How to Stand Out in the Health and Wellness Industry
When you pour so much time, energy, and investment into your health or wellness business, it can be disheartening to feel like your brand is blending in with the rest. After all, the purpose of a brand is to stand out and attract more customers!
If you hit a plateau, there are several strategic ways to set your business apart. Think of it as a two-pronged approach of:
- Focusing inward on the elements that make your business, purpose, and offering so unique and irreplaceable, and
- Focusing outward on any market gaps where your brand could thrive.
Here are some actionable tips to make your business stand out in the health & wellness industry.
Get crystal clear on your purpose
There is a reason you started your business. You could have spent the rest of your life dreaming of an idea and saying you would start it “someday,” but something compelled you to take action. Something nudged you towards bringing your product or service to the world.
You took the risk to file the paperwork, to create the prototype, to sign the lease, to diverge from the well-worn path and blaze your own trail. You took the risk to invest in yourself even if you weren’t entirely sure whether your business would work out.
What is the “why” that started your entrepreneurial journey? What is the “why” that made those risks seem worth taking?
This question is not just a thought exercise. The most successful health & wellness brands are clear on what drives them, and they incorporate their “why” into their messaging, packaging, product design, branding, and every facet of their business.
In addition to your purpose, consider the big picture of where you want your business to be in five years. Remembering both why you started and where you’re headed can revive a sense of direction when considering how to make your brand stand out.
Observe your competitors
If you want your ideal clients to notice your brand, you first need to be aware of the visual designs and strategies your competitors are using.
Have you ever stood in a grocery store aisle and stared at the boxes of tea for five minutes, not knowing which to pick because they all looked the same? If you have a tea brand and you want to separate yourself from your competitors, you need to break this trend and actively find ways to stand out. It’s easier than it sounds — especially since you already defined your “why”!
If your tea is for sale on that shelf next to other brands, your boxes need to have packaging that instantly catches the eye of your target and makes them feel a certain way. The details of how exactly you want your brand to make them feel will depend on your brand strategy.
Take a look at the visual branding of your three closest competitors, and consider how you can amplify the strengths that make your business different. Maybe your business is involved in social impact initiatives, or maybe your teas are harvested in the US, or maybe your teas have been formulated to reduce stress. All of those elements can be expressed through your colors, packaging, logo, website, and messaging.
Develop memorable visual designs
The very first branding element your audience sees is your visual designs.
You could have incredible content and a passionate founder, but if your visuals fall flat or aren’t memorable, the potential customers who stumble on your brand for the first time will not remember your business.
Wooden Spoon Herbs is a great example of a health & wellness brand that uses distinctive visual designs that resonate with its audience. Its tagline “Get back to the land & into your body” matches everything else about its branding and products which utilize muted earthy tones across the board.
When you see the Wooden Spoon Herbs website and social media accounts, you know instantly if their brand resonates with you or not — which is a key indicator of a strong and memorable brand.
One tip is to look for inspiration in other industries. Sometimes when we spend too much time within our own sector, it’s hard to remember the wide world of design possibilities.
If your meditation app shares some of the same brand attributes as a tech company, you can browse through the branding of tech startups to see if there are colors, fonts, images, or website features that you could put your own spin on.
Create valuable content
Once your visual designs attract attention, the written content for your business will let potential customers know what your brand is about. Content can take many forms, from the words on your product packaging to the copy on your website.
Sometimes as business owners we are too close to our businesses to clearly see what our customers love the most. It’s important to let your content strategy evolve as you gain a better understanding of what resonates.
For example, let’s say your business sells granola bars that include chia seeds. When you started your business, you thought the chia seeds would be a selling point so you created lots of blog and social media posts around the health benefits of chia seeds.
But when you look at the reviews, you discover that your customers never even mention chia seeds. Instead they say “These bars are an affordable snack, it’s so easy for me to bring them to work, I love the flavors…” If that’s the case, it’s time to switch your messaging away from chia seeds and towards what your customers actually want to see and hear from your brand.
Take a few minutes to comb through positive reviews you have received from happy customers and pick out the exact phrases they use. How can you use these phrases more prominently in your content?
Expand your audience
Successful businesses strike a balance of nurturing their existing audience while also introducing their brand to new potential customers on a continual basis.
There are so many ways to get your brand in front of new customers such as guest blogging on larger sites, creating a joint promotion with another brand, speaking at events and podcasts, using targeted advertising, and more.
Before embarking on any of these methods, the question to consider is: where is your ideal client spending their time? Where are they most likely to find your brand?
Are they reading Cosmopolitan magazine where they would be likely to see a product review? Are they wandering through the grocery store on Sunday mornings trying new product samples? Are they scrolling Facebook where they might click on your visually-interesting advertisement?
Also consider what your competitors are doing to expand their audiences — and more importantly, what they are not doing. For example, if your competitors are exclusively marketing online, you can stand out from them by offering in-person experiences or attending networking events.
As you get more eyeballs on your brand, your brand awareness and reputation will increase over time. Continue to experiment with new platforms or approaches that your competitors aren’t focusing on, and you will soon find your efforts attracting loyal and eager customers.
Aventive Studio helps health & wellness businesses build memorable brands that stand out in their industry. Our expert team can provide everything you need to grow your brand, from brand strategy and website design to copywriting and marketing execution. Learn more about our full suite of services and how we can help your business here.
Originally published at https://aventivestudio.com on June 4, 2020.
