Effective Branding Methods to Make Your Fitness Business Synonymous Within Your Locality

With a little bit of effort, you can make your business name indelible in the minds of your community when they think about your specific category…

By Mike Chaet

Editors Note:

Mike Chate gives a edifying discourse on local branding, primarily for health club managers, however, these principles also prevail if you are a personal trainer, yoga studio, massage therapists, chiropractor, or for that matter any other small business. Internalize this "how to" on branding and enjoy your new found business success.

Branding - What's in it for you as a club operator?

A lot. For your health club, it can mean instant name recognition. Strong marketplace presence. A firm perception of dependability. With effective branding, you and your gym can be the definitive word in local fitness-the name that first comes to mind and the sole choice among a sea of competition.

"When a potential customer thinks of a [health club], the first name they think of in regards to a brand name should be yours."

In this context, what is branding? Branding is making your name, the name of your club business or company, absolutely synonymous with your product or product category. Look at the varied classes of automobiles-there's low-priced automobiles and high-priced automobiles-with some brands synonymous with their price class. Mercedes or Ford Pinto…which one would you expect a major CEO to be driving? Which is owned by the single mom with 4 kids? Perception is reality.

When a potential customer thinks of a product in generic terms, the first name they think of in regards to a brand name should be yours. In some cases, very advanced cases of branding, the name of the company actually becomes one with the product.

Kleenex, for example, it's nothing more than paper tissues. But people go to the store and buy what they call "Kleenex", even though it may be manufactured by someone else.

Another example of this ultra-branding is Xerox. "l'm going to buy a Xerox machine to xerox these copies." I might be buying a Mita "Xerox" plain paper copier, but, in my mind and perception, I'll still be using it to make "Xerox" copies. Those are very, very advanced examples of branding when the brand becomes the actual product. The most successful result of branding.

Look at some global companies and their examples of advanced branding. The familiar Coke and Pepsi signs show up in the most remote, foreign locations. The brand is there. When foreign investors decide they're going to import a product or open a restaurant, they, of course, will look to the branded products such as Pepsi, Coke or McDonald's. But you as an independent, can hardly compete with those giants. So let's take a look at a category within a product line.

Category Domination

A category defines one end, element or division of that particular product line. Like the product classes of automobiles as mentioned previously. Ask anyone on the street to name a high-priced automobile company. Mercedes-Benz or Porsche come up automatically.

The Kleenex brand is so dominant that people call all facial tissues, regardless of who makes them, "Kleenex".

What is the most popular pizza company? Pizza Hut or Domino's. Reflexive answers. We talked about copy machines-what about software? Microsoft. Retail stores? Wal-Mart. All category brand names.

All of these are huge national or global companies; large market-penetration companies that are virtually everywhere. That's a key factor in branding. It seems to be "everywhere". For you, though, that doesn't have to mean the entire country or world. For now, keep that in the back of your mind.

Health Club Brands

We're dealing with health clubs now. Do we have global or nationally branded companies? Three or four come to mind instantly: there's Gold's Gym, World Gym, 24-Hour Fitness, Life Time Fitness, New York Sports Clubs and Bally's. If you go to Europe, you may find Techno-Gym. As you travel, whether it's Boston or Sweden, you'd naturally seek out the branded name that provides a sense of, "Oh, there's a health club that I know." Good, bad or indifferent, you know what they are.

As independent club owners, global branding is out of reach. First off, no one is in a financial position to accomplish that task. Best off, it's not necessary. There's no need to even think in those terms with one or two clubs.

You must accomplish local branding. More…