Business Skills

Most retail dietitians need to be proficient writers as a means of reaching their target shopper audience. Whether it’s authoring blog articles, ad copy, media scripts or social posts, being able to communicate concise, meaningful messages is vital. Becoming a good writer takes time and practice. Below are some tips to improve your writing skills to ensure your content is engaging and actionable.

Regardless of what stage you are at in your career, success can be contributed in large part by the relationships you develop inside and outside of the office. Effective networking not only provides the opportunity to learn from different individuals, but you can also reap the benefits of association and growing your own influential power. Here are some tips for improving your networking skills:

Do you wonder if elements of your role as a retail dietitian cross a line with the dietitians’ professional code of ethics?

As retail dietitians encourage shoppers to make healthier choices at retail, it’s essential to help the shopper break the autopilot habit and begin purchasing more nutritious options as a new routine.

My local grocery store recently went through a remodel. Even thought it’s been a few months now since the remodel completion, I still can’t find items when I shop. They’ve moved. All the aisles are reconfigured and products are now shelved differently. I find myself annoyed, seeing grocery shopping as more of a chore than ever before.

I’m always excited when I see retailers adding health and wellness and RD programs.  It showcases the commitment to helping shoppers live healthier lives in point-of-purchase environments.  As these programs launch, however, there are bound to be growing pains.  Retailers don’t often know what healthy living programs look like and RDs aren’t initially hired into the retailer at executive levels.  Growing pains.

The professional of dietetics is more than 90% female, skewing the culture in which many RDs historically work.  As you join the retail ranks, you’re quickly moved from a female-centric work environment to a male-dominated one.  To be successful in this culture, it’s essential to learn to navigate this environment.

Retail Dietitians work with recipes on a daily basis, in fact, sharing recipes is one of the main ways RDNs educate shoppers on how to use products in store. While some Retail RDNs may create their own recipes, many simply try to modify existing recipes to fit the need of their consumers, retailer and perhaps program sponsors. Jackie Newgent, RDN, CDN is a Culinary Nutritionist & Award-Winning Cookbook Author and she knows what goes into creating consumer-friendly recipes. Below she shares her tips for developing and modifying recipes for demos, media and more.

Retail Dietitians are pulled in many directions and need an effective plan to build successful marketing campaigns. Monica Amburn, MS, RD, LDN, Senior Director of Health & Wellness at Vestcom, shares these steps for streamlining the process to ensure your strategy hits the mark:

Leadership in the retail setting is not just for top management.  Any and all staff who manage people or projects or new initiatives must build strong leadership skills to be effective in the retail setting.  Retail hours are long.  All levels of retailers operate with lean staff. Sales targets often feel unreachable.  But those with effective leadership skills can thrive in this environment.