As more tanning businesses gravitate toward wellness-focused services and branding, the gap between those gaining traction and those struggling is becoming clear: wellness isn’t something you add—it’s something you become.
You can invest in state-of-the-art equipment. You can install new signage. You can even update your name. But unless the entire experience evolves alongside those changes, customers will continue to see you—and treat you—like the tanning salon you used to be.
Creating a professional wellness environment requires a fundamental shift in how a business presents itself, how staff interacts with guests, how expectations are set, and how the physical space supports the promise being made. It’s not about becoming a luxury day spa. It’s about becoming credible, consistent, and intentional in every detail.
Salon owners like Emily Sigmon of Carolina Tan & Wellness, Bridget Holleran Coe of Baja Beach Wellness, and Lori VanDeWall of Beach House Tanning Salon have all taken that journey from different starting points. Their experiences reveal a shared truth: wellness succeeds when it’s treated as a system—not a service.
[Sub] Branding and Community Outreach
For many wellness customers, the first impression happens long before they ever step inside a salon. It happens online, during a Google search, on a website, or through social media. In that moment, potential clients aren’t judging personality or passion. They’re judging credibility.
Emily Sigmon says that realization fundamentally changed how she refined her brand at Carolina Tan & Wellness. Like many owners, she spent years doing everything herself, both inside the salon and in the way she represented the brand externally. Customers noticed the effort, but Emily wasn’t satisfied. Eventually, hiring professionals to refine her brand introduced structure and consistency that ultimately strengthened the business’s wellness positioning.
That type of brand discipline matters even more in wellness, where most prospective customers are not emotionally invested yet. They don’t care how long you’ve been open or how loyal your tanning clients are. They’re evaluating legitimacy, and they do it quickly.
“Statistics show that it takes seven seconds for someone to make a decision about you. If you’re researching something like red light therapy, you Google it for your area. They haven’t walked in your door or seen your face or care if you’re a small business. They’re just looking for red light, and their first impression of you is what you have online. That’s how they find all the information, and if it’s not perfect, you’re going to lose any potential new client that’s finding you online,” Emily says.
When the decision was made to go all in on wellness, Bridget Holleran Coe made a deliberate choice to reposition her business in a way that was immediately visible. READ MORE