Promoting Meat For Better Fitness Training

This generation is seen as the most health-conscious generation of all time and people are controlling what they eat as well as increasing their physical activity

by Ronnie Cons

Millions of men and women are jogging, training and lifting weights to look and feel their best. As such, the question begs. Is there anything that the meat department manager can do to increase the sales of his products to this large segment of athletes and gym enthusiasts? The answer is a resounding yes! Below is found some practical advice to target this segment.

“Meat Departments can target the Fitness Trend for Increased Meat and Poultry Sales”

 

KNOWLEDGE FIRST

The first step is for the meat manager to become knowledgeable of the literature that explains the benefits of meat and poultry consumption for athletes and persons who train.

Some of the facts are:

Muscles are made of protein. That is why athletes who are building muscle strength increase their meat protein consumption.

The protein and zinc found in meat are important for muscle growth and repair.

Meat is a complete protein as it contains all of the nine essential amino acids that your body cannot make by itself. Meat supplies the amino acid building blocks for muscle protein synthesis.

Meat can be both low in fat and high in protein. For example, one eight-ounce strip steak has about 52 grams of protein and just 6 grams of fat.

Red meat has about 15 mg of niacin per every half pound. Niacin increases dilation (the expansion of blood vessels), which is important for athletes.

Beef is a great source of Iron, which is important for oxygen delivery especially for athletes and runners.

It is recommended that persons doing weights take protein about half and hour after the workout as well as before bedtime. It is explained that taking meat protein before bed will prevent the body from taking its needed energy from muscle stores. Thirty to fifty grams of protein is recommended by many. It will provide the body the protein and minerals to repair and build muscle tissue from the days workout. In addition, it is recommended to consume protein and other items a few hours before the workout so that protein will be available for the bodies needs right after the workout.

Meat provides plentiful levels of B vitamins which convert carbs into energy.

According to Girdwain, a sports nutritionist, Lamb is a great source of Omega-3, which is important for heart health, which concerns all athletes wanting to increase their cardio levels. Girdwain recommends to all athletes to “Spread your protein intake throughout the day, eating some at each meal. Doing so is better for bone health, muscle mass, and satiety.”
 
TARGETING THE MARKET

Once the above fitness benefits of meat are clear the meat manager must then communicate these benefits to this large target market of athletes and fitness trainers. This target market ranges widely in age but a large segment of it is composed of 20-45-year-old males and females. The males often focus on cardio and muscle building while the females focus more on cardio, weight loss, endurance and body form building (i.e. Gluts). The manager can start by splitting this market into the male and female components. In regard to the male market the manager can do the following to target the message to this segment:

Develop posters promoting the above health benefits. They should be placed in the meat department as well as in strategic locations in the mall where allowed.

Develop flyers on the topic and place them with permission in fitness clubs. The flyer can have a voucher for a free tasty sample of a meat item promoted as a “Meat Protein Fitness Supplement”. This free sample can be wrapped in a fitness decorated wrapper. The meat manager should speak to the customer at the time he brings the voucher. He should educate him on some of the above benefits and ask the athlete to take the Meat Protein Fitness Challenge. The athlete is asked to increase his meat protein intake for two weeks as indicated above (before and after work outs) and then to come back to discuss his results. One idea is for the store to supply the meat for free to a handful of these athletes. One person per gym is selected for free, for a total of say five persons. The others can get a discount. The hoped-for result will be athletes located at several gyms seeing positive results and shifting to more meat purchases for their protein. The happy athletes will then become meat protein ambassadors to their friends at their gyms, motivating even more purchases.

Social marketing including blogs and YouTube videos promoting the above Meat Protein Ambassadors and the Meat Protein Fitness Challenge will help draw even more fitness enthusiasts to the meat department.

Promoting Meat and poultry for fitness and training – a Great way to drive fitness performance as well as meat and poultry sales.

Ronnie P. Cons is CEO of C&C Packing Inc., a leading distributor of meat and poultry. He can be reached at RCons@CCpacking.com