Creating a brand identity for your new gym or fitness club might sound like a challenge but we are here to help. It takes work and dedication but the benefits are much greater than the amount of work you’ll put in.
Having a powerful brand identity means your members will want to associate with you, creating a strong and loyal membership base. A strong brand also attracts new members resulting in higher revenues in the long run.
6 Steps to Create a Powerful Brand Identity
Click on a point below or continue reading to start from the first.
- Define your target audience and mission statement
- Create a strong personality for your brand
- Have a catchy tagline
- Research your competitors
- Tell your brand story
- Create a social media presence
Define your target audience and mission statement
Defining who your potential members are is an important point to start from for creating your brand. Creating a brand that attracts a particular type of person requires that you understand the characteristics of that person and what will resonate with them. You need to know the demographics and psychographics of your target audience. As you get a better idea about your target audience you can craft a brand that is more suited for them. They can see that your gym has all the elements that they require and hence will come towards your brand as you want to provide them with what is best for them.
Your mission statement should be unique and should show your gym's values and future goals. Your mission statement is a representation of what you want to do and how you plan on doing it. You need to know what makes your gym unique and what values it has. Avoid creating a generic mission statement as it will most probably not grab the attention of your customers. The mission statement should resonate with your members, so a tone and style they’ll prefer will probably work in your favour which is only possible if you know who your target audience is.
Create a strong personality for your brand
As odd as it may sound, brands or businesses do have personalities. Brand personality is how your members see and perceive your brand. Essentially we are referring them to human personalities so that members can relate to the brand. Brands can be associated with adjectives such as trustworthy, unique, creative, funny, etc. You need to be mindful of the colours and theme that you are going for. Colours play an important role in branding as you are associating your brand with them.
You need to bring your brand to life with the logo and theme. As for the logo, all of the aspects including the colour, font, and design play an important role in distinguishing your brand from other brands. The best way to make your logo stand out is to be simplistic and mindful with the design. If a logo is simple it is much easier for people to recall it and the more it resonates with your members the better awareness it will spread. Having a strong visual identity helps with retaining your brand and how it is perceived by your members.
Have a catchy tagline
A tagline or slogan is an essential part of any business whether you are a fitness or any other business. Your tagline should be short and catchy and should tell what your business is all about. Pick from the simplest of words for your tagline, but it should be memorable and distinctive so that it stays in the minds of your members. This way if you have a simple but catchy tagline, it is much easier for your members to recall it. You can even mention any unique value that you are providing your members in your tagline.
Research your competitors
You need to do extensive research on your competitors to see what they are doing and what you can do to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Research also tells you whether you are lagging or not and where you can improve. Your competitors can be either new start-ups or well-established gyms or fitness centers in your area. You can get a better idea of how you can improve your overall brand to attract new members by researching your competition.
Having a brand identity which shows who you are and distinguishes you from your competitors is important. Let’s suppose you want your gym to be known as a facility suitable for all ages or if you want to have a facility where members can experience a good cardio workout and relaxing yoga. After figuring out what you want to get out of your gym you will start making strategies to achieve your goals. This is how your brand identity will start forming and it will let you stay ahead of your competitors. Your brand identity will include the colour, theme, logo, and even your brand voice.
Tell your brand story
Stories are very engaging and entertaining for anyone, so having a good brand story can motivate your potential members toward your brand. This is where brand voices play an important role, brand voice is the unique way you represent your brand to the world. Your brand voice can show if your brand is cheerful, young, straightforward or modern.
A brand story can include a gym owner telling their inspirational journey, and how he wanted to help people who wanted to get in shape as he, himself, faced the same issue of being overweight. He didn’t have the resources in that area in the beginning but worked out ways to support his dream and now the gym owner is living a healthy lifestyle himself and is helping others through his gym. Stories like these are shared and remembered, here word-of-mouth plays an important role.
Create a social media presence
The fastest and most powerful way you can grow your brand and promote it is by using social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Social media is a great way for your business as it has a good reach and provides you with different tools so that you can spread awareness about your brand. Having the right strategy for your social media is important. Social media allows your members to interact with your brand easily from the comfort of their homes.
Social media is a great way to amplify your brand image. Spreading information about your brand via social media is more effective than promoting it using traditional means. Social media can be considered as word-of-mouth advertising but on a larger scale. Social media is a great way to amplify your brand image and connect with your audience.
You can read more about marketing or promoting your gym or club in our previous blogs:
- 10 Proven Strategies to Promote Your Fitness Club
- 10 Marketing Strategies for Gyms and Fitness Clubs
Takeaway
Creating a powerful brand identity for your gym requires time and effort but is extremely beneficial in the long run.
Start by defining your target audience and mission statement. Create a strong personality for your brand and develop a catchy tagline. Research your competitors so you can differentiate your brand and create a Unique Selling Point (USP). Tell your brand story as stories are an effective tool to connect with your audience. Showcase your brand through all your marketing assets including social media.
