Influencer marketing is quickly becoming the secret sauce for mental health and mindfulness brands, and it’s not just because influencers are great at getting attention—they’re great at telling stories. In an industry where trust and authenticity are key, consumers are gravitating toward influencers who share real, raw experiences that resonate on a deeper level. With the global wellness economy set to reach a whopping $9 trillion by 2028, it’s clear that the mental health space is booming—and influencers are playing a starring role.
But what does a successful campaign look like in this realm? Take Headspace’s 2019 campaign, for example. Partnering with influencers from all walks of life, from athletes to new parents, Headspace harnessed the power of authentic storytelling to connect with audiences in a way that felt truly personal.
Curious about how they achieved this level of success? Keep reading to uncover the strategies behind their impressive results and learn how mindfulness brands can leverage influencer marketing for maximum impact.
- 1. Using Authentic Storytelling
- 2. Supercharge Strategies With Performance Elements
- 3. Creating Limited Edition Products
- 4. Maximize Impact with High-Volume, Cross-Niche Influencer Campaigns
- 5. Creating Targeted User-Generated Content (UGC) Campaigns
- 6. Boosting Sales Through Influencer Partnerships with Exclusive Discount Codes
- Frequently Asked Questions
1. Using Authentic Storytelling
When it comes to mental health and mindfulness brands, authenticity is key. It’s not just about promoting a product—it’s about creating a genuine connection with an audience that trusts you to guide them through their emotional and mental wellness journey. One of the most powerful ways to do this is by using influencer marketing to share authentic, personal stories that resonate on a deeply human level.
While influencer outreach and product seeding are standard strategies, they don’t always lead to the meaningful, impactful connections mental health brands need to establish. Instead, brands can amplify their message by partnering with influencers who have personal experience with mental health challenges or mindfulness practices.
These influencers can share their unfiltered journeys with the product, providing a sense of trust and relatability that clicks with followers. This method not only boosts credibility but also sparks conversations around mental health that feel genuine, not forced.
Let’s take a closer look at how Headspace used this exact strategy to craft an influencer marketing campaign that not only drove app installs but also built lasting connections with their audience.
Headspace, the meditation and mindfulness app, teamed up with influencer marketing agency Fohr to launch a campaign that used influencer storytelling at its core. Headspace wanted to improve app downloads and user engagement, but they also aimed to better understand their audience segments.
To achieve these goals, they decided to take a unique approach: working with influencers who were willing to share their personal experiences with mental health and mindfulness practices, with the Headspace app woven into their stories.
Instead of simply asking influencers to post standard content, Headspace and Fohr took a more innovative route. They provided influencers with the freedom to share honest insights into how they were using the app in their daily routines—whether they were working through stress, building mindfulness habits, or practicing relaxation techniques.
These influencers ranged from athletes to creatives, to healthcare professionals and new moms, offering a variety of perspectives that made the campaign feel human, relatable, and deeply personal.
The campaign’s success lay in its authenticity—the influencers were not just endorsing the app, they were telling real, unscripted stories about how the product helped them. This gave the campaign a genuine, emotional edge that resonated with audiences. As a result, Headspace saw 762% more cost-efficient CPMs, an impressive spike in app installs, and exceeded their impression estimates by 213%.
Key Takeaway: Share Real Stories, Not Just Products
To replicate the success of this campaign, mental health and mindfulness brands should prioritize authentic storytelling in their influencer marketing efforts. Rather than focusing solely on influencers with large followings, seek out individuals who have genuinely relevant experiences with mental health and wellness. Encourage them to share unfiltered stories about how your product fits into their lives, challenges, and growth. This approach not only builds credibility but also cultivates a deeper emotional connection with your audience, leading to stronger brand loyalty and higher conversion rates.
In short, authenticity is your brand’s best asset in the world of influencer marketing—let your influencers’ real stories lead the way.
2. Supercharge Strategies With Performance Elements
Traditional influencer marketing often relies on fixed rates per post or engagement but a performance-driven approach ties influencer compensation to measurable results, such as app installs, subscriptions, or product purchases. This allows brands to scale campaigns with precision, track ROI in real-time, and ensure that every partnership delivers tangible value.
