Is your fitness, nutrition or wellness business invisible? Here’s how to increase the awareness and visibility of your wellness business:
Physical Invisibility
- Hang a storefront banner with a key marketing message or call to action (NOT your store name!)
- Put out balloons and other inexpensive eye-catchers by the parking lot entrance (not a gorilla inflatable, though)
- Use custom in-ground vertical banners like these
- Send a direct mail campaign with a call to action specifically designed to both build your email list AND draw people into your store
Not effective:
- Relying on your permanent signage to attract clients (you may not have realized it, but that sign’s mostly for people who already know your business exists and are looking for your specific address)
Online Invisibility
- Claim your Google My Business and Yelp listings and complete the profiles thoroughly, including photos
- Fully complete your Facebook business profile, and LinkedIn too (especially if you sell wellness to employers)
- Actively encourage online reviews from customers on an ongoing basis
- Add new website content frequently to help search-engine visibility. Newsletter articles, videos, blog posts – it’s all good
- Send a monthly email newsletter with distinctive content that reinforces your key marketing messages
Not effective:
- Posting on your business or personal Facebook page. It’s a better tool for use with people who already know about you through other channels or existing clients.
Personal Invisibility
- Invite related but non-competing business leaders and professionals to informal one-on-one coffee or lunch get-acquainted meetings.
- Volunteer in organizations that give you direct access to your target segment or are directly related to your wellness business focus. For example, if you offer corporate wellness programs, volunteer to host the sponsorship committee for a local charity. That’ll give you great exposure to local execs and business leaders.
Not effective:
- Most networking groups (here’s what I said awhile back about BNI, etc.). They’re expensive and the people you meet don’t HAVE lots of connections or they wouldn’t be there!
- Posting ads or business cards on bulletin boards in local businesses. Total and complete waste of time and trees.
Community Invisibility
- Donate time to a strategically chosen local event–for example, a diabetes health coach might co-lead training rides and walks for her local American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure and Step Out events
- Post actively on Facebook accounts of local, relevant organizations–a sports psychology practice might post on a local triathlete store’s page
- Host an event at your facility (our tips for an effective open house). An open house pairs well with a direct mail campaign, and direct mail is tied with email marketing as the most effective marketing method!
- Co-market with businesses who share a similar type of customer. Your healthy weight loss program’s designed for women in their 40s? Invite a local boutique to present a live preview of fall fashion trends at your location. That sports psychology practice I mentioned above might offer free talks at a sports conditioning business or at that tri store.
Not effective:
- Writing a check to a local charity or initiative. Easy, effortless, and achieves nothing except a lower bank balance. Best avoided, even if they give you a half-page ad in a program.
Employer Invisibility (for corporate wellness programs)
- Build no-pressure connections with invites to non-sales events that demonstrate your expertise – examples include invites to executive briefings and group lunches with speakers on hot topics like PPACA or wellness incentives
- Focus on content marketing – webinars, white papers, case studies and other high-value information specifically targeted to each stage of the wellness buying process
- Use email newsletters to push content on a regular basis so you stay top of mind until they’re ready to buy
Not effective:
- Cold calls to strangers
- Mailing brochures when you have no existing relationship with an employer
- Sending a proposal after one meeting
