers a consumer to purchase.  Stefan Georgi is one of the top direct response copywriters in the world and gave us a masterclass in understanding our audience, finding stories to connect with consumers, and highlighting ingredients to deliver the best formula.  We left this session with a better sense of who our customer is and how we can fulfill their every need.

Before our mid-day break for lunch, we heard from the team at McCormick FONA who led us through an interactive session on creating a crave-worthy product.  Flavor is the most important purchase driver for food or beverage, and we learned how to optimize your formulation to maximize your flavor potential when building an innovative product (one of our core-competencies!).  Some optimal flavor tips include using congruent flavors when combining ingredients, as well as taste modifications to mask or enhance certain essences.

We came back from our break to a lesson in natural flavoring and sweetening taught by Sensapure Flavors master flavorist, Scott Zimmerman.  Another interactive session, we were guided through the flavoring process on natural vs. artificial sweeteners and shown solutions for bitterness dilemmas.  We love the all-natural, but always cater to the needs of our clients.  Natural stories require natural solutions, so when dealing with bitterness it’s best to either combine natural sweeteners or use natural bitter blockers to help mask any astringent flavors that may be present.

The Snow Agency taught us all about how to scale our brands online in the next session.  There are strategic ways to ensure we are advertising on the right platform, and the Snow team helped map out a custom approach to online conversion.  Content is huge for growing your brand online, and they recommend at least 8 new creatives per month.  Brand awareness is the best way to advertise, and using creators on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and other major social media sites can help boost sales and increase brand longevity.

Last but most definitely not least, we heard from professor at Kellogg School of Management and author of The Human Element, keynote speaker Loran Nordgren.  He walked us through the philosophy of fuel vs. friction when it comes to business gains, fuel being the force that ignites change and friction the force that opposes.  We learned that considering frictions rather than adding more fuel paves a better path to real business growth.  He broke down the anatomy of an idea into four parts: Inertia, Effort, Emotion, and Reactance.  Using this chart, we can better understand the frictions that may be holding customers back, ultimately leading to higher success and advancement with your innovative product.

From breakfast in the promenade to cocktails on the grand terrace, we were amazed at the luxuriousness of the entire event and couldn’t be happier that we got to take part in the first ever Nutravate Summit.  We were able to network with the industry’s finest and gained valuable knowledge in the world of nutraceuticals.  We can’t wait to put our innovations into action and hope to attend each coming summit (next stop: Mexico? 😀).  Thank you again to Compound Solutions for helping us further our ability to serve our customs with quality, knowledge, and yummy ingredients!

Pharmatech Labs

Pharmatech Labs is a nutritional contract manufacturer specializing in liquid and powder supplements. We can collaborate with you on everything from your product’s conception to your packaging and fulfillment, making the process smooth and easy for you.  We keep our customers at the forefront of everything we do to ensure the highest satisfaction levels so you can focus on perfecting your products while trusting us with manufacturing them.