Top 10 Advertising Errors By Wellness Businesses

Most health and wellness marketing fails.  It's a voice in the wilderness, heard by no one. 

Here's Part 1 of why your flyers, brochures and ads don't work.

Saw a postcard from a big health club chain.

On the front:

"fitness made easy and fun for everyone - 21 years in the business - 54 clubs in Texas"

On the back:

A close-up of a cardio machine's screen display (huh?) and the phrase "our doors are always open"

This is basically a feature list - 21 years, 54 clubs, always open. And only the 24-hour access might matter to potential members.

Surely this gym had more to offer than the fact that they've been around 21 years and have clubs in places I don't even live.

What they should've done is develop the "fitness made easy and fun for everyone" theme.

Marketing only works when people pay attention.

That nearly always means a short and sweet, highly-visible headline that grabs the attention of your potential customer before you dive into more details.

Some common wellness center and yoga studio headlines that are not interesting:

Kick off a healthy holiday season - overused, doesn't inspire curiosity

Kick off 2010 with (business name) - waste of space - not interesting

Fall back with (class name) - waste of space - not remotely persuasive

Ask about our specials - too vague to attract much interest

20th Anniversary - no one cares but you　

Simply giving your phone number and website is not a call to action.

"Call for more information" isn't a call to action either. It's wishful thinking.

The whole point of magazine and newspaper ads, flyers, online ads, print brochures, and sell sheets is to get potential customers to take the next step towards doing business with you.

So figure out what's logical at this point in the process and exactly what you want them to do next.

Schedule a free health assessment? Download a free healthy lifestyles resource guide? Attend a healthy kids seminar? Read a case study about a successful weight loss client?

Pick something that's realistic at this point in the sales process. A tour or free class may be see as premature sales pressure. Perhaps a free public seminar would be more enticing.

Stop the madness! No more idealized stock photos!

These Stepford people are NOT your customers. Your customers look like your neighbors and coworkers, the people you see at your grocery store.

They are short, tall, skinny, fat, have messy hair, no hair, bad makeup, no makeup, and they're certainly not always beautifully dressed with coordinating jewelry and not a hair out of place.

You want customers to see your ad and think "Yeah, that could be me."

So choose stock photos that look like real people. Better yet, use pictures of your actual customers.

Sure, they'll look less polished. We call that...."authentic."

You want a single ad to pitch everyone - busy moms, older folks, golfers, fitness nuts. Or a single ad that sells everything you do - fitness, stress relief, nutrition, weight loss, active aging, yadda yadda yadda.

Seems smart, right? That way you only pay for one ad instead of several.

So how come that ad isn't getting much response? Still think it was a good deal?

Here's what went wrong:

To reach as many people as possible, you listed all your features (health coaches! daycare! lockers! dietitian! ellipticals!) and left it up to the customer to figure out how they might use all those things.

Now, that strategy might work for grocery stores (lettuce! peanut butter! organic milk!), because most people already have a recipe in mind.

But it doesn't work in health and wellness, because most folks want YOU to give them a recipe - a plan for action - not just a list of possible ingredients. (And by the way, everyone's got the same equipment. It's what you DO with it that sets you apart from your competition).

You need a targeted ad. "Targeted" means it focuses on a particular customer problem or opportunity, and specifically connects what your business does to that problem or opportunity.

So: one ad per target audience, please. Then you won't need to list everything you do on the off-chance that someone out there will see something interesting.

 6. Glittering generalities

State of the art, world-class, cutting-edge. Caring service.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. These words mean nothing because they can mean anything (and they're overused, too).

Plus, your stuff's probably not as cutting-edge as you think it is.

Tell the customer WHY the cool tools matter.

Which marketing message do you think works better?

"You can shave 2 minutes off your race time with XYZ's positronic pace analysis"

"The latest tools help you achieve peak performance"

7. We, we, we, me, me, me

Your ad's all about your business, rather than the problems and opportunities you help your customers tackle. Sounds like:

"Our staff is...."

"We use the latest...."

"Our services....

"Our programs...."

Pick up one of your brochures or other marketing pieces.

Count the number of "we/me" messages. Now, how many points do you make about things that drive customers to buy services like yours?

Most of you will have far more we/me messages.

A we/me message:
Our experienced staff is highly trained in providing therapeutic exercises and massage. We are experts in trigger point massage,

(And don't tell me that customers care about the year you were founded. If a customer has chronic back pain, they want to feel good again. They want to move without fear and trepidation. Knowing when your business was established does not give them the confidence

8. Decorative graphic design

Photos, drawings, font sizes, colors - they're not there to "decorate" your flyer or brochure. These marketing elements actually have work to do! They can't just stand there looking pretty.

Photos, illustrations, fonts, colors, and layout are "right" when they reinforce your message and increase the likelihood that the potential customer responds to your call to action.

For example, the circus poster feel reinforces the concept that a chocolate seminar is a fun and entertaining way to spend an evening.

And the descending font size here draws the eye to the call to action in the lower right corner.

9. Audience mismatch

We see a lot of health and wellness marketing that reads like an infomercial. Or a local ad for discount furniture or those neverending "final sales" at Persian rug stores.

Practically everyone has emotional baggage around their health and wellbeing, regardless of age. So buying health and wellness services is generally a pretty big deal - even something as seemingly routine as a health club membership or picking out vitamins.

Buying a late-night blender or picking out a new recliner? Just doesn't carry the same emotional weight.

So your marketing can be fun, entertaining, humorous, authoritative or serious. But the huckster's shout of "buy now, save now, cheap, cheap, cheap!!!" will get you nowhere.

10. Copying your competitors

Wondering why you don't stand out from your competition? Duh! You're copying them!

Great marketing is distinctive. It doesn't copy the look, feel or content of the flyer for the yoga studio over on Main Street or the poster for the integrated wellness center a block away. It builds on the unique assets and capabilities and approach that only your business offers.

The job of your marketing team (whether it's in-house or outsourced to someone like Radial) is to uncover what's special about your business and create marketing materials that convey those messages.

Sure, it's always worth noticing what really seems to work well for other businesses. The trick is to understand why it works so well, and use those same principles in your own marketing, rather than simply copying.

And one last point (yep, if you're counting, it's #11).

11. Advertising is additive

Don't run an ad once or send a single promotion, and then decide it's a failure because nothing much happened after that single exposure.

Potential customers accumulate exposures to your business - and THEN they act.

Consistent and ongoing visibility is crucial.  If you have a limited budget, choose an advertising strategy that you can afford to execute throughout the year.

Consistently distributing sharp, well-thought-out flyers every month will beat a single gorgeous email blast every time.

Rate this article and enter to win
a complimentary marketing review!