For mental health and mindfulness apps, where building trust and emotional connections is crucial, a performance-based strategy can be particularly effective. By focusing on driving specific actions—like app installs or subscriptions—brands can optimize their campaigns, ensuring that they invest their marketing dollars wisely while reaching users who are most likely to benefit from their services.
One prime example of a brand using this strategy is Calm, the top-grossing meditation and wellness app. Calm took a transformative approach to influencer marketing by shifting from traditional pay-per-post deals to a more data-driven, performance-based model with Liftoff Influence, an influencer marketing platform that specializes in performance marketing.
Initially, Calm faced several challenges. While the brand knew it wanted to connect with younger audiences—particularly Gen Z and Millennials—the traditional influencer outreach methods (e.g., pay-per-post models) weren’t providing clear results or measurable ROI. Influencer deals were often one-off engagements with fixed costs, making it difficult to track effectiveness or scale the campaign.
That’s when Calm partnered with Liftoff Influence, a performance-based influencer marketing platform. Through Liftoff Influence, Calm gained access to a network of over 6,000 influencers, allowing them to scale their campaigns without the headache of individual deals and negotiations. The key to success was shifting to a cost-per-install model, where Calm paid influencers based on the actual number of app installs generated by their posts.
This method allowed Calm to precisely track the impact of each influencer and optimize their budget allocation for the best-performing influencers.
By integrating tracking software (AppsFlyer), Calm was able to measure the effectiveness of each influencer campaign in real-time. This data-driven approach not only streamlined the campaign process but also gave Calm the ability to continuously refine and scale their efforts, ensuring they were always working with influencers who brought the highest returns.
@beth_and_coopTell me you have a cochlear implant kid without telling me you have a cochlear implant kid. 🧲♬ original sound - Beth & Coop 🤟🏻
The results were compelling: Calm’s influencer marketing ROI increased by over 50%, with a significant reduction in time spent negotiating individual deals and managing campaigns. This performance-based approach gave Calm the confidence to run continuous influencer campaigns throughout 2019 and beyond, achieving evergreen success.
Key Takeaway: Implement a Performance-Based Influencer Model to Maximize ROI
For mental health and mindfulness brands, the key takeaway from Calm’s campaign is to transition from traditional pay-per-post models to a performance-based influencer marketing approach. By paying influencers based on actual conversions—such as app installs or subscriptions—you can ensure that your influencer campaigns are not only scalable but also measurable, with clear ROI.
This approach removes much of the guesswork and friction from influencer partnerships, enabling you to optimize your budget and work with influencers who truly deliver results.
To implement this strategy, look for influencer marketing platforms or tools that offer performance tracking, like Liftoff Influence. These platforms can help you scale your influencer campaigns, track results in real-time, and make data-driven decisions to maximize your brand’s impact.
3. Creating Limited Edition Products
Another effective way for mental health and mindfulness brands to engage their audiences is by creating limited edition, influencer-inspired products that reflect both the brand’s values and the influencer’s unique personality.
This approach goes beyond simply promoting products through influencers—it transforms the collaboration into something tangible that fans can purchase and cherish. The exclusivity and personal touch associated with limited edition items not only generate buzz but also create deeper emotional connections with consumers who feel part of a special community.
By working with influencers who embody the brand’s ethos, brands can bring fresh perspectives into their products while also increasing brand visibility. This method works especially well in the wellness industry, where consumers are not just looking for products, but for authentic experiences that align with their values, such as mindfulness, health, and sustainability.
An excellent example of this strategy in action is the Saje Natural Wellness x Jillian Harris collaboration, which launched with a limited edition Ultrasonic Diffuser inspired by Harris’ personal connection to nature. The collaboration wasn’t just about featuring an influencer in a marketing campaign—Saje partnered with Jillian Harris to create a product that aligned with her love for wellness and design, as well as her passion for giving back.
