Branding: What Is It & Why You Need It As A Holistic Health Practitioner!
Now that you’ve found your passion as a holistic practitioner, you must now figure out how to turn that passion into profit - the first step is BRANDING! Before any business can be successful, you must first identify and develop your brand. Your brand represents your core values; in other words, you are your own best brand!
The dictionary definition of branding is a collection of experiences and associations connected with a service, person or other entity. On paper that probably doesn’t mean a whole lot to a holistic health practitioner, but in the same way big corporations invest in their brand, holistic health practitioners can benefit from the same strategic investment. Creating a business brand is important for several reasons.
1) It lets your clients know who you are and what kind of product/service you provide,
2) Your brand sets the tone for your business environment, and
3) Your brand (if done correctly) will ultimately attract more clients – and isn’t that really the goal?!
Identifying your brand starts with you and knowing your personal values. The first part has already been done – you’ve found something your passionate about and want to pursue it full-time. Next decide what message you want to convey to your target market. A brand creates an emotional connection with your audience. Just as your values are an extension of you, so is your brand.
Once you’ve identified your brand, you must now develop it. There are four things to keep in mind when developing your brand:
1. First and foremost, decide who is going to be your ideal customer? Really pinpoint in detail what that client looks like; i.e., gender, income bracket, marital status, age, etc. Without knowing exactly who that is, your brand message will be lost. It’s great to want to be able to coach everyone, but until you’ve specified a niche, you can’t effectively coach anyone.
2. Next, focus in on what makes your services unique. Being a naturopath is not in and of itself a unique occupation; however, because you’ve already identified your personal values and niche market, you know exactly what aspects of your business make your practice unique.
3. Create a brand strategy incorporating the most effective marketing tools to reach your target audience. For instance, do you have a website? Is it easy to find and easy to navigate? Are you good at on-line social networking, blogging, article marketing, etc? Or maybe you’re more comfortable with off-line marketing such as public speaking
or teaching. Whichever way you decide to go, understand that a significant amount of your time will be spent on this step – your brand exposure can never be overdone.
4. And finally, continue to take inventory of your brand. Are you reaching your target audience? Can they say without a doubt that you are providing a unique service, one that they find invaluable? Ask your clients for specific, quantitative feedback and be flexible while staying true to your brand. Above all else, keep your message consistent!
HAPPY BRANDING!
Hi my name is Kelly Green and I am a Certified Wellness Coach, but I also have over 15 years marketing experience. I spent the majority of my marketing career in New York working at some of the top Fortune 500 entertainment companies. During that time I worked my way from intern to Senior Marketing Director. More impressively, I succeeded in doing all of this while managing the effects of Multiple Sclerosis. For the most part, I was able to handle the demands of my fast-paced, oftentimes stressful career. However, as the years went on, it became increasingly more difficult for me to “hide” not only my physical limitations, but also the cognitive issues of MS. The stress also began to cause weakened leg strength making it harder to walk and my attention and ability to focus were waning. My doctors think that it may have been the natural course of the disease, but I strongly believe that the stress of my job significantly impacted my health. Then in 2005, I was laid off. Although, I couldn’t see it at the time, but it was way past time for me to stop working in such a stressful environment and I probably would have never left on my own.
My next thought was – now what?! I knew that I needed a job that was less stressful, but that would also allow me to use my marketing expertise. Ironically, while I was investigating alternative types of therapy to treat the MS, I was introduced to the holistic health field. I knew then that I had found my calling and almost immediately got my certification as a wellness coach. During my training and research for holistic health programs I found that the one thing missing from almost every school was the marketing component. In a field where most students would be starting their own practices, there was very little marketing support or training for these new entrepreneurs. When there was a marketing course, no one ever discussed branding; this is the cornerstone of marketing. Having come from a marketing background, I know how important branding your product or service can be. Now I teach other holistic health practitioners how to create, develop and maintain their brand message. Building an effective brand directly correlates to the success of your practice.
To learn more about branding your practice, please contact me at kelly@holisticbrandingcoach.com .