Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on the Health & Wellness Industry

The health & wellness industry has witnessed multiple impacts from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. The importance of hygiene and wellness has increased, and people have become more interested in preventive healthcare. The world of marketing has changed pretty quickly over the last few months. The consumer behaviour and sales have been carved dramatically along with this.

So how has the way of brand marketing changed?

The changing picture of businesses has definitely influenced the traditional way of branding. Here are some more true facts:

There are many health & wellness brands that have stopped branding due to the huge fall in sales. Some companies have even completely stopped marketing due to low sales. While on the other hand, some wellness brands have continued their normal marketing activities or have even increased their marketing budget. Branding definitely plays a vital role in driving business sales and stopping this regular drumbeat of marketing activities could definitely impact the future of these businesses. 

Here is why branding is important?

Creating a brand presence: Branding helps to create a brand presence in the customer’s mind and makes sure to remind them of the category when the need arises. 

Brand recognition: It helps to develop a familiar relationship with the buyer, which influences them during the consideration and selection stages of their purchase journey.

Both of these benefits can be enjoyed through branding and creates a long-term impact on the business in the long run. This effect can be clearly seen after long & repeated brand exposure for years. In reality, the impact of branding on sales takes at least six months or more.  

Now going back to the impact of delaying marketing due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Branding is quite similar to a Coronavirus infection. Like how the Coronavirus cases are the impact of the infection caused two weeks back, brand equity is the result of marketing done six months ago. Likewise, today’s marketing decision is going to impact one’s brand’s sales after six months. Brands need to understand that today’s marketing activities are never planned for today’s sales but are done to influence future purchases. So, after six months, when people will go back to normal life, these brands will find themselves nowhere. That will be a point when they will have to spend drastically on marketing to ensure higher sales, which might take another 6 months or more! 

Wellness brands that have created pandemic-specific creative products will definitely have a varied situation. These creative products along with brand-reinforcement done in the past are going to create a good asset for their future. But these creative services also need the help of digital marketing to avoid shorter shelf-lives.  Either way, brands need to continue with marketing to ensure the brand impact on the consumer’s mind. 

Now, talking about the wellness brands who have continued to carry their marketing investments; they are going to enjoy the relative advantages of their competitors going inactive. Six months down the road, they are going reap off the rewards of being active even during this low sales period. They are the ones who are going to enjoy a large share of the market. 

Hence, the bottom line is “Act now for a better future!”. Learn your lesson from COVID-19, which has shown the negative impact of delayed consequences. Organic Product & Wellness Brands need to be active even now to ensure their existence in the market in future.