It’s no secret that people are worn out these days. The pandemic triggered an increase in stress and anxiety for 44% of Americans. With this spike in cortisol levels, the number of people seeking holistic wellness has also gone up. Wellness brands that leverage the right mix of marketing channels are ones that can help those living with anxiety and stress.
Technology and social media channels have given wellness businesses the keys to unlocking better well-being for an increasingly anxious and burnt-out audience.
Whether you are promoting a new corporate wellness program or need to acquire 10 new customers for your nutrition business, it’s essential to understand which wellness marketing ideas will provide the most value to both your brand and your target audience. With countless tactics and social media platforms to utilize, it can be overwhelming trying to decipher which marketing strategy will maximize your return on investment.
We scoured the internet to find the brands doing effective wellness marketing so that you don’t have to. We will lay out which strategies are important, the context behind their message, and actionable takeaways you can use now to dial in your marketing goals and better reach your target audience.
10 Wellness Marketing Campaigns That Made an Impact
McKinsey & Company estimate that the global wellness market weighs in at a solid $1.5 trillion. Factor in an annual growth rate of 5 to 10 percent and you can see why wellness companies have a tremendous opportunity to snag a piece of the pie. Here are 10 examples of brands who created campaigns for you to draw inspiration from for your next wellness marketing campaign.
Jansport – #LightenTheLoad
The Context –
According to Pew Research, more than 7 out of 10 young people say mental health issues are weighing them down.
The Message –
Jansport created #LightenTheLoad, a forum that connects young people with tools and resources that support mental health.
The Result –
A campaign that had the right tone and authenticity that incorporated Instagram Live sessions where Gen Z can have open conversations with mental health experts on a platform that meets them where they are.
Maybelline New York – Brave Together
The Context –
A commitment to destigmatize anxiety and depression and provide support to those living with these illnesses.
The Message –
Providing the tools, resources, and access to mental health experts on how to spot anxiety and depression as well as practicing healthy self-care.
The Result –
A community filled with stories and real talk around the issues and challenges for those brave individuals living with anxiety or depression.
Samsung – The Backup Memory
The Context –
Alzheimer’s is hard for patients, caregivers, and family members alike. It can be difficult to constantly try to get a loved one to recognize you.
The Message –
Be able to provide those with Alzheimer’s with the information they need (whether it’s a name, photos, or other memories) to recognize a visitor.
The Result –
Samsung created The Backup Memory app which identifies a person nearby who is also running the app and provides their name, photos, and other content to help the person remember.
Accenture – Thriving Mind
The Context –
A self-directed learning experience that prioritizes “mental well-being with pioneering research.
The Message –
“A scalable digital experience that combines Stanford’s cutting-edge science with Thrive’s Storytelling and Microsteps to create sustainable change using a combination of digital video micro-learning, multi-format content and storytelling, and interactive technology.”
The Result –
A course that helps you understand why you react to stress in certain ways, and provides micro-steps toward improving your reactions to help lower stress and anxiety.
Sun Bum: Know Your Spots PSA
The Context –
Promote sun health and risk prevention memorably without using fear-based messaging or frightening images of irregular moles.
The Message –
The “Know Your Spots” campaign highlighted everyone’s favorite spots (like taco joints and the beach) and not-so-favorite spots — sun damage.
The Result –
A memorable video series native to Instagram and Tik Tok that engaged the target audience about annual skin checks with feel-good stories and positive vibes in 15 seconds or less.
Oura Ring – Know Why You Feel The Way You Feel
The Context –
Focus on listening to your body and making changes to your routine for better health.
The Message –
The health/fitness wearable is the most accurate guide for measuring your body’s fundamentals, and highlights why you feel the way you feel.
The Result –
A short, humorous jingle commercial showing how Oura Ring can help you notice when you’re anxious, burnt out, or measure your heart rate variability.
Frida Mom – PSA: Post Partum Service Announcement
The Context –
Use shocking humor to bring attention to the sensitive and not-so-glamorous side of postpartum life.
The Message –
Postpartum essentials from Labor + Delivery Kits to C-Section Recovery items, Frida Mom has the products that you will rave about.
The Result –
Pairing familiar parodies of common types of commercials, Ryan Reynolds’ agency, Maximum Effort, creates a shocking and humorous commercial that showcases the personality of the Frida Mom team and culture.
Orgain – Provide Top of the Funnel Education Content
The Context –
Much of the target market lacks access to food education, so content marketing (like blog posts) provides an opportunity to provide educational value to your target demographic.
The Message –
Provide ideas for meal prep and inspiration for healthy snacks to help bring on new customers and orders. Consumers are 131% more likely to purchase from a company right after they consume early-stage, educational content.
The Results –
The blog posts have helped customers feel comfortable and confident they made the correct purchase decision.
Virgin Pulse – Changing Lives for Good
The Context –
Wellness campaigns and initiatives are a key deciding factor for many job applicants and 87% of employees expect support from employers in achieving work-life balance.
The Message –
Employees who embrace wellness initiatives typically have better workplace outcomes, and wellness investments return a 6:1 ROI and lower missed days of work.
The Results –
Virgin Pulse, “the world’s leading digital-first health and wellbeing company,” provides a hub of combined experience for employees that unifies all aspects of health on one platform.
Holiday Retirement – I Belong At Holiday
The Context –
Choosing a senior living community is one of the most complex and emotional decisions one will make in life.