The Aroma Om Ultrasonic Diffuser was designed with Harris’ Pacific Northwest roots in mind, symbolizing nature’s rustic beauty and simplicity, and was paired with the Happy Place Diffuser Blend Collection.
What made this campaign stand out was not just the product design, but also the purpose-driven element: 10% of the sales from the limited-edition diffuser were donated to Mamas for Mamas, a non-profit organization that supports low-income mothers. Harris, who had a personal connection to this cause, used the collaboration as an opportunity to amplify a cause close to her heart, strengthening the emotional appeal of the product.
This partnership between Saje and Jillian Harris resulted in a highly curated product that felt personal, exclusive, and in line with both the brand’s wellness ethos and Harris’ lifestyle. By combining wellness, design, and social impact, the collaboration was able to build a deep emotional connection with Harris’ followers and Saje’s customers.
The limited edition nature of the product drove urgency and exclusivity, which encouraged both current and new customers to act fast and secure their own diffuser.
Key Takeaway: Leverage Limited Edition Product Collaborations for Deeper Brand Connections
To replicate the success of this campaign, mental health and mindfulness brands should consider collaborating with influencers to create limited-edition products that are deeply tied to the influencer’s identity, values, and personal mission. This strategy goes beyond product endorsement; it offers consumers a unique, exclusive item that embodies both the influencer’s persona and the brand’s message.
When done right, these collaborations can increase brand loyalty, amplify reach, and align your brand with causes that resonate with your target audience.
The key takeaway for your own influencer marketing efforts is to work with influencers to co-create meaningful products that reflect both your brand and the influencer’s values. Whether through design, packaging, or purpose-driven initiatives like donations, these limited-edition collaborations can be a powerful tool to drive brand growth, deepen consumer relationships, and create a buzz that lasts long after the product has sold out.
4. Maximize Impact with High-Volume, Cross-Niche Influencer Campaigns
When it comes to mental health and mindfulness brands, the real opportunity lies in diversifying your influencer partnerships across multiple niches to reach untapped audiences. By partnering with influencers from varied genres like health & fitness, comedy, and even tech or entertainment, you open up new avenues for connecting with potential customers who may not have otherwise encountered your brand.
This strategy allows brands to test different audiences, discover unexpected messaging angles, and ultimately increase brand visibility.
For mental health and mindfulness brands, this approach is particularly relevant. Fitness influencers may already resonate with your core audience, but working with influencers from other niches can expose your brand to people who may be just starting their mindfulness or health journey. It’s about expanding your reach while remaining authentic to each influencer's content.
One standout example of this strategy is BetterHelp, the online therapy platform, which has effectively implemented a high-volume, cross-niche influencer campaign on YouTube. Over a 90-day period, BetterHelp partnered with over 815 unique channels, amassing 245 million views and driving 11 million engagements. These results are impressive, but what’s truly noteworthy is the brand's approach to influencer diversity.
Rather than limiting their partnerships to mental health creators, BetterHelp branched out, engaging influencers from a wide variety of niches: from comedians and tech experts to fitness gurus and lifestyle bloggers. One such collaboration involved Heath Hussar, a popular YouTuber with 2.2 million subscribers.
Heath Hussar YouTube
By tapping into these diverse content areas, BetterHelp was able to bring new, unique perspectives to mental health conversations, making the topic more approachable and relevant to a broader audience.
This strategic choice allowed BetterHelp to capture a wide range of viewer demographics, each with different pain points and needs when it comes to mental health. For instance, a fitness influencer could highlight the importance of mental health in achieving physical wellness, while a comedian might share how therapy helps them manage stress and anxiety in their busy lives.
These varied approaches made the brand feel more relatable and human, rather than a one-dimensional product pushed only by traditional mental health advocates.
Key Takeaway: Leverage Cross-Niche Influencers for a Broader Reach
For your own mental health or mindfulness brand, the key takeaway is to think outside the box when it comes to influencer partnerships. While it’s tempting to focus on influencers in your specific category (e.g., wellness, fitness, mental health), reaching audiences in diverse niches can lead to exciting growth opportunities.
