Why Branding Is Important To Your Natural Therapy Business

What Goes Into a Brand?

A business provides certain products or services. Branding, however, goes beyond simply listing what you do. Defining your brand goes deeper, involving elements such as:

• Your values and motivation for starting your business
• What sets you apart. This could be the modalities you incorporate into your practice, your philosophy, or the materials you use
• The benefits and solutions you offer. What problems do you solve? A natural therapist might mention specific conditions they treat such as sports injuries, helping people reduce stress or other benefits
• The unique logo, images, and phrases associated with your business. To use some well-known examples, everyone associates the Golden Arches with McDonald's and the Swoosh logo with Nike. Smaller brands also have their logos, taglines, and distinctive images
• Your style and voice. In addition to unique elements such as your logo, branding is also about the way you express yourself in your interactions and marketing. You may use certain templates, layouts, fonts, and colours on your website and in your physical brochures. Your practice is decorated in a certain way.

Why Branding is Essential

People seeking a natural therapist have many choices. You are competing with many other businesses and practitioners. Your competition also includes indirect competition such as books, online courses, sellers of supplements, and more conventional therapists. Here's a summary of why branding is so important for your natural therapy practice.

• Increases visibility. To grow your practice, you want to boost public awareness. Even people who aren't ready to visit you now may do so in the future. Branding gets potential clients familiar with you so they'll think of you when they need the type of service you provide.
• Helps you attract the right clients. Branding is the key to attracting your ideal clients and communicating your value to them. Of course, you want to be able to prove your value by working with them. Before you can do this, though, you need to get their attention and convince them to book a session.
• Establishes your value. As a natural therapist, part of your branding is explaining your credentials and expertise. This is necessary if you want people to trust you and believe you can help them.

Branding Tips for Natural Therapists

Now let's explore some ways you can use branding to help grow your practice.

1. Clarify Your Purpose

If you haven't written out a mission statement for your practice, do so now. Get as specific as possible on what you want to accomplish, how you want to help people, and where you want your business to be in the future.

2. Identify Your Clients

It's a fundamental principle of both marketing and branding that you need to know your audience. You may find it helpful to create your own version of a buyer persona. This doesn't mean you can only serve one type of client. It's simply a way to visualise the kind of people who are the best match for your services. You may very well modify this over time. You may also have multiple personas, such as busy professionals who need to relieve stress, physically active people with injuries, and older clients with certain health challenges.

3. Be Consistent With Your Branding

Consistency is important for building brand recognition. When you choose certain styles and elements for your marketing materials and decor, stick with it. Avoid inconsistencies that weaken your branding. For example, if your practice is decorated with subdued colours and tranquil artwork but your website is bright and vibrant, it can cause confusion, even if people aren't consciously aware of it. You can change your branding if you decide it's appropriate, but then you should do it across the board.

4. Create Branded Content

Branding used to be expressed mostly in advertising as well as in the style and decor of a business. In the digital age, one of the best ways to build your brand is with content. This can take many forms, including:

• Blog posts. You can write descriptions of the services you provide, historical information about the traditions and who created them, tips on getting the most out of holistic treatments.
• Social media posts, videos, and Stories. Posting content on sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest can generate interest in your practice.
• Podcasts. Discuss topics related to health and wellness. You might interview experts such as authors, speakers, and other experts.
• Webinars and live streams. Online events are more popular than ever. You could offer either free or paid group events, interviews, and Q & A sessions with the audience.

Branding Tools and Resources

While a great deal of branding comes from your own inner guidance and creativity, there are also tools that can help you.

• Canva's Brand Kit provides a useful platform for many of your branding needs. It lets you upload your logo, fonts, and colours so everything you create will be on-brand from the start. Canva offers a 30-day free trial for this service, which is part of their Pro Bundle. You can also use Canva's basic features for free as long as you want. While this doesn't include the Brand Kit, you can still create all kinds of designs, logos, web pages, and other elements.
• Fiverr and other freelance sites are good for finding graphic designers and others who can help you create logos, infographics, and other items.
• Hire an agency. If you have the budget, you can always outsource branding to an agency. Make sure you choose someone who offers customised services and is able to understand your brand message. You may need to spend some time researching and talking to several agencies.

Branding Helps You Grow Your Natural Therapy Business

Your brand will naturally evolve as you develop additional skills, and learn more about what your clients need. Keep in mind that everything you present to the public, from the physical space where you offer sessions (if you're currently offering online or teletherapy sessions, clients can still see your space if there's video footage) to your website and social media pages reflects your brand. Make sure it's sending the message you intend.

Establishing Your Brand and Professional Practice?

Another way to help your brand is to connect with relevant organisations. IICT is a professional industry body that provides membership, insurance, resources, tools, and support to grow your natural therapy practice. Join IICT here or contact our team to find out more about becoming a member.