The Message –
Guiding seniors and their families through the decision-making process should end with the statement, “I belong at Holiday.”
The Results –
CSG worked with Holiday to create custom content based on anticipated behaviors and hurdles seniors and their families face. The content was designed to educate, comfort, and inspire Holiday Retirement’s core audiences.
Why Is Marketing Essential for Your Wellness Business
Many businesses have approached marketing all wrong. As opposed to viewing it as a key piece of their long-term business growth, many approach it as a cost center or a task to cross off their weekly biz dev efforts list.
Think about it. What is one of the first things businesses cut when rough macroeconomic winds start to blow? You guessed it: marketing. Cutting marketing can feel like a quick “win” for decision-makers to scratch the fiduciary duty itch, but slashing marketing spend is akin to turning off the business growth faucet at precisely the wrong time.
Wellness marketing strategies (implemented correctly) in the digital era — like social media, digital marketing and PR, and content marketing — can help ensure your marketing efforts actually drive business outcomes and don’t just check a box on your daily task list.
Wellness and wellness product campaigns are a different animal. Audiences are much more personally engaged in the process, so authenticity is key in executing your marketing strategy. Expert wellness marketing teams, like we have here at Communications Strategy Group ®, help bring it all together in combination with unique behavioral insights and their prospective corresponding marketing tactics.
Benefits of Having an Effective Wellness Marketing Campaign
Ensuring that your marketing campaigns are a well-oiled machine starts with where you want to end up. Asking yourself a series of questions can kickstart the process:
- What outcome do you want from this campaign?
- What is the primary benefit to my audience?
- What are the secondary benefits that could result from this campaign?
With a firm picture of your business goals, it becomes much easier to choose the right marketing approach and mix of content marketing tactics that will get you there. CSG helps health and wellness brands develop their own wellness marketing campaigns that can shorten the timeline to PR success. Below are examples of benefits brands can experience when they leverage a digital PR and marketing strategy:
- Grow and protect revenue
- Reach new audiences
- Foster thought leadership
- Provide educational value
- Acquire new leads
- Build brand awareness
- Communicate your “why”
- Share success stories
With a comprehensive strategy that aligns the goals of your brand and your audience, wellness brands have the greatest opportunity to make an impact in such a rapidly evolving industry.
4 Keys to Have a Successful Wellness Marketing Campaign
1. Define Your Campaign Goals
Didn’t think we would allow you to get out of this without writing down your goals did you? One of the first things to do is to define what success looks like. How will you judge whether your campaign was effective or not? Setting up SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant,time-bound) marketing goals can help keep you on track.
2. Choose the Right Channels
One could argue that the state of the internet today is social media, but when launching your marketing campaign you must ensure you are speaking to your audience through the right channels and social media platforms. You aren’t going to reach Baby Boomers on TikTok or Gen Z on Facebook. Make sure you have a presence where your audience is spending most of their time online. Don’t try to get on every single social media platform, but rather, choose the ones most popular with your customers and provide relevant content.
3. Leverage Social Media
Though some social media channels don’t have the same reach as TikTok, 64% of consumers now want brands to use social media to connect with them. Social media must be a critical piece to your campaign and show you are in touch with the needs of your target audience.
4. Consider Influencer Marketing
Many brands don’t think they can leverage influencer marketing in their industry, but an influencer doesn’t always have to be the stereotypical Instagram streamer. An influencer could be a noteworthy subject matter expert in the industry that you partner with or interview. Influencer marketing allows you to piggyback off their expertise and gain access to their audience with much less time and effort.
FAQs About Marketing Wellness Brands
What’s a wellness marketing campaign that worked so well it’s now a part of culture?
Though it’s undergone a rebrand and is a global company, Weight Watchers is one of the most prominent examples of a brand that has promoted healthy eating habits, being physically active, and adopting the right mindset to make positive changes.
Why do wellness promotion campaigns fail?
There are several reasons a wellness promotion campaign may fail. Many times it is the result of not setting yourself up for success. Below are three pitfalls to avoid and help ensure your next wellness campaign is a success:
Thoughtless content. Health and wellness are extremely personal. People engage with brands that they like and trust, not ones that are constantly on a sales pitch. Create content that is thoughtful and value-driven, not a cash grab.
Not optimized for mobile. Today, 62% of website traffic comes from mobile. Make sure that your website and content are optimized for viewing on mobile devices to ensure customers don’t leave due to a frustrating user experience.
Weak headlines. It’s hard to get someone to take action if no one ever sees the content you have worked so hard to produce. Health and wellness marketing agencies can help ensure you get eyes on your content faster with compelling headlines and calls to action.
Can I run multiple campaigns for my wellness business at the same time?
Absolutely! In fact, we encourage it. Integrating your campaigns as a part of a larger holistic strategy with different touch points can help maximize your message. That being said, once you begin running multiple campaigns, the level of marketing complexity increases and it can make sense to partner with an agency that works specifically with health and wellness companies.
What is the difference between a wellness marketing campaign and a promotion?
The difference between a campaign and a promotion will typically be the goal that you have in mind. Campaigns are typically a larger marketing effort with several marketing channels and a longer-term goal.
How to Bring It All Together?
Health and wellness companies that execute effective marketing campaigns, whether on their own or by enlisting the help of wellness marketing experts, will be the ones that can snag a piece of the annual growth of the wellness market.
Want help with your next wellness campaign?
Contact us to find out how CSG can help you launch your next wellness campaign.
