How to Get the Perfect Logo for Your Health & Wellness Business

In the health and wellness industry, it’s not always easy to have visual designs that make your business stand out.

 

I’m sure you’re aware of the similar (almost identical!) logos and designs that different companies use. Have you ever noticed how spas almost always use the same logos and colors as each other? Or how most yoga studios use similar graphics in their websites and social media?

 

When this happens, there is simply not enough differentiation. If potential customers don’t see a clear and immediate difference between Yoga Studio 1 and Yoga Studio 2, they will get confused and go with whatever is easier or cheaper even if it isn’t the best option for them. If a business’s name is not particularly unique either, it’s another lost opportunity for an entrepreneur to grow their brand.

 

 

For example, let’s say a person goes to a class at Yoga Studio 2 but doesn’t remember the studio’s name. When she gets coffee with her yoga-loving friend two weeks later, she won’t be able to recommend the studio whose name she forgot – and that yoga studio will never get her friend as a potential client. The same phenomenon applies to your business, no matter if you offer product or services.

 

Another reason why it’s so hard to stand out in the health & wellness industry is that you need to attract attention while also following certain norms. While there are exceptions, you typically can’t have a colorful and super fun logo for your private medical clinic, or an aggressive and bold logo for a massage studio, or a super dark heavy-metal looking website for your face lotions. Your customers need to be able to identify what industry you’re in, which limits your options.

 

So, what can you do? How do you differentiate your logo in the health and wellness industry from everything that already exists?

Identify Your Ideal Client (but really!)

 

You can start by identifying your ideal client. Notice how I said “client” – I truly mean one client. One type of person. Only one.

 

Your ideal clients might be people in their 30s who are open-minded and are looking to buy healthy cookies for their everyday convenient snacks. Your overall customer base could also include men and women who are in their 40s and 50s and live anywhere in the world (if you sell your cookies online). A lot of different people could buy your products, and they will.

 

 

However, when it comes to branding, you need to imagine one specific person when designing the logo. Wouldn’t it be easier to have one ideal client who is 34 years old, lives in Austin, and loves to go to a local coffee shop on Saturday mornings versus designing a logo to attract all people in their 30s, 40s and 50s, that live all over the world and go to all kinds of coffee shops and like cookies?

 

For design purposes, you need to have your one ideal client defined. And, as I always say: by focusing on one person, you aren’t excluding the rest of your potential customers. They will still see you! Those people in their 40s and 50s all around the world can still find your business – you are just giving your brand a sense of focus so it makes a strong impression on your target.

 

 

Work on Your Brand Voice

 

How do you want to sound to your ideal client? Just like all the other similar brands? Of course not!

 

You will want people to trust you since your business is in the health industry, and you will want people to feel safe when using your product or service, but how do you separate yourself from the competition that already looks established?

 

My main tip is to go deeper into your ideal client’s positive characteristics and “borrow” those for your brand. Your brand is like a person, and if a person can be friendly then your brand and business can be friendly too.

 

Look closely into what kind of a person your ideal client is. Is she positive, organized, or relaxed? If so, you can make your logo, colors, website, and other brand elements reflect that. You could use colors like orange, pink, and purple that feel positive. You could organize the layout of your website pages with a lot of white space to evoke a feeling of relaxation. Your designer will have additional ideas on how to express your brand voice visually.

 

We created this free mini-workbook to help health & wellness entrepreneurs identify the core personality traits of their brand and express them through visual designs! Get your free copy of the branding workbook here:

 

Develop a Brand Strategy

 

A brand strategy is basically a plan for your brand. It’s not quite the same as a business plan: a business plan is more focused on how your business will make money, while a brand plan is focused on how you will attract the perfect customers to your business.

 

As a quick example, let’s say you have a makeup line and you’re not sure where to focus on getting customers. You could focus on Instagram, or Facebook, or maybe you need to build an email list, or maybe you should create tutorial videos, or maybe you should go to local stores and see if they will stock your products… the list of ideas is overwhelming.

 

Since you can’t be everywhere, a brand strategy will tell you where exactly you should promote your business in order to see the best results in your sales and audience growth.

 

You can learn more about brand strategy here, and we also created an online course that shows health & wellness entrepreneurs how to build a brand strategy – click here to check it out. If you have any questions or would like Aventive Studio to create the strategy for you instead, you can contact us here.

 

 

Logo Design for Health & Wellness Businesses

 

After you have a long-term plan on what your health & wellness brand needs to do to grow, you can work with a designer to create your logo.

 

It’s really important to have a logo that is easy to use, timeless, functional, unique and memorable. First impressions are the most important, and your logo is usually your first impression! You don’t want to lose clients one the sole basis that your visuals were not good enough.

 

Some businesses try to save money by buying pre-made logos online, but I highly recommend against this. A designer will help you pick the right colors that resonate with people who need your offerings, a font that your target will love, and a style that matches your brand’s voice. You simply can’t get that level of hands-on expertise and support from an online template that other brands have already downloaded.

 

 

I’ve also seen entrepreneurs using logos that are “trendy”. That’s great for now, but what happens when that trend goes away? You would either look outdated or go through a rebrand, and your business would lose all the brand awareness you had been building over time.

 

Your logo needs to be able to represent your company both now and in the future. Other graphics like Instagram posts, website images, and promotional flyers can follow the trends, but a logo absolutely cannot. A logo design needs to be timeless.

 

Your health & wellness logo also needs to be functional and simple enough to be scaled to any sizes. From large billboards to tiny post-it notes or pens, your logo design should fit on a variety of mediums without losing its quality. If your logo has too many elements, it won’t be very visible and recognizable when its size is reduced.

 

If you’re interested in learning even more about design elements, I wrote a more in-depth article here called 3 Essential Design Elements for Your Logo.

 

 

When we talk about health and wellness businesses, some entrepreneurs decide to “play it safe” and go with whatever comes to mind first – even if it’s an idea that other companies in the same industry have been using, or something we have all gotten used to seeing.

 

How many times have you already seen a cross as part of a logo in the health industry, and how many times have you seen a lotus flower in the wellness industry? Should I even mention that the most common colors are blue and pink? That’s what I mean when I say that a lot of wellness logos blend together and are too similar.

 

With that in mind, focus on hiring a designer that specializes in the health and wellness industry (like we do) so you end up with designs that genuinely stand out and separate you from the competition.

 

We created a quick quiz to help you take the next right branding steps for your health & wellness business! Take the quiz here and receive personalized guidance on how to attract more customers:

Revisions and Final Designs

 

Your health & wellness business has its own unique purpose that you defined by going through the brand strategy process. Now it’s time to present that purpose to the people that matter the most – your potential clients!

 

When a designer translates your brand strategy into a logo and other visuals, they follow important design principles such as the psychology of colors, shapes, and placements to determine the best possible design options that represent your business.

 

While going through this process, the designs are rarely done and completed on the first try. It’s a process of developing, planning, designing, creating, and solving a bigger problem, so your logo will have some revisions and adjustments along the way. It always does, and this is important to remember so you don’t expect to immediately see the final designs. It will take some time.

 

During this collaborative process, you and your designer need to be aligned and focused on your ideal client. Your ideal customers are the ones who need to trust your brand and feel that purchasing from you is the best decision. So, when designing your health and wellness logo and other branding elements, focus on the client – always!

 

 

Many different factors go into designing a logo – it’s way more complicated than just opening a design program and putting a graphic with the name of your company below.

 

I hope this educational article was helpful for your business. If you have any further questions about logo design or branding for the health & wellness industry, you can contact us at [email protected] or simply fill out this form here!