Naming your Commercial School?

[Yuen Kay Jun]

Hello,

I am considering reopening my commercial kwoon after many years, to spawn off of my private teaching. i wanted to ask my fellow brethren about naming my school, how to name it and what to consider.

I teach Wing Chun and will be opening in the Savannah, GA area. There is already one Wing Chun school here named "Savannah Ving Tsun". So although i can name mine Savannah Wing Chun, i do not feel that would be professional or show much Wu De/Mo Duk. Your opinion and advise is appreciated.

I have been involved in CMA for a long time, so i am unable to view naming from a novice mind or a public/non-cma mind... LOL (shallow i know).

Since the school name is the first point of impression and marketing (from a public standpoint), would anyone be willing to share their method of thought or suggestions?

 

[oaktree]

Hello,

I am considering reopening my commercial kwoon after many years, to spawn off of my private teaching. i wanted to ask my fellow brethren about naming my school, how to name it and what to consider.

I teach Wing Chun and will be opening in the Savannah, GA area. There is already one Wing Chun school here named "Savannah Ving Tsun". So although i can name mine Savannah Wing Chun, i do not feel that would be professional or show much Wu De/Mo Duk. Your opinion and advise is appreciated.

I have been involved in CMA for a long time, so i am unable to view naming from a novice mind or a public/non-cma mind... LOL (shallow i know).

Since the school name is the first point of impression and marketing (from a public standpoint), would anyone be willing to share their method of thought or suggestions?

Hey I am in Georgia in Snellville my wife is Cantonese so if there is something you need help with in creating a name no problem.

 

[dancingalone]

Hello,

Since the school name is the first point of impression and marketing (from a public standpoint), would anyone be willing to share their method of thought or suggestions?

The name from the start should explain what you are offering. Most lay people have no idea what Wing Chun is, so I don't view it as important at all for inclusion. Perhaps something like Savannah School of Chinese Martial Arts? You might even switch out Savannah for the street name you are located at if it is a large commercial one.

 

[JP3]

Obviously, my place isn't a commercial school. The suggestion above of the city's name being used, or if a sizeable street name is your school's retail frontage, is an excellent one, (say the street name is Trenton, for example), "Chinese Martial Arts of Trenton," or as stated above "Savannah School of Chinese Martial Way," something like that. Obvious to people who don't know diddly about Wing Chun of basically what it is that you do there, to make the most out of the marketing $$$ you are spending to have such frontage.

 

[Andrew Green]

Simple, easy to remember, something people will actually use in conversation.

I'd vote against "savanah school of Chinese martial arts" because no one is going to say that in casual conversation.

Most people that don't train also have no idea what wing chun is, nor will they care that much unless you teach them too. So I'd not use that in the name either.

Simple, unique, and something people will actually use in conversation would be my starting point

 

[yak sao]

My Wing Tsun group uses Chinese Boxing Club for our name.

 

[Yuen Kay Jun]

Hey I am in Georgia in Snellville my wife is Cantonese so if there is something you need help with in creating a name no problem.

Oak tree. Thanks brother!!! Is gwai-lo have a tendency to butcher translations. Especially verbal teachings. , when converting to English. Lol

 

[Yuen Kay Jun]

Hmmm. Good advice and I thank y'all.

So, your thoughts?

Savannah Kung Fu Academy

Savannah Chinese boxing academy.

 

[Yuen Kay Jun]

I chose those to start, because there is only one other Kung fu school around and a few of karate

 

[oaktree]

Oak tree. Thanks brother!!! Is gwai-lo have a tendency to butcher translations. Especially verbal teachings. , when converting to English. Lol

Hey no problem, I actually called mine
Chinese martial arts of Loganville - Loganville, GA
I think the simplest the better.

 

[Danny T]

Does the average person who could be a great potential student know or understand what Wing Chun is?
Your school name needs to tell the average person your school is obviously a martial arts facility. Your marketing should brand what is available at the school.

 

[Yuen Kay Jun]

Good advice Danny. As is wing chun, simplicity is key...

 

[CB Jones]

Hmmm. Good advice and I thank y'all.

So, your thoughts?

Savannah Kung Fu Academy

Savannah Chinese boxing academy.

