How To Brand Your Personal Training Business

How you choose to brand your personal training business can be either a lot of fun or pure agony, depending on your creative flair and patience.

If I asked you which you think the most recognised image or logo in the world is, what comes to mind; McDonald's, Nike, Coca Cola, the Playboy bunny?

If you thought any of those you would be close to correct, but the most recognised image is this one to our left of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, which is a variation of an image entitled Guerrillero Heroico and was declared "the most famous photograph in the world."

There is actually a reason I've mentioned this. Che did not spend one cent to create his brand if you could call it that, his life journey represents something which people, lots and lots of people in fact, strongly believe in (some don't, they just think it's a cool t-shirt) and because of that they are attracted to the image and endorse it.


In comparison, McDonald's spent almost $690 million dollars in 2006 on advertising alone...that works quite well too.

Combining those two principles, relative financial investment and creating something people want to be associated with, how can you develop a brand that people will recognise and be attracted to?

Firstly, decide what you want to call your business. The most common personal training business names are usually those of the owner 'Suzy Smith's personal Training', the name of where they operate, 'Melbourne Fitness Trainers' some energizing words like 'Energizing Energy Personal Training', or a combination of all the above like 'Suzy's Energizing Melbourne Personal Training', you get the picture.

Choose your name very carefully because you could be stuck with it for a long time, especially once you start investing money into it's creation and exposure.

Think long term and create a brand with longevity. Once you have some ideas, ask yourself if it will still look and sound good in 5 years time.

Target your potential market with key words and images they can relate to. If you're specializing in golf coach style personal training then it would make sense to have the word golf in your name somewhere, if not in your logo.

Make sure you don't use unrelated words in your business name. 'Apple' has spent A LOT of money informing people that they aren't fruit shop owners.

Try and keep your logo simple and easy to recall. Not too long, not too flashy.

I also advise against inventing words that no one knows how to spell; people generally only look once for something that has caught their eye and if they sit at the computer to try and find your site from memory and they can't remember the spelling, they will click on your competitor.

Trial your logo or name with friends. If they don't think it's as awesome as you do it probably isn't.

And lastly, make sure your name is available to register, especially before you spend any money to have it printed or promoted or you could find yourself in hot water.