With all the opinions about how to build an impactful and successful business, it can be overwhelming to figure out which advice is the best for your brand. Finding the right approach takes trial and error for any business, but implementing an intentional brand strategy can help you stand out from the crowd. If you have a health and wellness business, consider the following brand strategies to set yourself apart.
What is Brand Strategy?
When you start a business, having a brand strategy is a critical element to find, connect with, and cultivate a long-term relationship with your target audience and establish yourself as an expert in your industry. But what is a brand strategy?
This is an aspect of your marketing plan related to how your business will present itself to your customers and position itself in your niche. It focuses on how your brand is perceived, including your values, messages, voice, and offerings or solutions.
Building a positive brand reputation takes a consistent and strategic approach, including having a clear purpose, tone, personality, story, communication style, and content plan. It’s how your brand comes to life across all its channels and helps you build a presence.
1. Have a Clear Message
The excitement of starting a business can bring motivation to take your brand forward. However, if you don’t take the time to write a clear message, you’ll have a hard time connecting with your target audience.
Think about it: what is your business offering, and how can you clearly convey this to your customers? Your message should be straightforward, concise, and clear. How would you describe the purpose behind your brand to someone who asked?
2. Be Authentic
Being yourself is the best way to connect with your customers and ensure that the right ones are finding you. Authenticity is the ability to be your true self in any environment, including your business. This doesn’t mean you should spill all your personal secrets to your audience, but rather share some actual stories they can relate to.
For instance, there may have been a time when you struggled with the same problem they were facing. Perhaps this is the whole reason behind starting your brand in the first place. Offering this authenticity connects with their pain points and can help build the trust needed to create long-term relationships. Be honest and real, and people will begin to build trust in your brand.
3. Create Content That Matters
Anyone can slap a blog post on a website and share it around the internet, but if there’s no real feeling or purpose behind it, it won’t make a lasting impression. Especially with so many voices today, it’s critical for your brand’s content to really matter to your audience.
Does it answer a frequently asked question? Does it provide empowerment? Does it offer a simple solution to a common problem they face? Is it something that people will excitedly share with others?
If you’re unsure where to start — or to pivot if your current content strategy isn’t fruitful — work with a brand strategy consulting agency. We can evaluate your brand from a third-party perspective and help you create a strategic roadmap for content that connects and converts.
Contact RWS Content + Strategy for a meeting — we would love to help you!
4. Embrace Your Humanness
There’s a saying that “done is better than perfect”, which is applicable to entrepreneurs in every space. Not only will striving for perfection delay progress in your business, but it doesn’t allow your brand any space to pivot and adapt.
Furthermore, with AI beginning to influence every industry, embracing the human aspect of health and wellness brands has never been more important.
While emerging technologies can help streamline processes and productivity, they cannot replace the human touch behind every business — nor should they. We’re all human, and your brand should showcase the people behind it and the people it serves.
5. Build Strategic Partnerships
Partnering with others is a great way to build relationships and trust with your audience and increase your knowledge base and ability to provide what your customers crave. After all, none of us excel at every detail, nor can we do everything completely on our own if we want it to grow.
Strategic partnerships should reflect your brand’s values and offerings, your consumers’ interest and feedback, and the direction you want your business to go.
This might look like partnering with creative consultants, social media influencers, local shops, or national chains. Consider potential partnerships, what they could bring to your brand, and what your brand has to offer them.
6. Build a Relationship With Your Audience
When you think of your customers just as customers, you miss out on a huge opportunity to build long-term trust and loyalty. When you think about your favorite brands, the ones that you purchase from and recommend to others time and time again, consider what it is about them that makes you feel seen, validated, and valued.
Building a relationship with your audience can be like embarking on a new friendship. You want to get to know your people. This can look like connecting directly with people who are interacting with your brand on social media, asking them questions, and getting to know their customer demographic and personal needs.
Pose questions to your audience at large or host challenges and giveaways that make them feel like more than just a scrolling audience. Gather information about what they hope to find when interacting with your brand and then create unique offerings based on that.
7. Stand Out, Visually
Most of us have a small window where something can catch and keep our attention. For health and wellness brands, finding ways to be visually appealing among our competition is important.
For example, design an attractive brand kit with fonts, colors, and graphics that will help draw in the eyes of your potential customers. What visual aspects best represent your brand, what you’re offering, and the voice behind the business?
Furthermore, use a combination of static and moving media. Having video and other moving parts on your social channels helps your content from an SEO and algorithmic standpoint. Consider the stories and posts you’ve saved on Instagram — what do you like about these brand strategy examples?
8. Tell Stories
Health and wellness marketing could be very dry and redundant if we let it be. Instead, tell stories to your audience that spark their interest, are inspirational and empowering, or that they otherwise can relate to.
Storytelling is a great way to weave together the human and business pieces of your brand into something memorable and real. We’ve all had struggles, achievements, letdowns and successes, disappointments, and celebrations.
Let the stories behind your brand leave a lasting impression on the people you’re trying to connect with. Let your audience be a part of your brand story, and your brand become a part of your audience’s story.
Ready to create a brand strategy that connects, converts, and differentiates your health and wellness business? Book a call with RWS Content + Strategy here!
