The importance of having and maintaining a collection of proper brand assets to use promoting your yoga business as a part of your overall marketing strategy cannot be overstated.
Whether you want to position your yoga business to be as silly as Swami Sivananda Saraswati who prioritized humor in yoga or as by-the-book as Swami Kuvalayananda who pioneered the scientific foundations of yoga, you still need to be businesslike with your branding.
At the end of the day, you want (no, you NEED!) to be seen as a professional yoga instructor and a small business owner who has their act together.
Your customers may not know the difference between half moon pose and a crescent lunge, but if you can show them a compelling set of seamless brand assets across your marketing pieces, then you’ll capture more leads, book more yoga sessions and make more money.
Whether you’re in the early stages of creating your yoga based brand or have had one for a while that could maybe use a refresh, it’s always a good time to work through the checklist.
Getting off to a good start is as important as a good restart. You may even find it helpful to do on a regular basis. No matter what, defining your yoga brand is an important step on the journey to success.
Why might you need a checklist?
For each statement below, answer “Yes” or “No.” If the answer is even one is “Yes,” then it’s a good time to revisit the brand checklist.
Inconsistent Branding
Is your brand’s image fragmented due to inconsistent use of logos, colors, messaging or other elements?
Customer Confusion
Do your customers struggle to understand what your business stands for, its values or even what it sells?
Market Competition
Has increased competition made it harder for you to capture the attention of your ideal prospects, prompting the need for differentiation?
Business Growth
Are you trying to attract larger clients or bigger bookings as part of your growth strategy?
Launch of New Products/Services
Are you planning to launch a new product or service but haven’t considered how it will integrate with your existing brand?
Digital Presence
Has a push to enhance your online presence revealed gaps in your branding strategy?
Rebranding Effort
Is your business undergoing a rebranding effort, requiring systematic updates to all brand elements?
Employee Onboarding
Do new employees lack a clear understanding of your brand, leading to inconsistencies in customer interactions and marketing efforts?
How often should you visit your brand checklist?
Certainly you want to work through the branding checklist when you first create your company. Going forward you should do it about once a year as it coincides with a business need.
If ever it feels like something is dragging your marketing efforts down, it’s time to circle back to the checklist and see if you can pinpoint what’s causing it. The solution might be as simple as a fresh set of brand photos that can better tell your brand story.
Maybe the recent service you added isn’t coming off quite right and a little more industry research could turn it around.
If you notice a drop-off in new business that’s more than just a seasonal dip, give the checklist another chance to work its magic. Some fresh messaging can draw some attention and jump-start your sales.
You can do a complete overhaul or you can give it a once over and make small course adjustments. Think of it as using a few tons of rocket fuel to launch your business, and then while you’re on the way to the moon, just give it a little flick of the throttle now and then to stay on the correct trajectory.
With a thoughtful brand identity you’ll get recognized and be remembered.
The Yoga Business Brand Checklist
I’ve placed these brand standards in more or less a chronological order. Start at the top and work your way down; decisions you make in one step will inform the next.
You can work on a handful of them at a time and by the time you get to the bottom you’ll be way in front of a majority of business owners.
Brand Mission Statement
Writing your brand’s mission statement gives your company a reason to exist and states what its purpose is. Anyone who reads it will know what your brand is all about. There’s a good reason answering the “why” is job number one.
Vision Statement
This is an aspirational statement. It’s the place to put your long term goal in writing. With your vision statement, you’ll be going boldly where no brand has gone before.
Values
Stating what’s important to your brand attracts like-minded individuals. This goes for employees and customers. Defining your values and sticking to them will give you loyal followers.
Industry Research
Now’s the time to do a deep dive. The industry already has best practices and standard procedures in place, so you’ll want to study the field and figure out where you fit in. Discover where to follow the leaders and where to break the mold to differentiate yourself.
Core Offering
Figure out what you’ll provide to your customers and what they’ll get out of it. When what you’re offering matches a need, you’ve nailed it.
Competitors
When your offering matches a need better than the competition’s, you’re on your way to the moon. Figure out what you’re up against, where you fit in and how you can beat them.
