Health and wellness have been at the forefront of societal conversations in recent years, leading to a growing industry. With a global wellness market of $4.4 trillion as of 2022, there is currently plenty of opportunity for budding wellness brands and businesses. And competition has never been fiercer.¹ 

The meaning of wellness can take many shapes. From physical activity and wellness tourism to healthy eating and nutrition, the idea of living well is different for everyone. What these areas, and the businesses serving them, have in common is their commitment to helping people be more intentional and take care of themselves. 

Digital marketing is a huge part of how wellness brands spread awareness of their message and build communities around their work. In an increasingly digital world, making the most of your online presence is a challenge. This article will guide you through the core components of digital marketing and how working with a wellness marketing agency makes a difference. 

What is Digital Marketing for Wellness?

Before diving into the specifics, what exactly is digital marketing? Broadly speaking, digital marketing includes any way your wellness brand reaches an audience using the internet.

Since 31% of U.S. adults report they are online “almost constantly,” this isn’t an opportunity you can afford to miss.² And don’t think digital marketing just means running paid ads. An effective digital marketing strategy is made up of multiple different initiatives, with paid advertising only one of many types of campaigns your business can leverage to reach your audience.. 

The best part is, your audience is already waiting to hear from you. Digital marketing is simply the process of connecting with users at the right time and sharing the information they’re already looking for in a way that captures their interest and encourages them to learn more. Using a combination of search engine optimization (SEO), social media, email, content marketing, and yes, paid ads, you can accomplish your wellness brand’s digital marketing goals.

Website Design for Wellness 

Think of your website as your digital home. Many potential customers interact with your brand for the first time through your website. What is the ideal first impression you’d like prospective patients to walk away with? Is your website living up to those expectations? 

Designing your website with your ideal audience in mind sets you on the path to conveying the right message. What does someone visiting your wellness brand’s site for the first time want to know, right off the bat? Some questions to consider include: 

• What services does your brand provide? 
• What does your space (retreat center, yoga studio, nutritionist office, etc.) look and feel like? 
• How can someone sign up for your services? 
• Can visitors ask questions of a real person before booking? 
• How much do your brand’s offerings cost? 
• How do visitors benefit from your products and/or services? 
• What are the values of your brand? 

Depending on the wellness offerings your brand provides, your audience may also have more specific questions. Review your website with fresh eyes to ensure both the brand aesthetic and content share the message you want. Better yet, ask a few third-party viewers to visit your site and share feedback about their impressions. A wellness marketing agency can also conduct research and test multiple designs to determine which one resonates best with your target audience. 

Aside from sharing great content, your website should be easy to navigate. And that means both the desktop and mobile versions of your site! Almost 60% of web traffic came from mobile phones in 2022, so test your site frequently to confirm you’re providing a good experience for users regardless of the device they’re using.³ 

Tracking your website traffic is another great way to see which parts of your web design are working–and which ones aren’t. Google Analytics is a tool for measuring website traffic and identifying the elements of your site that are creating the most conversions. How long do users stay on the site? Which images or slogans are causing the most visitors to schedule an appointment, sign up for your newsletter, or follow you on social media? Use this knowledge to make your site more attractive to visitors and give them more of the content they want to see. 

At a glance, a great website for a health and wellness practice has:

• A clear structure and navigation
• An aesthetic that matches the values and feel of your brand
• Information about your services and products
• Quality articles, content, FAQs, and images
• A terrific mobile experience

Branding Your Wellness Practice

When your clients think of your brand, what comes to mind? When you have a clear answer to this question, you’ll have a good understanding of your brand. In the face of intense competition, branding is crucial for the success of your wellness practice. 

Your brand captures what makes you unique and determines how you want to communicate your offerings to your audience. One yoga studio might promote the physical health benefits of yoga as a form of exercise. Another may focus on the spiritual aspects of yoga and supplement its regular classes with breathwork and sound baths. A third studio might focus on creative continuing education workshops for yoga teachers. And while a single yoga studio could provide all these offerings, prioritizing the way you describe what you do to your audience lets them see you as a distinct brand. 

When you are crafting your brand identity, answer the following questions: 

• What inspired you to start a wellness practice? 
• What needs are you addressing for your audience? 
• How is your brand different from your competitors’? 

Once you have a strong sense of your company’s identity, use your insights to shape how you speak to your audience. Working with a wellness marketing agency is a powerful way to discover your unique identity and learn how to share your message effectively. 

