Health-conscious consumers are looking for guidance that they can trust. For communities that they can belong to, and for experiences that align with their wellness journey. 

Showing people that this is you, that can be a little difficult. The market is saturated, full of ‘specialists’ trained by YouTube, and it’s not always easy to stand out. If you’re running a health and wellness business, here’s how to run your marketing with purpose. 

Start with Why-Driven Branding 

You can slap gorgeous branding on your marketing materials, do all the right things on social media, and sell what is ultimately a great product or service, but if you don’t showcase your purpose, your why (hint: check out Simon Sinek’s book), success will be far more difficult than it needs to be. 

For example, are you helping people with their detox journey? Or perhaps you’re more about the de-stress process? Match your visuals, language, and tone with your wellness values; calm, clean holistic, and empowering messages, that’s what you want to go for. 

You also want to showcase your personal journey and real customer stories. Take people through your own successes, but also your failures. Be genuine, show humanity. 

Go Beyond the Standard Marketing Tricks 

Social media, a YouTube channel, email marketing campaigns, mobile app integration, they’re all strategies that work. But here’s the thing: your competitors are using these as well, and it’s difficult to create that separation to take you to that next level (although you should still try!). 

You need to go beyond the standard. These ideas will help get you started: 

• Micro-influencer collaborations. The mistake companies make is going for volume, influencers with the most followers. It’s not only expensive, it also comes across as a little bit fake. Instead, partner with micro-influencers, those with fewer than 100,000 followers, for that authentic, relatable content. 
• Old school marketing. Digital dominates, but that doesn’t mean traditional strategies like print marketing don’t work. The fact that marketers tend to ignore brochures, flyers, and business cards, gives you a unique opportunity to stand out.
• Voice search optimisation. Users are increasingly opting for voice search instead of typing, with results not always identical. Optimise your content for voice queries with clear calls to action, something that not many companies are doing. You can even think of how this would work with specific products like Alexa. 
• Start chats. Why not get in touch with followers directly, rather than generic blanket posts? Start a conversation, a real one, via DMs. Offer a free 10-minute consult, no strings attached. 

Build Engagement Through Community 

People are loyal to brands not for the quality of the product or service (that’s a given), but because of what that brand represents, how it helps build personal identity. You’re not just buying a product, you’re becoming part of something bigger. 

As a business owner, you need to leverage this core human quality by giving your customers exactly what they’re looking for: a solid community with a clear identity, a welcoming space where you’re a tribe member, not merely a customer. 

For example, create dedicated Facebook groups or forums that give space for peer support and expert advice sharing. At the beginning, you’ll have to do a lot of the heavy lifting, but once you build it up a little more, other members will become more active. 

To make things more engaging, run regular events or challenges – e.g. a 30-day hydration event, calling for community members to make sure they consume enough water daily. Simple, but it keeps people involved with your company on a daily basis. 

You can also go ‘offline’ by running local community events, workshops, wellness retreats, or even education seminars. The point is to create hubs of people that have a commonality, with your brand as the centrepiece. 

Any successful marketing strategy requires a holistic approach, combining new digital methods with traditional methods like print. You should show your professionalism, why people can trust you (e.g. your credentials!), but you also want to be authentic. Not a corporation, but a person. 

The key lies in consistently delivering value to your customers, delivering marketing that stays true to your brand always, and combining this approach with a commitment to testing, data, and trying new strategies.