Wellness Branding: How To Brand & Sell Your Products To Get A Slice Of The $4 Trillion Global Wellness Economy

Yes, you read that right! Wellness is now a huge – and growing – market worth trillions. It is no longer just yoga classes and kale smoothies; the industry is now a fully mature behemoth riding a wave of unprecedented cultural acceptance.

 

While the Covid-19 pandemic might have added a burst of rocket fuel to the sector, it was already on an upward trajectory. People around the world have been flocking to the wellness banner over the last decade, but the last year and a half have firmly established it as a default, mainstream lifestyle choice.

 

Whether people come looking for a chemical-free, organic lifestyle or to detox from urban stresses, or to prioritize their mental or physical health – the paths may be diverse, but they all lead to the wellness ecosystem.

 

The sector itself is hugely diverse, and along with core segments of food, exercise, and relaxation, the industry also comprises tourism, spiritualism, beauty and personal care, clothes, and so much more.

 

So, if you are a part of this industry – which is worth the combined GDP of the United Kingdom and Canada – then you are on the right path. Even as the wellness patrons become more discerning and choice abounds, there is massive scope to grow your business.

 

However, a maturing market has its challenges. On the one hand, customers are actively looking for you and your offerings; on the other, they have many options to choose from. You need to stand out from the clutter while building your brand for the long haul –  that’s a tough ask from any business!

 

Here are some MUST-KNOW tips for building a wellness brand and selling more in the wellness economy:

 

1. Start Right With Professional Branding Services

The wellness industry is one of the most aesthetically pleasing; a quick look on Instagram will show you that beautifully packaged products and highly polished graphics paired with on-point messaging are the norm. These perfect branding examples are not the results of happy accidents; instead, they are a product of professional branding exercises.

 

Our first recommendation would be to work with a professional branding and design agency to get the right set of branding guidelines, style guides, and many such foundational elements for establishing a new brand. Don’t skimp! Your brand is forever, so get the best you can afford.

 

In brief, a branding exercise comprises the following steps

 

WHO ARE YOU?
Unpacking and discovering the core values of your business. Usually, in the form of workshop-style discovery sessions, this is where you concretize your company’s vision, mission, purpose, and value. These form the basis of most of your business decisions.

 

WHO DO YOU WANT TO SELL TO?
Defining your target market and its subgroups. While you might know, in general, the type of buyers who might be interested in purchasing your product/service, that is not enough to create a brand or a sales funnel. In this section of the branding program, you will work with marketing professionals to identify your TG and create detailed customer personas to understand what motivates them.

 

WHO DO YOU COMPETE WITH?
It is almost as important to know your competitors as to understand your customers. A detailed competitor analysis is useful to create benchmarks and also to glean new ideas from more experienced companies in your segment.

 

WHAT SHOULD YOU SOUND LIKE?
Using the results of some of the earlier steps, professionals will work with you and your team to develop a unified message, fix on a specific tone and type of personality that you would want to use consistently across all your marketing efforts.

 

WHAT SHOULD YOU LOOK LIKE?
The final step is the look and feel of your brand. This includes everything from the logo to the color palette to typography and other design elements.

 

For more in-depth information, you can download our FREE Health & Wellness Branding Mini Workbook or buy our book on Brand Strategy for Busy Entrepreneurs.

 

2. Focus on Authenticity and Credibility

In the wellness industry, winning the trust of the customer and the public at large is the only thing that matters. Essentially, people who invest in the wellness economy are trying to find an alternative to their every day, unauthentic, constructed lives. In this search for a genuine, more natural existence, credibility is paramount.

 

Our recommendation is to find your brand’s true values and stick to them.

 

3. Understand trends but be true to your core

Wellness as an industry has always been addicted to fads. While the word ‘fads’ tends to be used a bit mockingly while referring to wellness trends and products, there is no denying that every year a fresh idea or trend goes viral in the sector and wins diehard followers.

 

Flexibility in how you incorporate these new trends while still retaining your core values is the key ability needed to keep your brand fresh and relevant. 

 

 

4. Know your Customers

With the branding exercise behind you, you now have a detailed segmentation of your target audience groups. However, it is vital to go beyond paper personas and listen to your customers. Actively solicit reviews and feedback, dig into online analytics to understand buyer behavior, and do market surveys and research to create a multi-dimensional picture of how your target audience engages with your offerings.

 

In this exercise, understanding must be followed by an ability to course correct and make hard decisions. You can download your exercise here – Ideal Client Blueprint.

 

 

5. Expand Your Partner Ecosystem

While you might have started small, there is no reason to stay that way.  One of the quickest ways to expand product range or geographical reach is by creating partnerships with complementary services and products. For example, if you want to enter a new country, a profit-sharing model with a local partner would give you access to their established customer base, manufacturing, and more. From making supply chains more sustainable to overcoming regulatory and licensing bottlenecks to benefiting from local cultural and language knowledge –  carefully selected and well-nurtured collaborations can provide companies exponential growth opportunities.

 

6. Customer Loyalty Programs

One of the most helpful strategies to create sticky customers is loyalty programs. These work exceptionally well in the wellness market as most users are already inclined towards long-term associations. Once they find what they like, a loyalty program will keep them engaged and open continuous sales pipelines.

 

7. Shift To Digital Technology

The future is digital, and wellness companies can gain tremendously from integrating technology solutions in their operations, delivery, sales, and marketing functions. In terms of incorporating special digital software or tools, Artificial Intelligence and Machin Learning can give businesses the ability to react in real-time with a great deal of flexibility. Costs can be optimized with predictive technology integrations and by adopting cloud-based solutions.

 

In the customer-facing landscape, digital marketing tools and automation can be of real value to wellness-related businesses regardless of whether the final sales touchpoint is physical or virtual.

 

Here we recommend really deep-diving into technology-based personalization to meet the demands of the end consumers. The Amazon model of online buying is so well-entrenched that it is almost the default, basic-level of interaction that people have come to expect.

 

8. Other Marketing Tactics

Every industry and its core target audience has its marketing best practices. In the wellness economy,  some of the strategies that can impact profitability are:

• Plan to capitalize on seasonal or event peaks – There is always renewed interest in wellness products and services during specific times, such as after the holiday season or during stressful life events. Creating marketing peaks around the calendar or linking offerings to customer pain points is a tested model for riding demand waves.

 

• Leverage word of mouth marketing – In the US and Europe, 10 -15% of consumers buy products based on influencer recommendations. In China and Brazil, this number is close to 50%. As a key decision point for potential wellness, patrons are trust, credibility, and authenticity of the brand, and the product, word of mouth, or influencer recommendation are especially suited to the wellness industry.

 

• Personalization marketing – Brands must divide their large target audience groups into smaller, more detailed personas and focus on creating messaging storytelling for each specific consumer group.

 

 

9. Don’t forget the delivery model

And finally, ensure that the customer experience created online during the sales journey continues until the product lands in the customer’s hands. Think through your delivery systems, packaging, and post-sale customer interactions to keep the process seamless and engaging for the people who will be using your product or service.

 

Let your customer guide you!

The wellness industry is slated for continued growth over the next decade and even beyond. The pandemic has created a wave of renewed commitment towards prioritizing physical as well as mental health, and this shift is likely to be permanent. However, there is no denying that it’s a competitive market to function in, and businesses – young and old – will do well to keep their ear to the ground and think critically about their marketing strategies. We believe that two age-old marketing principles remain true for wellness businesses –  listen (really listen) to your customers and be ready to embrace change.

 

If you need help getting started, then may we suggest a quick read-through of our FREE Health & Wellness Branding Mini Workbook or you can contact us here.