Many brands also focus on their personality. In other words, how do you interact with clients and potential clients on social media? Your personality develops through the tone and voice you use. This is true across all the platforms you use to connect with your audience.

A “Core Flow” yoga session sounds very different from a “Heart Flow” session and provides very different visions of how the instructor will interact with students during and after class. Word choice evokes specific imagery in the minds of your audience and is a powerful tool. So use specific language to communicate your brand values. 

Establishing a brand strategy guide, sometimes called a style guide, to lay out the ethos and aesthetic of your brand establishes consistency across all of your content. The exercise of putting the guide together is your opportunity to choose logos, fonts, colors, images, and your preferred language. A wellness marketing agency will create your guide with the input of you and your team. Your brand strategy guide should include:

• Visual identity and concepts for marketing materials
• Tactics for establishing your brand
• Messaging and communication guidelines

With a cohesive brand, your offerings will be more attractive to potential leads and stand out from your competitors. 

Content Marketing for Wellness Brands 

There’s an enormous amount of content on the internet. Feeling lost in the shuffle is normal and you might feel like breaking through is impossible. But don’t let pessimism about the state of content marketing overtake you. Since 84% of consumers expect entertaining and helpful content from companies, content has to be a significant part of your wellness practice’s marketing strategy.⁴

Not all content on the internet is created equal, though. Your audience is searching for useful, insightful content that speaks to their needs, wants, and interests. Provide relevant content and you meet your audience members where they are. In turn, this generates new leads and positions your brand as a thought leader in the wellness space. 

So what exactly qualifies as “content” in the world of digital marketing? A wellness marketing agency can assist with:

• High-quality articles
• Consistent newsletters
• Well-researched whitepapers
• Engaging video content
• Informative e-books 
• Interesting podcasts

Your yoga studio might release weekly YouTube videos offering viewers a glimpse into your classes. A nutrition store can write articles sharing new research or statistics on the positive effects of healthy foods you sell. Wellness retreat centers could share newsletters full of images and events happening each month. 

And your content marketing doesn’t have to be limited to your specific area of wellness. Although your goal is to generate new leads, start by answering questions and building relationships. Educational articles and advice are most effective when they also create brand awareness.

Conveniently, content marketing builds brand awareness and brings in new clients across every part of the buyer’s journey. In the awareness stage, your content answers the questions your audience has about your business and the industry as a whole. Consider the single mother worried about feeding her kids healthy food who searches for “benefits of seeing a nutritionist.” Your content should appear like a shining star to answer her question with thoughtful, accurate information.

After you answer a visitor’s question and they know about your brand, they move into the consideration and decision stages of the buyer’s journey. Here, focus on providing content that strikes a balance between educational information and marketing.

For example, an aromatherapy shop might post an article about the best essential oils to use for stress and link to products in their online store. Readers are there to learn about the topic, but can also easily convert and make a purchase. 

Think about content marketing as a way of talking about your business without directly talking about your business. You’re still telling your audience why your brand is beneficial. But great content does this while providing useful information rather than pushing your specific services.

Wellness SEO Tips

A stellar website and engaging, useful content is a solid start. But your content doesn’t do much good if no one sees it. Search engine optimization (SEO) enhances your web presence by making your website and content more readable by search engines. An experienced wellness marketing agency will tell you, SEO is essential in today’s online world where 53% of all web traffic starts with organic search.⁵

Search engines have algorithms dictating the results you see when typing in a query. Because Google accounts for 84% of the global search engine market share, you need to understand their automated process for determining which results to show.⁶

Start your SEO efforts by determining the right keywords for you. Keywords are the individual words of short phrases that your audience types into the search bar when researching topics. So a successful SEO strategy begins with asking yourself the question: What exactly is your audience searching for? To start doing keyword research, make a list of topics relevant to your business. Then expand each item into a list of sub-topics. Your primary topic of “meditation” might break down into “meditation retreat,” “meditation for beginners,” and “learn to meditate.” 

Rather than doing this by hand, plug these keywords into Google and see what “related search terms” are offered. Real users are already searching for these keywords, so you can confidently use them as inspiration for your content marketing. 

Make sure your website is also using Google Analytics to track what keywords are bringing visitors to your website. As you create new content, tracking keyword metrics is how you know what content is resonating with your audience.  