Start by identifying influencers in related fields—like wellness, lifestyle, or even tech—and offer them a creative way to incorporate your product or message. Whether they’re sharing how your app helps with stress management or how your wellness products contribute to their overall health, these cross-niche partnerships can help introduce your brand to new potential customers while diversifying your content strategy.
5. Creating Targeted User-Generated Content (UGC) Campaigns
For wellness and mindfulness brands, one of the most powerful influencer marketing strategies is leveraging User-Generated Content (UGC) to create authentic, relatable connections with potential customers.
UGC focuses on encouraging real users to share their personal stories and experiences with your product, providing a level of authenticity that traditional ads often can’t match. This approach not only boosts brand credibility but also allows consumers to see how your product truly fits into their lives, whether it's improving mental well-being, helping with sleep, or enhancing daily mindfulness practices.
In the wellness and mindfulness space, UGC is particularly effective because the products are often deeply personal—helping people cope with stress, anxiety, or even insomnia. By sharing real experiences, brands can highlight the genuine impact their products have on users' lives, fostering a community of trust and engagement.
Furthermore, UGC ads integrated into paid media campaigns can deliver better conversion rates and lower customer acquisition costs, making it a cost-effective strategy for growth.
An excellent example of UGC in action is NightWise, a sleep wellness brand that successfully used user-generated content to carve out its space in the competitive sleep market. NightWise’s strategic influencer marketing campaign targeted three distinct audience groups—athletes, parents, and adults aged 45+—allowing them to showcase how the product addressed specific sleep challenges for each persona.
The brand collaborated with influencers from each of these groups, encouraging them to share authentic, relatable experiences with NightWise products. For athletes, the focus was on how better sleep improved performance and recovery.
Influencers in the wellness space shared stories of how improved sleep enhanced their daily routines and physical well-being. For parents, the emphasis was on how NightWise helped not only parents but also their children achieve better sleep, resulting in more energy and a better quality of life. Finally, NightWise targeted adults aged 45+ to demonstrate how their product helped improve sleep quality and addressed common disruptions as people age, contributing to overall health and vitality.
Through these authentic UGC ads, NightWise was able to craft content that resonated with each target audience, highlighting how the product enhanced sleep and overall well-being. The UGC content was shared across organic social media channels and integrated into paid media campaigns, leading to significant results: a 53% higher conversion rate, a 24% reduction in cost per acquisition, and an 82% increase in spend attributed to UGC on paid media.
Key Takeaway: Leverage UGC to Build Deeper Connections and Drive Growth
For wellness and mindfulness brands, the key takeaway is to incorporate User-Generated Content (UGC) into your influencer marketing strategy. By encouraging your customers or influencers to share their personal stories, you can create authentic, emotionally resonant content that builds trust with your audience. Whether targeting individuals seeking better sleep, stress relief, or mindfulness practices, UGC allows you to showcase your product’s real-world benefits and foster a sense of community around your brand.
To implement this strategy, identify key personas within your target audience and work with influencers or current customers who can create meaningful, authentic content that speaks to their experiences. Amplify this content through organic channels and paid ads to maximize reach and impact. With the right UGC approach, you can increase conversion rates, reduce customer acquisition costs, and cultivate a loyal community of brand advocates.
6. Boosting Sales Through Influencer Partnerships with Exclusive Discount Codes
Integrating exclusive discount codes and pairing them with targeted paid media campaigns not only incentivizes influencers to encourage their followers to take action, but also allows the brand to track conversions and measure the success of each influencer’s contribution.
Using discount codes as part of an influencer campaign can help brands create a sense of exclusivity and urgency, motivating potential customers to act quickly. Additionally, when combined with paid media efforts (like social media ads), this approach can significantly extend the reach of the influencer campaign while maintaining measurable ROI. For wellness and mindfulness brands, such strategies are ideal, as consumers are often looking for value-driven offers that align with their personal well-being journey.
