How Core Med Science Doubled Its Practitioner Program with UpPromote

CHALLENGE

• Most revenue came from wholesale deals with professional and collegiate teams, which buy at special pricing.
• Full-price, direct-to-consumer sales were the channel the brand needed to grow.

SOLUTION

• A practitioner affiliate program built through one-to-one LinkedIn outreach by a registered dietitian.
• A tiered program for content creators, plus zero-commission codes for wholesale partners, all run on UpPromote.

RESULTS

• 78 new practitioners added in six months, doubling the practitioner program to 144 members.
• Each new practitioner’s discount code goes live within 30 minutes of onboarding.

LESSONS

• Professionals who recommend supplements every day make credible, high-intent affiliates.
• Fast, consistent onboarding lets one person scale a program through personal outreach.

Core Med Science is a U.S. supplement brand. It sells creatine, collagen, protein powder and vitamins, including NSF Certified for Sport formulas.

The brand’s biggest customers today are professional and collegiate sports teams. Its next goal is to grow sales directly to consumers.

Grace Evans, a registered dietitian and Core Med Science’s sales manager, manages the brand’s 220 wholesale accounts. She also runs its affiliate program on UpPromote.

Why is Core Med Science investing in direct-to-consumer sales?

Team accounts bring volume, but they come with special pricing. Grace sees direct-to-consumer as the channel the brand has to grow.

We’re not going directly to consumer on our biggest revenue stream, but it needs to be.

Her reasoning is simple: individual customers are “the ones that are paying full retail price,” unlike the brand’s team accounts.

That makes affiliates, who reach individual buyers, a strategic channel rather than a side project.

How does Core Med Science build its affiliate programs?

A practitioner program built on personal outreach

Core Med Science runs two affiliate programs: a tiered program and a practitioner program. Grace owns the practitioner side.

She recruits practitioners herself, one conversation at a time.

I do LinkedIn. It’s all my personal outreach.

The focus on practitioners is deliberate. They recommend supplements to clients every day, and their clients come in ready to change their habits.

When people go to dietitians, they’re looking for changes in their diet, whereas when they’re on TikTok, they may buy or they may not.

A tiered program for content creators

The tiered program is aimed at content creators and influencers who post about using products like the brand’s collagen. Core Med Science’s social media manager runs it.

The team is also working on content and resources to help creators promote the products more effectively.

Tracking wholesale discount codes

Grace also uses UpPromote beyond classic affiliates. She set up zero-commission accounts to track discount codes she creates for wholesale partners.

For example, when a player on the Tennessee Titans wants to buy for themselves, they can use a 20% professional-athlete code. UpPromote shows how many sales those codes generate.

One platform now covers creators, practitioners and wholesale partners.

What results has Core Med Science seen?

Grace joined Core Med Science about six months ago. In that time, the practitioner program has grown quickly.

The brand added 78 new practitioners in six months, bringing the practitioner program to 144 members and doubling it since launch.

UpPromote has allowed me to expand our affiliate program by adding on an additional 78 practitioners in six months, which has doubled the program since it’s been started.

Speed is a big part of it. Each new practitioner’s discount code is live within 30 minutes of their onboarding meeting.

It’s an efficient process to onboard everyone the same way.

Grace added that the growth has also increased sales, though the brand has not shared figures.

What’s next for Core Med Science?

Core Med Science recently moved its store to a new Shopify storefront and is bringing its affiliates over to it. “That’s been really successful,” Grace noted.

Next, the team is working on better promotional content for creators. Grace also wants the social media manager, who runs the tiered program, to learn more about growing it.