Creating a fitness brand which effectively communicates the core values of your business can be a challenging process. However, time spent thinking through what you and your business stands for can make the entire task considerably less daunting. Whether you’re a personal trainer, gym owner or fitness entrepreneur, you can reap the benefits that building a strong brand can provide. This could include:-
Increased Credibility
An effective brand creates credibility, reliability, trust and professionalism. If you look at high profile businesses such as Fitness First and Pure Gyms, you will notice that they incorporate strong branding across all areas of their businesses including gym staff uniforms, stationery, websites and social media. Moreover, it has been proven that effective branding enhances the credibility of a company as customers perceive it to be more dependable and professional in its approach. The trust factor that comes with a strong brand also encourages word-of-mouth referrals and, consequently, an increased number of new customers signing up to your gym, personal training enterprise and fitness boot camps than those which are not brand orientated.
Increased Customer Loyalty
The lifetime value of a fitness client cannot be underestimated. By creating a strong brand in line with customer values, you will automatically build loyalty and confidence in your business and reap the rewards of long-term customer/business relationships. The loyalty of your customers will also negate the need for you to be overly price sensitive as, more often than not, they will rate the value of the service you provide above that of the fees you charge.
Competitive Edge
Although in an ideal world it would be great to create a business which is completely unique, in reality, this is extremely difficult to achieve. It therefore often comes down to how a gym, personal trainer or fitness business communicates their service to potential customers. By creating a strong memorable brand which effectively conveys core messages, you will put substantial ‘clear water’ between you and your competitors. This edge may prove to be the difference between success and failure.
Effective Marketing
It is important that branding does not deviate. Examples of changes to branding which could cause confusion include:-
Applying your brand name, message, colours and slogan without too much variation will not only ensure that your brand remains recognizable, but it will have a positive impact on your marketing efforts. Known as the Rule of 7 is worthwhile noting that potential customers need to be exposed to a particular brand multiple times before they will make an enquiry. It is clear that this consistent approach to branding your company is more likely to result in a higher return on your investment.
Your journey to create a strong brand for your fitness business starts by identifying and understanding your target customers. This is one of the most important tasks you will undertake and will enable you to personalise your brand so that it appeals directly to your clientele.
Take the time to answer the following questions to identify the key characteristics of your potential customer and build up a clear profile of just who they are. If possible, talk to them directly. If not, try accessing data on your target custom groups using Facebook ads.
What is the age range of your target customers?
Where do they live?
Are they likely to be male or female? (What is the split?)
What type of businesses do they tend to work in?
Do they work locally or do they commute?
What is their financial situation? What are their earnings?
Where do they spend their money?
What are their interests?
What social media platforms do they frequent?
What websites and articles do they read?
After you have the answers to these questions, spend some time segmenting your target customers into groups by age, gender, where they live etc.
Now that you have an understanding of who your target customers are, get together with your colleagues, friends and family to consider the following points to summarise your brand and construct a mission statement:-
Your business and brand is part of you, what you stand for and believe in. Start by listing key words that fit with your brand values, for example motivation, health, commitment, integrity, perseverance, dedication.
What makes your brand memorable and stand out from the rest? Things to consider here might include innovative training techniques, the atmosphere within your gym, your health and fitness philosophy.
How will your brand appeal to your customers and make their lives better? What is it about your company that stands out from all the others? If your brand was a person, how would you describe his/her personality? How would that person talk, conduct and present himself or herself? Are these characteristics in line with your customers’ needs and values?
It is vital that your brand builds a rapport with your clients. Think about what feelings and emotions you want to emit from them. For instance, for an outdoor fitness business, you may want to create a sense of togetherness, working as a team or creating a certain competitive edge within the group, for example, team vs team. Another example might include a personal trainer wanting to enlist those clients who might feel intimidated within a typical gym environment. Conveying trust and confidence within your brand will enable you to build a connection with your customers.
Before deciding on a name for your fitness business, you should always refer to your mission statement and take into account how your brand name will connect with your customers. The name for any personal training company or fitness business should give customers an indication of what your brand is all about in only a few words (long company names can have a negative impact on your brand). Although it may be possible to use your company name to summarise what you do – a 24-hour gym, for example – this is often not a viable option. Instead, use your company name in conjunction with a slogan, a well chosen logo and relevant descriptive text and images to communicate to customers what your brand is about. Before finalising your company name, it is worth checking the availability of the website domain name and social media handles.
Again, these should be in line with your brand values. Review the list of key words that you have used to describe your brand and identify colours which correspond to these. For example, a business that uses words such as ‘High Intensity’ and ‘Motivational’ within their mission statement could use colours which are strong and vibrant. Conversely, a company providing fitness classes for older people may prefer to opt for subtler colours. Consider limiting your company colours to two or three as using several may detract from the overall impact you wish to create.
As with colours, typography should be restricted to using two or three different fonts and correspond with your brand’s values. Again, think about your target customers. A gym used mainly by body builders should have a completely different brand font to one mainly frequented by ladies wishing to keep fit and lose weight!
Creating a strong company logo is an integral part of building a memorable brand. Taking the time to think about where and how you would like your logo to appear is likely to pay dividends in the future. The following examples demonstrate the importance of this task:-
Your logo may also be used on the following:-
Letterheads
Business cards
Flyers
Websites
Email sign-offs
Signage
Vehicle graphics
Your logo should be eye-catching, clear and easily recognizable by both current and prospective customers.
To ensure that branding remains consistent and doesn’t deviate, create a document outlining your brand guidelines. This document should include the following:-
Brand name
Brand mission statement
Branding colour pallet – ie details of the respective colour codes, including Hex codes (for website use), CMYK and pantone colours for printed media. Fitness and Gym staff uniform colours should also be noted.
Typography – the fonts you have selected, including size and weight and where these are to be used.
Logo – record the dimensions of your logo and where this is to be used along with the size of any simplified version of your logo (favicon) for use on social media sites etc.
As you can see, your brand is not only a vital component of your business, but it is also a reflection of the passion you have for what you do and the services provided by your business. Spending time on the planning and creation of your company brand will reap long-term benefits by attracting an increased number of loyal customers and enabling your business to stick to its core values and principles.
In order to achieve this, you should always create a brand that is memorable and consistent (do not be tempted to deviate), and which remains focused on what you and your business believe in.
By ensuring that your business brand’s message and values reach out and connect with your customers, you will be rewarded with a winning formula for them and your business.