A great example of this strategy in action is the campaign run by Emma Mattress, a leading brand in the sleep wellness industry. During the key sales periods in 2021 and 2022, Emma partnered with 72 influencers across various niches—lifestyle, parenting, wellness, fashion, and even comedy—to boost sales.
The influencers created content across Instagram Posts, Reels, Stories, and TikTok, sharing their personal experiences with the mattress. They used unique discount codes to encourage their followers to make a purchase, giving their audience an exclusive offer and adding an element of urgency to the campaign.
@athomewithlils Happy Valentine’s Day #valentinesday #booktok #bookboquet #homeaccount ♬ Ordinary Feb 14 - alexwarrenupdates
The campaign wasn’t just limited to organic posts. Emma used paid media to run a pure prospecting campaign on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, amplifying the reach of the influencer content through well-targeted ad placements. This combination of influencer marketing and paid media helped Emma showcase various sales offers over the duration of Q4 2021, ensuring that the brand remained top-of-mind during critical shopping periods.
Key Takeaway: Combine Influencer Content with Exclusive Discounts and Paid Ads
For brands looking to drive measurable sales, the key takeaway is to combine influencer partnerships with exclusive discount codes and amplify the content through targeted paid media campaigns. This approach not only encourages action but also helps track the effectiveness of each influencer's contribution to the overall campaign.
By diversifying influencer partnerships across relevant niches and offering tangible benefits like discounts, you can generate real, quantifiable results that build brand awareness and drive conversions.
For your own campaigns, consider offering unique discount codes that influencers can share with their followers and pair this with well-targeted paid ads to maximize reach and conversion rates. This strategy is a powerful way to drive both brand engagement and revenue, especially during key sales periods.
Influencer partnerships are a game-changer for Fitness & Nutrition brands, driving engagement and measurable sales. By leveraging diverse influencer types, offering exclusive discount codes, and amplifying content through paid media, brands can significantly boost visibility and conversions.
To succeed, focus on authentic, targeted collaborations that resonate with your audience. Embrace these strategies to build long-term brand loyalty, increase ROI, and position your brand for sustained growth in the competitive wellness space.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can wellness brands effectively use influencer partnerships to boost sales?
Wellness brands can collaborate with influencers from diverse niches, offer exclusive discount codes, and combine influencer content with paid social media campaigns to increase reach, drive conversions, and build brand awareness.
Why are discount codes important in influencer marketing campaigns?
Discount codes provide added value to followers, creating a sense of exclusivity and urgency, which incentivizes them to make a purchase, leading to higher conversion rates.
What is the role of paid media in influencer marketing?
Paid media amplifies influencer content, ensuring it reaches a broader and more targeted audience. It helps extend the campaign’s reach beyond organic social posts, driving more sales and engagement.
How can brands track the success of their influencer campaigns?
Brands can track success by monitoring metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, return on investment (ROI), and sales generated from influencer discount codes or campaigns.
How does influencer diversity impact the effectiveness of a campaign?
Partnering with influencers from various niches allows brands to reach a wider audience, tapping into different communities that may benefit from the brand’s product or service, making the campaign more inclusive and impactful.
What types of content should influencers create for wellness campaigns?
Influencers should create authentic, relatable content such as product reviews, tutorials, testimonials, and personal stories that demonstrate how the brand’s product improves their well-being.
Can UGC (User-Generated Content) enhance the credibility of wellness brands?
Yes, UGC provides authentic, peer-driven endorsements that build trust and social proof, showing potential customers that real people experience the product’s benefits.
How do exclusive influencer discount codes drive sales?
Exclusive codes offer followers special deals, motivating them to purchase quickly and increasing the perceived value of the product, while also allowing the brand to track the effectiveness of individual influencers.
What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure in influencer marketing?
KPIs to track include cost per click (CPC), conversion rates, ROI, revenue generated, engagement (likes, comments, shares), and the number of purchases directly attributed to influencer campaigns.
How can wellness brands ensure their influencer marketing campaigns are scalable?
By continuously testing different influencer types, content formats, and media placements, brands can refine their strategy and scale their campaigns by focusing on the highest-performing elements.