As a bonus, you’ll see their branding and can use it for inspiration when completing the creative parts of the brand checklist.
Target Audience
This is a big one. When aiming at your target you should use a sniper rifle, not a shotgun. Hitting the center of the bullseye when going after your customers is better than scattering your efforts all over the place.
Knowing the details of who your customers are is as important as pinpointing your product.
Customer Personas
Use your imagination to create the perfect made up customers.
Who are they? Where are they from? What do they do on weekends? What makes them tick?
Come up with a handful of fictional characters that are representations of your target audience. Knowing who they are will help you market to them in real life.
Brand Mood Board
Now come the really creative bits. Put together a collection of ideas, pictures, color swatches and other things that embody your brand.
Answer this question: What is the vibe? What does it look like and feel like? If you’re artistically challenged, try ripping pages from magazines, printing images off your computer or make photo copies from books.
Bring it all to the table and then start piecing together the puzzle in your mind. This will most likely stay as an internal document, but like the next step, it’s where you start to flesh out the skeleton you’ve built up until now.
Brand Voice
What sort of language will your brand have? Is it calm and soothing or is it aggressive and bold? Pick out the words you will use. Are they youthful, classic, luxury or spicy words?
Shoot to develop a bank of words and concepts you will always be able to pull from that defines your brand through thick and thin.
Brand Messaging
You’ll need a set of core messages that will be repeated throughout the brand’s life. Repetition breeds familiarity, which is what you’re after. Tell people about your brand in a way that resonates with them and meets their needs, wants and beliefs.
Brand Story
This will weave together the history of your brand. Tell the narrative of who built it, how they built it and why they built it. This includes how the brand’s history drives the brand’s present and future.
Color Palette
When picking the brand colors, consider the emotions those colors evoke. Colors go a long way to giving your brand a personality. Make sure it matches the brand voice, the story and is true to your mood board.
Fonts
Don’t let fonts become an afterthought. This design element can be a secret weapon. Pick a good one and it will look like it was meant to be; pick a bad one and you’ll be hating it for the rest of the brand’s life. The font should reflect the brand’s personality. Make it count.
Logo
The first thing that people think of comes at the end of the brand checklist. Because if the logo is what customers see and think of first when encountering your brand, then you want it to be the most informed piece of your branding arsenal.
Lay the groundwork and then dazzle them with a professionally designed logo. A good graphic designer will need to have the MVV, the story, the voice and all the other pieces to do their job well for you, so don’t skip any of the prior steps.
Do it right and you’ll be rewarded.
Brand Photos
Your yoga business will benefit from a gallery of useful brand photography because it increases your conversion rate.
People seeking a more mindful life through yoga are likely to appreciate a pleasant interaction with marketing materials that have been designed with the customer journey at the fore.
Photographs that present your yoga brand’s story in an inviting manner make your customer’s experience stress-free and unpretentious.
Your photos shouldn’t put potential clients through a mental workout or make them do emotional gymnastics in order to convince themselves that your yoga business is the best choice for them.
A professional collection of brand photos allows your yoga clients to be comfortable with reaching out to you to book services.
Introducing yourself to people via brand photos, taken by a professional photographer who understands the powerful ways to use them is a sure fire way to supercharge your yoga brand and your marketing efforts.
Get the Assets That Make Them Say “YES”
I start each day fired up to help small businesses tell their stories through timeless photography that bucks the trends and stays true to the moment.
I know any new branding endeavor can be daunting. And as someone who does yoga myself, I also know it’s not possible to perfect a new pose on the first try.
With experience and effort comes growth. It’s taken me years to turn my passion for storytelling into a branding model that I can share with others, and I’d love to share more of what I’ve learned with you and your yoga business.
With my camera, I specialize in capturing the essence of your unique brand through trustworthy and marketable imagery. Get in touch so that we can start creating a reflection of you that you’ll be proud to share with the world.
Plan and schedule a shoot and you’ll soon have a complete set of personal brand photographs along with a personalized plan for how to successfully use it.
