Health & Wellness Content Marketing: A Complete Guide

Interested in health and wellness content marketing strategies? Whether you have a product to sell, online programme to promote, or just want to build your brand, content can help.

In this article – we outline a proven approach to content marketing for wellness brands that can help establish you as an industry leader (even if you have zero customers right now).

It was inspired by a content marketing seminar we attended in Tokyo by Joe Pulizzi. He’s the founder of the Content Marketing Institute and detailed the exact steps to growing a brand using content marketing.

So, we decided to take his great tips and add our own wellness-related twist to make it more relevant for health coaches, studio owners, and content creators out there. Here’s how health and wellness brands can leverage content marketing in their businesses…

We’re a specialist health and wellness marketing agency with 15+ years of industry experience, so we know first-hand what works (and what doesn’t!). We’ve helped gyms, fitness studios, and personal trainers to successfully promote their businesses, so our content marketing strategies are tried and tested.

1 – Identify Your Content Sweet Spot

First, you need to identify your sweet spot. This is the area where your product or service overlaps with the challenges of your audience.

For example, if you offer post-natal training or classes, then think about the problems or challenges that your ideal client faces. They’re probably struggling to get 8 hours sleep, maybe unhappy with how their post-baby body looks, and unable to find time for their own health and fitness regime. In this case, the sweet spot could be around rest and relaxation, rebuilding body confidence, or time-saving exercises and nutrition tips.

The key here is to find a topic area with little to no competition. It’s much easier to break through the noise if you’re the only one talking about a topic. Could you approach your topic from a different angle to other companies? Differentiating yourself via what you say (or how you say it) can set you apart and establish your brand as a thought leader too.

You might also like… Create a Wellness Branding That Clients Will Love

Fitness Marketing Fundamentals [Online Course]

2 – Build The Content Base

The second step in wellness content marketing is choosing the type of content you’ll produce. Focus on just one content type (audio, video, or text) and one platform (blog, Youtube, iTunes) to begin with.

The key to successful content marketing is to deliver consistently over a long period of time. According to Puluzzi, most successful examples take over 12 months. So it’s important to start with one format in the beginning, so that you don’t get overwhelmed or struggle to produce content regularly.

Blogs and live video are particularly popular in the fitness space at the moment… But we recommend going with the format that you feel most comfortable with, rather than doing something just because it’s trending.

If you enjoy writing, then a blog is a good choice. If you prefer visual mediums like video, then go for that. Just be sure you’re able to deliver your message clearly and consistently.

Here are some content creation resources that you might find useful…

3 – Collect Email Addresses

Collecting email addresses is essential to building a strong foundation for your brand. Having direct access to your audience ensures you’ll always be able to communicate with them.

If you rely on social media alone, then what happens if your account gets suspended? That’d leave you with no way to communicate with your followers unless you have their emails too…

The other issue is that less than 1% of your Facebook followers will see your organic posts. Social media is an important element of marketing, but you can’t guarantee that it’ll spread your message. However, email is a little different… Once you have a list, around 22% will open your health and wellness emails (15% if you run a supplements business), enabling your message to reach more people.

So, how do you get them to sign up? Offer them a ‘remarkable download’ or ‘lead magnet’ that’ll entice them to hand over their email info. It’ll need to be something that provides real value, such as an ebook, cheat sheet, or meal plan. It also needs to be aligned with your ideal client’s needs or challenges.

If you have the time, create content upgrades that complement individual posts, videos, or podcast episodes. But if you don’t have the bandwidth, then create one amazing opt-in that’ll appeal to everyone who visits, watches, or listens.

You might also like… Health and fitness email marketing tips or email marketing for gyms & studios.

4 – Diversify Your Content Publishing

Once you’ve published wellness content consistently and established an audience, you can expand. So if you started off by writing blog posts, consider adding Youtube or live video into the mix. If you began by podcasting, then think about adding ebooks or webinars too.

This step will help you grow your audience reach and further establish it as a leader in the health and wellness industry.

In the Content Marketing Institute’s case, their best customers tend to subscribe to 3 different things (such as their podcast, emails, magazine, webinars, or events). Knowing this, they wait until a person has subscribed to 3 things before they pitch them anything.

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5 – Use Data To Monetise

Once you’ve diversified your marketing channels and published consistently, you’ll have established a decent audience. You’ll also have a lot of data, which you can use to help monetise your wellness offering.

Take a look at your analytics – what’s the difference between those who subscribe to your content and those who don’t? Do they buy more products? Are they loyal for longer? Do they cost less to convert into members or clients?

Creating awesome wellness content also involves asking your audience. You can get feedback from them that’ll help you develop your offering. Use surveys or focus groups to find out what their biggest challenges are, and then develop a product or service that solves them.

Or you can partner with other brands who serve the same audience. Find companies with products that your subscribers will like, and set up a joint venture or sponsorship deal. This enables you to earn extra income, whilst introducing your followers to other brands that can help them.

Fitness Marketing Fundamentals [Online Course]

Health & Wellness Content Marketing Strategies

Now you know how to approach health and wellness content marketing to achieve your goals. It’s a long-term strategy, not something that’ll get results overnight. But do you know of any successful brands that were built overnight?

Most people start by building a product and then try to attract customers who’ll buy it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. However, the approach outlined here allows you to reverse the process – so you build an audience first, and then create an offering that meets their needs.

If you’d like more tips on content marketing, check out our articles on fitness content, starting a health and fitness blog, or engaging wellness newsletter topics. And if you want to outsource it entirely, then we can help you with every aspect of strategic planning and content creation.