The marketing issues of my first SaaS application, Foods & Diets

I already wrote about Foods & Diets in September 2019, only then it was called Insaneplan. I then asked for feedback, knowing that could have impact. At that time I only had a calorie counter and now, 4 months later, I have a complete Diet Support Platform. What happened?

Conversations with marketers

Soon I got in touch with some marketers who pointed me to certain things concerning SaaS.

Marketing and the feathers of Foods & Diets

In September with Foods & diets you could:

• Record your eating habits.
• Count the calories and calculate your BMI.
• Get instructions from your coach.
• Coaches can add supplements with affiliate links.

The internet marketer I spoke told me that additional options were needed with which users could share achievements about their F&D performance on Social Media. For example, if they have successfully completed a diet. Or achieve other goals. To make that possible, they had to be able to choose and follow a diet.

I didn’t have to think long about that, it would be a lot of work but it would certainly benefit the web app. With short breaks I added the following functionality to Foods & Diets:

• Coaches can add diets with existing or new products.
• Diets can consist of 1 or more days, whether or not in a specific order.
• Users can choose which diet they want to follow.
• The daily diet is presented as a coach instruction.
• If users reach a milestone, they can post it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit and WhatsApp.

Marketing and the name of the service

Insaneplan may sound good, but it also raises questions. Is it a Madness plan? Who will look for that? And do they find what they were looking for? The chances are bad. Although Insaneplan is a brand that we can burn, it is better to choose a name where you immediately understand what it is about. The best 5 letter words are of course already taken. Only diets.com was for sale. Wow, I would like that! But … an opening bid of 25,000 USD was expected and that could easily go up to 100,000 USD. That seemed a bit too much for a start-up without a budget. And so I chose FoodsAndDiets.com. A 13 letter word, that is still within the margin. Moreover, it covers the load.

Foods & Diets in practice

I was lucky that I soon came in contact with a lifestyle coach who saw the potential of Foods & Diets. During several test sessions we added 4 diets from her. In between the sessions, I made improvements to the platform so she could better understand how it works. I have also expanded the platform with several options. A coach can now:

• Add exercises as a product.
• Hide the affiliate link so that it is only visible at the beginning or end of a diet.
• Generate a QR code of their diet so that you can print it in brochures and diet books.
• Include YouTube videos (instructions) in the diet.

The current status of Foods & Diets

To attract users, there must be attractive content on the platform. That means, enough diets to choose from and follow. Then we can realy start pitching the platform. This weekend I started approaching diet authors and asked them to add their diets. They can refer to these diets in their books and websites. Moreover, they are rewarded for every active follower of their diet. This can mean a huge up-sell for their book or service. They only have to spend time putting together the diet. I am very happy with the responses I have received so far. I’m also going to think about promoting Foods & Diets after there are enough diets in it.
But more about that next time …

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