Everything is set. You’ve decided you’re going to stop working for other people and open your own gym or fitness centre. You’ve purchased the land, sorted out all the logistics and legal matters, figured out your finances, and purchased all the right equipment. All that’s left is to pick a name.
That should be a simple enough task, right?
Well, it’s not exactly.
Choosing a great name is incredibly important because it plays a huge role in how your customers view your brand. In fact, we’d even go so far as to say that picking a name for your new gym will be the most mentally stressful and challenging thing you’ll do throughout the entire process simply because of how important it is.
The name you pick now will get engrained into everything that represents the brand, including the logo, the website, all marketing material, and most importantly, the public perception.
When you think of Gold’s Gym, for example, you instantly picture huge spaces with hundreds of people working out on top-quality equipment. That’s the kind of image you want associated with your brand as well.
This is why it’s essential that you give this process the due time and consideration it deserves. Don’t rush into any decisions just because you feel pressured by deadlines. You need to get this right the first time if you want to be successful, so spend a little extra time if needed.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you delay the gym’s opening by weeks just because you couldn’t come up with a name you were satisfied with. That wouldn’t make sense financially since you’d just be sitting on your investment without getting any returns.
Luckily for you, we’re here to help!
We’ve prepared a step-by-step guide to show you the creative process most branding agencies follow to help entrepreneurs come up with killer names for their businesses. By the end of this guide, you should have a pretty good idea of what you need to do to really get those creative juices flowing.
Since your gym’s name will be a direct representation of the brand, this is naturally the best place to start your thought process.
Think about what you want your brand to represent and start listing down all related keywords on a piece of paper. Here, you’re effectively having a brainstorming session with yourself so make sure you get everything down, no matter how vague or specific it may be.
Words commonly associated with this industry are:
If you’re not planning on selling the gym during your own lifetime, you can also incorporate your own name to make it unique and personal.
When you have roughly 12-15 potential names listen down, it’s time to start narrowing down your options by eliminating the ones you don’t like.
A great way to do is to actually imagine how the name will look in a big signboard outside your gym. You’ll find that a lot of names which sound great when read out aren’t actually that appealing to read or look at.
By the end of this process, you should be left with 5-6 names that represent your business perfectly and would stand out from the crowd in a busy market.
You’ll need a website if you want your gym to be a resounding success. We live in a highly digital world, and any business that doesn’t operate online risks losing out on hundreds of thousands of potential customers.
For this purpose, you’ll need to check if there are domains available for the names you shortlisted in the previous step. There are plenty of websites that will let you do this, such as godaddy.com and name.com.
In case the domain isn’t directly available for sale on these web hosts, they’ll help you buy it from whichever business decided to purchase it first.
This step also helps you figure out if there are any businesses in your city or country that have a name similar to yours.
We also highly recommend checking all popular social media websites to see if the name is free and making pages/profiles for the gym.
If there are any businesses using any of the names you shortlisted, you’ll have come across them during your online research, but it’s still a good idea to conduct a trademark search just-in-case. You wouldn’t want to go through all this hassle of picking the perfect name, only to find out it’s already taken when you start the registration process.
Most countries have their own patent and trademark office websites where this information is available to the public. You can also get in touch with a lawyer and ask them to do the process for you if you don’t want to get involved in the legal side of things.
Finally, you should get your potential gym names (which passed the two tests above) vetted by friends and family. Ask them for their honest feedback and if they have any suggestions on how to improve the name.
You can also directly ask members of your target audience for their opinion on the name. After all, these are the people you’ll want to leave a positive impression on. By involving them in the process, you make the entire thing incredibly personal which is great for building a long-term relationship.
Picking a decent name for the business is an essential part of the process in every industry around the globe, but it takes on an even greater importance in the fitness sector due to the nature of the client.
Most fitness fanatics tend to pick their gyms based entirely on what they’ve heard from friends and acquaintances, so it’s vital that you build a brand which become synonymous with quality and excellent customer service.
The first step in building a great band is to pick a name that’s not easy-to-remember, it also stands out from the crowd and gets you noticed in the market.
If you’re stuck and can’t seem to come up with anything, we’d highly recommend following our 5-step process which is guaranteed to get your creative juices flowing once more.
Recommended Reads:
How To Start Your Own Gym Or Fitness Centre
New Gym - Build Your Own Or buy An Existing Facility
How Much Does It Cost To Start A New Gym