The work we do with our fitness pro and personal trainer clients often involves branding or re-branding of their business. In most cases, personal trainers come to us with their heart already set on a name for their PT business; and in many cases unfortunately, we have to advise them to think again.
Here are the top 5 things to consider when choosing a name for your personal training business – and avoid making the most common mistakes:
#1 Failing to check the domain name availability
This is the single most common mistake made by personal trainers when re-branding or naming their new personal training company. Even if you’re not planning to have a website straight away (although you really should reconsider that!), you need to check that the .com domain name is available for your chosen company name.
Why? Because from a branding perspective, there is nothing more confusing for prospects, than a company that has a different domain name than the actual company name. If people remember your company name, the chances these days are high that they’ll look for you on the internet – and the first thing they’ll try is “yourcompanyname.com”. That’s why it’s important to be able to register the .com version. They may also try “yourcompanyname.co.uk” (or with the extension used in your country) – but the chances are they’ll give up or search for you on google (again using your company name).
Our professional advice: Never choose a name for which you can’t register the .com version. As most .com’s are taken these days, you are going to have to get creative about this but not too creative…
#2 Trying to be too clever and creative
Whilst clever and creative names might seem great to you, they may not be so great for prospects trying to find you. Some of the best names for your personal training company are ones which:
- Are memorable and easy to remember
- Mean something to your target market and not just to you
- Are easy to say and to spell
Our professional advice: Choose a name which perhaps hints at or even directly addresses what you can do for your clients. This kind of name instantly positions your company as a possible solution in the mind of your prospects.
#3 Choosing an odd spelling
When we named our first Personal Training company, we chose what we thought was a clever name “activOne”. Turns out it wasn’t so clever and was a pain in the butt. Why? Because people always assumed it was spelled with an “e” in the middle and would frequently get it wrong.
Our professional advice: Unless you have an exceptional reason for doing so, avoid using odd spellings of words for your company name. Whilst it can work for big companies with huge marketing budgets, it’s likely to be a disadvantage for the successful and effective branding of your personal training business.
#4 Failing to get a matching email address
There are few things that scream “unprofessional” more than a business still using a hotmail or yahoo email address. Even if you don’t have a website, make sure you organise an email address which uses your company name.
Our professional advice: Some domain registration services offer free email accounts; sign up for one of these and then link that account to a Gmail service so you can use/manage that email address via the Gmail interface (and get tons more storage and superior features via gmail).
#5 Making it too personal
Another common mistake made by personal trainers when naming their personal fitness training business is to personalise the name and/or use their own name. This is absolutely fine if your long term business plan is to be personal training your clients, as an individual, under your own name. It can also work as a branding strategy, due to the inherently personal nature of personal training.
If however, you feel that at some point in the future, you’d like to expand the business – maybe open your own studio or have other trainers working for your company, then using your own name is not always the best solution. Equally, if your ultimate exit strategy involves selling your PT business, then branding the company with your own name, is not the most strategic decision.
Our professional advice: Consider your long term plan and exit strategy for your business before deciding on your company name.