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How to make your gym brand irresistible

Steal this branding expert’s 3-step playbook 👇

Author

John Franklin
September 20, 2024

What’s up Gym World?

While the average gym owner focuses on marketing to grow their business, the top owners prioritize building a strong brand.

Branding gives a complete picture of your business and how others see you. Marketing is what builds brand awareness and get people through the door.

For most, branding is an afterthought. But a strong brand instills trust, which pays dividends for the life of the business. We’ve seen it with gyms like Alloy, Alpha Fit Club, and MADabolic.

That’s why we invited Milena Hrebacka from New Breed Design. She’s been a graphic designer for 15 years and has helped previous Gym World guests like Brendan Kalijundic nail their branding.

Milena also owns a martial arts gym called BOSS Thai Boxing with her husband near Ottawa, Canada. It has generated $315k in revenue and makes over $25,000 from events.

Now, she’s here to share her playbook on building a standout gym brand.

Here it is: 👇

Step 1: Define your purpose 🔎

When working with gym owners, Milena reviews every part of the business, including:

  • Your logo

  • The look and feel of your gym

  • Your online presence (social media and website)

  • Dress code

  • How you interact with customers

  • Sub-brands (events, camps, etc.)

These elements form your brand, which needs to make a lasting impression because it’s the first point of contact for anyone new to your business.

Branding helps identify reasons why a gym may not be connecting with its audience. That’s why Milena asks questions like:

  • Why did you start this business?

  • What are your passions, dreams, and goals for it?

  • How does your gym align (or not align) with that vision?

Milena says your brand is the most valuable asset in your business because it delivers the highest ROI by working 24/7/365 with no pay and minimal upkeep. That’s why building a solid brand strategy is so important.

Step 2: Develop your brand persona 🗣️

A brand persona is how you’d picture your business if it were a person. It’s the personality, values, and voice that tells potential clients your gym has what they’re looking for and that they’re the right fit.

There are 12 persona archetypes that make it easier to develop your brand as a person. Each archetype starts with one of four core attributes: structure, spirituality, connection, or recognition. From there, they adopt a secondary trait, like freedom, belonging, or power.

By aligning your brand with one of these archetypes, you create a personality for your brand, making it more relatable and giving it a "face" your audience can connect with.

To gain clarity on your brand persona, grab a pen and paper and try Milena’s 30-second exercise: 👇

  • Write down 5-20 words that capture your gym’s characteristics.

  • Focus on your mission, values, and culture—not your services.

  • Choose words that will resonate with your ideal client’s desires and goals.

Once you’ve got your list of characteristics, use it as a reference when writing ads, creating content, or reaching out to prospects.

Milena’s gym targets people aged 7 to 80 who are seeking self-improvement. Words that describe her gym are: team, sportsmanship, growth, community, safe, respectful, inclusive, technical, authentic, and fitness.

We don’t recommend having an audience as broad as Milena’s. The most successful gyms are hyper-specific about who they serve, which makes their marketing easier and more effective because they speak directly to their ideal clients.

Step 3: Create a cohesive brand package 🎁

Top gyms with great branding stay consistent online and in person by:

Consistency builds trust, and when people trust your gym, they’re more likely to buy your services.

Milena suggests you start with: 👇

Your logo is the foundation of your brand. It should be the most consistent element and:

  1. Be simple – avoid too many overwhelming details.

  2. Focus on your brand – only include what connects with your audience.

  3. Be usable – in one color, with a transparent background, reversible on black, and in vector format.

Here’s an example of Milena’s redesign for the logo at Kalsamrit Martial Arts:

❌ Visually distracting

❌ Too many competing elements

❌ Lots of textures

❌ Too many layered components

❌ Difficult to use

✅ Cleaner visual

✅ Easier to distinguish components

✅ ‘K’ is the focal point

✅ Easy-to-read business name

✅ Usable across all channels

And another example from Athena Muay Thai Academy:

❌ Characters are hard to read

❌ Asymmetrical shape

❌ ’A’ symbol is too large

❌ ’A’ doesn’t stand alone well

❌ Tagline needs a bigger, more readable font

✅ Easy to read

✅ Bolder, more compact logo

✅ Simpler and symmetrical

✅ ’A’ can stand alone

✅ Refined color palette

The website

When prospects visit your website, the goal is to keep them engaged and prompt them to act.

It takes milliseconds for visitors to decide whether to stay or leave, so you need to make a good first impression.

A poorly designed site loses leads fast, but a good website wins them over by clearly showing:

  1. Who you help

  2. How you help them

  3. What they should do next

  4. Consistent branding (logo, photos, font, voice)

Milena charges $10,000 and up to create custom websites tailored to the client and their branding.

Kilo gym websites are built for conversion and customized to match your gym’s brand. If you want a taste of Milena’s expertise for a fraction of the cost, she’s designing their next few templates. You can get started for just $200.

The merchandise

Selling gear not only boosts revenue but also strengthens brand awareness and community. Milena recommends having a line of professionally designed merch that features:

  • Your logo

  • Consistent fonts

  • Your brand colors

Depending on the type of gym you run, you could have t-shirts, shorts, hoodies, shin guards, boxing gloves, track suits, competition vests, and more.

You can offer a permanent line of merch year-round or release limited editions during different seasons.

Milena’s gym is known for its special line of competition shorts, and even people from other gyms buy her merch. Every new member is required to buy a $300 (CAD) starter package with gear, on top of the $160 (CAD) monthly membership.

BONUS: Gym events

Like many other gyms we’ve featured, Milena’s gym expanded its revenue by hosting a live Thai experience fight night called Bushido, where students from different martial arts schools match up against each other.

This event has been running for 3 years. Milena rents a hockey arena for 48 hours, and for convenience, it’s held on the same weekend in July each year.

Admission is $40-$50 CAD, and around 650-750 people attend. This means the event brings in at least $26,000 CAD ($19,000 USD) each time.

Everything from the tickets to the social media posts are all specifically branded for Bushido, and both students and coaches get special competition gear that’s exclusively used at this event.

They get people in the door by running ad campaigns, attending community events, hanging posters, and occasionally using radio ads.

Milena makes it feel premium by offering:

  • A full-service bar and food on-site

  • A live DJ and emcee

  • Professional lighting

  • A professional-sized ring

  • Trophies and awards

The gym also collaborates with sponsors, including local businesses or contractors they’ve worked with in the past.

Even though it’s only been a few years, Milena has built a strong reputation in her community. After the first Bushido event, people were already asking about the next one. She credits this to positioning herself as if she’d been doing it for 10 years.

Case Study: Fellow Gym World guest Brendan Kalijundic worked with Milena to promote his martial arts tournaments and UFC-style fight nights.

These events now attract thousands of people, sell out hockey arenas, and add an extra $200k to his gym’s annual revenue. 🤯

So, you want an irresistible gym brand? 👀

Start with:

  • Defining your purpose

  • Developing your brand persona

  • Creating a cohesive brand package

This takes time and investment, so we asked Milena for tips if you can’t afford an expert. She suggested:

  • Finding someone who cares about your gym

  • Offering them shares in your business for brand services

  • Working with a college or university student who’s eager to gain experience

For smaller tasks like branded Instagram stories or posts, Fiverr or Upwork can be helpful. But Milena strongly recommends working with a professional who understands your business and can build a brand that supports your gym’s growth.

For more branding insights and to hear how Milena’s gym generates over $25,000 (CAD) from each event, watch or listen to her full interview on Gym World.

see ya,

j

📣 P.S. If you found this interesting, share it with a gym owner who’d think so too.