So you’ve decided to become a wellness guru. Or maybe you’re looking to launch your own range of wellness products. Perhaps you would like to create a wellness community to bring like-minded people together online.
When it comes to marketing a brand or product in the wellness category, you need to sort certain things out for yourself before creating a relationship with your audience–certain marketing concepts that can help you build a more solid brand.
Apart from the usual considerations, it’s also important to keep in mind that, by virtue of the industry you are in, importance must be placed on ethical practices. It’s called “wellness,” after all.
There are many marketing courses out there, both free and paid, but whether you’re looking to build the brand yourself or hire a provider of social media solutions, here are the basics that you will need to reflect on and identify.
Who are you?
The first thing you need to have sorted out is your identity. Even if you’re not necessarily marketing yourself as a person, your brand or your product has to have an identity. It is the foundation of your wellness brand, and it will dictate so many decisions about it moving forward.
One way to figure this out is to think of a persona for your brand. Imagine an actual character and detail their personality, habits, and preferences. It will help shape your brand’s voice and enable you to communicate with a specific, identifiable tone.
Once you’ve figured this persona out, all your communications and messaging must be made in this character’s voice.
Who are you for?
You’ll need to consider your market, your audience. As a wellness product, your brand is obviously targeted towards people who might need more wellness in their lives or people who are already interested in the category. This segment is still too broad, though.
For more effective marketing, try to get more specific. Who are these people, where are they, and why would their lives be improved by consuming your product? This time, step into the shoes of the people who would potentially be interested in your brand.
What do you want to say?
At the end of the day, marketing is communication. It’s all about sending a message out there. It isn’t quite possible to do so if you don’t know what it is you want to say.
Your key message is often best summed up in a tagline or slogan. But even before you figure that out, you will need to know what that tagline or slogan must convey. Whether you compose it on your own or hire a copywriter, you will need to identify that message.
Remember that whatever it is you want to communicate must reflect the first two questions—your brand voice and your target market. Your message must be conveyed in a manner that suits your brand and resonates with your audience.
Where do you want to be?
Marketing isn’t just about the message. It’s also about where you want to send out that message.
Is your product something that is best marketed in person, at weekend markets, or in boutiques? Or it something that exists solely in the digital space, like a wellness vlog or online community?
Where your products will exist and where your marketing will be presented can be two separate things, but it is important to think about your audience once again.
If you’re not as digital savvy, there are social media solutions available for you to help you navigate the world of digital marketing.
Why do you exist?
A brand’s raison d’être is important, regardless of industry and category. Still, it seems like it is most essential for products in the wellness category, whether to improve people’s well-being or create more sustainable ways of doing things.
For this reason, it is important to always keep this north star in mind when creating a marketing plan for your wellness brand. Yes, this is still a business, and you still need to think about profit, but if you lose track of your mission and social impact, you lose one of the most important things that makes you a wellness brand. Here’s a great video on the importance of arriving at your brand’s “why.”
Every decision you make in marketing your wellness product must reflect your voice, audience, and clear message. But at the end of the day, your decisions must further your product’s role in creating wellness in the lives of others.