SEO isn’t just about keywords, though. The way you set up your website also plays a role in where you rank on the search engine results page (SERP). Adding tags to your website lets Google understand what your brand is offering. These tags should indicate your products, services, and location so Google knows when to show your site to searchers. This process is called “SEO optimization,” and the process ensures your site can be indexed quickly by the search engine’s algorithm. A good wellness marketing agency will manage the ins and outs, including budget, of your SEO so you can focus on doing what you do best. 

PPC for Wellness Practices

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising opens the door for wellness brands to reach new leads through targeted messaging. Your business pays a fee to show ads for your brand, such as on the SERPs for specific keywords or search terms. But you only pay when a user actually clicks on your ad and visits your site. This means you’re paying for actual web traffic. If you have a well-designed website, this can be a valuable investment since visitors are more likely to become customers. 

PPC advertisements are incredibly diverse. They include text, videos, and images in different combinations. PPC advertisements are placed on websites, social media, and search engines. The latter is very popular since your business appears alongside organic search results and your ad feels less like a paid advertisement. 

But before you start paying for clicks, you need to set clear objectives for your campaign. Where do you want to direct your leads? Who is your target audience? Are you targeting users in a certain location, during a certain time of day, or using particular devices? 

Most PPC campaigns are determined by algorithms. So having clear intentions and a solid strategy before you set them up is crucial. Once you put your information in, your campaign is usually automated. Your payment per click, the web destinations, and the timing of the ad will all be determined by this algorithm. 

A wellness marketing agency can support your wellness practice with Google Ads, the most popular PPC system targeting users when they search the web. Here, that list of keywords you generated for your content marketing pays off again! Your wellness digital marketing agency can take your campaigns and continually refine them to get your message in front of your ideal target audience at the right time, and in the right place, for the best chance of conversion.

Advertisers with larger audiences can sometimes charge more per click, but they also generate more potential leads. Make sure to build your budget and understand the costs/benefits of these marketing strategies before starting.

Lead Generation for Wellness

When you’re running a wellness practice, you want as many people to be aware of your products and services as possible. This means not only cultivating relationships with your existing clients but also finding new clients who are interested in what you’re offering. This is called lead generation. And no digital marketing strategy is complete without it.

Leads refer to any person who takes a potential interest in your company. Say you run a wellness spa and your website offers a free download of a meditative soundscape. If you collect an email address in order to unlock the download, you now have a new lead! You know that visitor interacted with your site and is intrigued by your services. Now, use their contact information to nurture your relationship and continue the conversation. Keep leads interested and engaged with your brand by adding them to email lists or newsletters, or encouraging them to follow your social media accounts.

Offerings, trials, surveys, and subscriptions are effective methods of capturing contact information so you can generate and cultivate leads. The more information you collect, the better. When someone signs up for a class or books an appointment, collect their full name, email, and the specific services they’re most interested in. These leads are even stronger since these individuals have already put money on the line to engage with your brand. 

Think of lead generation and nurturing as the culmination of all the other digital marketing strategies reviewed in this guide. You bring visitors to your beautifully designed website through your content marketing, SEO optimization, and PPC advertising. Once they’ve arrived on your landing page, you collect their information and your brand has a new lead!

Tips and Reminders for Wellness Digital Marketing 

The world of digital marketing is complex–and changing fast. Each of these strategies deserves time, attention, and a unique understanding of your specific brand and its intended audience. By taking the time to consider your digital marketing strategy and learn how search engines, social media platforms, and keywords actually work, you’ll significantly impact your brand’s ability to reach your intended audience.

Of course, when you’re building your digital marketing plan, don’t forget to think about the end result! What does a successful marketing plan look like for you? What are your goals, and how will you know if you’ve achieved them? Setting intentions and metrics for success is the most important part of all marketing strategies. 

If this sounds overwhelming–that’s okay! Even just starting to implement a few of these strategies moves your brand forward. And remember, you don’t have to do everything overnight or on your own. A wellness marketing agency is an invaluable resource for establishing and maintaining your digital marketing strategy.

Partnering with a wellness marketing agency can speed up the process. Experts bring the knowledge and skill you need to navigate the complex world of digital marketing. Your agency partners provide an outside eye to determine what makes your brand unique, how you can stand out from the competition, and how to align your visuals and language to convey a cohesive message.

Interested in engaging an expert in digital marketing for wellness? Dreamscape Marketing is ready to help. Call us today at 888.307.7304.

 

 

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