Mercola.com - A Star Business in the Natural Health Business

Mercola.com is a star business in the rapidly growing field of natural health and alternative health. Dr. Mercola, the site's owner has done the ultimate differentiation by creating a human-brand (how do you copy a human?) That human-brand is Dr. Mercola himself who appears in numerous YouTube videos touting the benefits of the products sold on the site. There are other human-brands in nearby niches such as Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Deepak Chopra. But overall, it seems that Dr. Mercola is doing a fantastic job of turning his brand in dollars. As one commenter on a discussion forum states: "Mercola mosty endorses anything he sells. He turned me off when he made a You-Tube spot selling his cookware he proudly says is made in China.
I for one don't care for his tactics myself. Mercola stands for "ME, MYSELF and I" when it comes to selling his products. All over priced as well."

On the other hand, Dr. Mercola has his legions of admirers who believe that his word is gospel. Take this forum post for example: "I love Dr. Mercola! He endorses every product he sells but none of his products are bad for you! Almost all health promoting stores like GNC or vitamin world sells unhealthy things (fat burners, carb blockers, processed foods). Dr. Mercola only sells healthy things. And, although they are highly priced, this products are all to a very high standard. I truely trust his site. In addition, he gives FREE advice! Something he probably couldn't do if he didn't raise money through selling health products. I trust everything Dr. Mercola says, even the raw milk thing."

So the important thing is that the Mercola brand stands for something. Mercola = Natural Health. This means that he alienates certain segments of the market which is what a perfect brand should be doing.

The business also boasts a natural health newsletter which is said to have over a million subscribers. Now having a million people willing to be sold your product is an absolute dream for a star business entrepreneur... isn't it?

Following are some reasons for Dr. Mercola's becoming such a big success:

1. Lots of free information that is search engine optimized (usually in Google's top 3 results.)
2. A very personal touch from Dr. Mercola. You'll see him all over the site.
3. Dr. Mercola comes across as being sincere and truthful. Even though some of his pitches sound very salesman-like, he comes across as somebody you can trust. This is reinforced by a few situations where he retracts on the advise he dispenses. He's also honest about mistakes he made in his own personal health (for example, he says that he lost his hair because of overtraining and certain dietary mistakes he made in the 70's.)
4. Dr. Mercola comes across like the little guy fighting a lone battle against big pharma and the broken healthcare system in the US.

The business is said to be worth $100 million at least (according to the book "The Wellness Revolution.") But it will be interesting to see who will want to buy it since Mercola.com without Dr. Mercola will lose it's essence of being the independent, honest voice.