The Business of Wellness: Building a Successful Alternative Medicine Startup

You want to build an alternative medicine business – great! But what does your community want? The first step in building a successful business is a deep understanding of who your audience is.

• Are you providing a localized service or a digital one?
• Is it an e-commerce website or a brick-and-mortar building?
• Who is buying what you’re selling, and are they even in your state?

You may feel that you have a ground-breaking idea – but without proper research into consumer behaviors, the buying preferences of your target demographic, and conducting a comprehensive competitive analysis, you don’t have a strong leg to stand on. The most successful companies know it’s about the audience and their needs, not your ideas.

Do your research before you dive into extensive R&D, securing a location, and building a supply chain. Who your audience and competitors are has a big impact on the way you build your business and fit into the market – so start crunching some numbers before drafting your opening press release.

A strong brand is one that is easily recognizable by consumers with positive affiliations – and building a strong alternative medicine business doesn’t happen by accident. Once you know the market, your audience, and your competition, it’s time to get to know your brand.

What drives you? What do you offer that no one else in the market offers? Why you, and why now? Answering these questions gives you the building blocks of a UVP – your unique value proposition. Having a UVP is crucial for differentiating yourself from the other alternative wellness businesses and gives you a good place to start for your marketing plan.

Consumers, especially those in alternative wellness spaces, want to work with brands they relate to and whose values they support. Building a value-based brand identity helps you attract your ideal customers because you stand for what they stand for. Perhaps that is alternative medicines for those with PTSD, donating a portion of your proceeds to community food banks, or facilitating healing in your community. Whatever your values are, wellness consumers want to know.

You can share these values and your UVP through your marketing strategy. You’ll need a website, at least one social media channel, and we strongly recommend creating an email list as well. These platforms give you direct access to your ideal consumer, and you can reach them through hashtags, search engine optimization, and consistently showing up in the digital space. Use these platforms to ask your community questions, do market research, and take the pulse of your audience – people may be more willing to share their opinions than you think.

Creating an alternative medicine startup doesn’t happen overnight or for free. Building a business plan is advice you’re likely familiar with, but we’ll say it again: you need a comprehensive business plan, especially if you’re interested in securing funding for your company.

A business plan is a perfect place for many things: market research, pricing strategies, legal research, profit and expense projections, and funding research – everything you need to build a solid foundation for your business to grow. It’s not easy to secure outside funding, but being prepared for in-depth questions and financial scrutiny helps. When you’re ready to start talking about money, lean on your network.

Alternative medicine businesses operate in an interesting legal space, depending on which state you operate in and if you’re selling a service or a product.

Regardless, you must understand the relevant laws and regulations regarding your business at a local, state, and federal level. These regulations are often confusing and can change, so it may be helpful to solicit an attorney to help you ensure that your T’s are crossed and your I’s are dotted. An attorney can also help you navigate through which, if any, licenses and permits you need.

Alternative medicine is an emerging industry and as a business at the forefront, you may want to (or feel a responsibility to) build a relationship with your regulatory bodies. Knowing your regulators, and having them understand the impact your business has on the community makes a big difference in changes in regulations and whether they help or hurt your business. It also makes it easier to stay updated on industry changes coming down the road.

Every entrepreneur knows: no venture comes without risk. But you’re not sailing stormy seas alone – tried and true insurance strategies can help you create an umbrella of protection and a stable foundation.

The best place to start is with a risk management plan. This may be a part of a larger business plan, or created separately – that’s up to you. In this plan (which we’ve broken down into 5 easy steps for you) you’ll identify every potential risk to your business that you can think of. It may sound overwhelming, but it’s only step one.

After you create your list of risks, it’s time to deal with them. Some risks are unlikely and will have minimal impact, while others are just a matter of time. Analyze each risk to understand how likely it is to happen and what the impact on your business would be. This helps you form a plan to deal with the risks. Some risks are unavoidable but unlikely, and you may just deal with them as they come. But others can be dealt with through action – a crisis management plan, a reinforced supply chain, or insurance policies.

Every business has a unique umbrella of insurance coverage, especially in the alternative medicine space. But some policies are good for any business to have, like Worker’s Compensation, Malpractice, General Liability, Property Insurance, and Cyber security. Insurance policies give you (and your investment) a safety net against unfortunate circumstances.

After all of the initial work is done to build your alternative medicine business, you’re still left with the biggest ongoing task for any business owner: creating a positive customer experience and retaining customers.

Creating a loyal base of repeat customers takes time, intentionality, and a willingness to adapt. You may think you know what it takes to build a good experience for your customers, but have you stood on the other side of the experience?

Ask yourself:

• Is my team being consistent with the experience for each customer?
• Do we do what we say we’ll do?
• Are we asking for feedback and reviews?
• Are we listening and responding to feedback, especially negative feedback?
• Can I remove my ego from the conversation with customers?
• Am I rewarding my loyal customers?
• Does my staff feel empowered to go above and beyond for customers?

It’s not easy to listen to feedback when it’s negative or you don’t agree with it, but those are the customer interactions that put your values to the test. It is far more cost-effective for businesses to retain customers than attract new ones, so lean into the discomfort of the hard conversations and listen to what your customers are telling you.

And if they’re not telling you anything? Start asking – they may think you’re not listening.

The road to success with an alternative medicine startup is a long and winding one, but you don’t have to traverse it alone. Building a team of industry experts ensures you can focus on your area of genius to grow your business, while experts in insurance and risk management ensure you’re protected.

Protecting your alternative medicine startup can seem confusing; however, we’re a full-service insurance brokerage working with carriers worldwide to offer you the best coverage possible. We’re here to help! Please reach out to us today by email [email protected] or calling 646-854-1093 for a customized letter or learning more about your alternative medicine  business insurance options.