Savannah Chinese Boxing Academy has a better sounding acronym. S.C.B.A

But resemble Scuba too much

How bout:

Academy of Chinese Martial Arts. A.C.M.A

Savanah's Academy of Chinese Martial Arts----SACMA

Kung Fu Academy of Savanah---KFAS

Kung Fu Academy of Georgia ---KFAG (lol)

Savanahs Wingchun Academy of Georgia---SWAG

Savanahs Academy of Wingchun---SAW

Chinese Boxing Academy of Georgia ---CBAG

The Nameless Wing Chun Academy of Savanah ----now that is just crazy

 

[CB Jones]

Wait. I've got it:

Chinese Boxing Academy of Savanah---CBAS

Y'all battle cry:

Kick his a** CBAS

 

[JP3]

I'd vote against "savanah school of Chinese martial arts" because no one is going to say that in casual conversation

Yeah... now that I read it out loud.. it doesn't exactly flow trippingly off the tongue, does it. But, you'd not want to shorten it as far as going to something like "Chop Shop" though, either. And, if you go into Cantonese or Mandarin for the name, unless you are in an area of town where such is a living and sort of present language, nobody would know what you are talking about, either.

This is proving harder than I originally thought.

 

[Danny T]

The Martial Arts Academy
The Academy of Martial Arts
Chinese Martial Arts
Chinese Boxing Academy
The School of Martial Arts
Savannah Martial Arts
School of Martial Arts
Martial Arts Plus

 

[dancingalone]

Simple, easy to remember, something people will actually use in conversation.

I'd vote against "savanah school of Chinese martial arts" because no one is going to say that in casual conversation.

I'd actually argue that how it flows in conversation is also unimportant. I bet half my students have no idea what the name of the school is.

What is important in my opinion is how intuitive the name is when searching through a search engine such as Google. If you are in Savannah and you are looking for lessons in MA, you likely would be using terms like "Savannah" and "martial arts" and maybe other terms like "self defense", etc.

A catchy name that might roll off the tongue well does not necessarily equate to best for business.

 

[Yuen Kay Jun]

Thanks to everyone for the input, suggestions and talking points!

I'm leaning to using Kung Fu in the name, this way it is Martial Art Type specific, and it will lend the public to at least having an Idea of what it is.

i can specify the type in the marketing and website.

i'm thinking that having Martial Art(s) in the name may be too generic, which i can use to tag the web traffic and funnel to me - perhaps....

 

[Jenna]

Thanks to everyone for the input, suggestions and talking points!

I'm leaning to using Kung Fu in the name, this way it is Martial Art Type specific, and it will lend the public to at least having an Idea of what it is.

i can specify the type in the marketing and website.

i'm thinking that having Martial Art(s) in the name may be too generic, which i can use to tag the web traffic and funnel to me - perhaps....

Cannot be of much help, just want to wish you well with starting up x

 

[JowGaWolf]

Hello,

I am considering reopening my commercial kwoon after many years, to spawn off of my private teaching. i wanted to ask my fellow brethren about naming my school, how to name it and what to consider.

I teach Wing Chun and will be opening in the Savannah, GA area. There is already one Wing Chun school here named "Savannah Ving Tsun". So although i can name mine Savannah Wing Chun, i do not feel that would be professional or show much Wu De/Mo Duk. Your opinion and advise is appreciated.

I have been involved in CMA for a long time, so i am unable to view naming from a novice mind or a public/non-cma mind... LOL (shallow i know).

Since the school name is the first point of impression and marketing (from a public standpoint), would anyone be willing to share their method of thought or suggestions?

When you think of a name for your school also think of the name of your website as well. The name for your physical school is going to be more flexible than the name for your website. For me personally I would never recommend not putting the location as part of the physical business name. If you build up a good brand and then find it more profitable to move to the next city over, then you won't be able to take the naming brand with you.

Do not include location as part of your website domain name because you may move locations, which means you would need to purchase a new domain if you decide to continue the school at a different location. Also make sure that the name fits well on a business card. Do a couple of markup designs on one of the sites that let you design your own business cards.

Make sure your name is something easy to remember and easy to spell. The name that you come up with may not be all that exciting but if it's easy to remember then it will be easier to market and talk about. I would drive around some of the larger martial arts schools and take note of how they use their name. The 4 common words used in martial arts school names are probably Academy, School, Institute, Center. So one of those would probably be good to include as part of your name.