Creating a good tagline for your business is not only an important element of your brand voice, but it’s also the key to properly introducing and helping define your brand to new customers. A good company name, logo and color scheme can make strong first impressions, but a tagline may be the first opportunity you have to make a precise statement to others about what defines your brand.
Just A Few Simple Words
A Tagline may be just a short statement composed of a few simple words, but the branding power of a good tagline can be substantial – presenting the right tagline will not only make a positive first impression on new customers, but will also make your business more memorable, which can be invaluable in a crowded industry or marketplace.
What Exactly Is A Tagline?
A tagline is a short statement that should augment your business name and create a general sense of your services and value to your prospective clients. A good tagline a short, clear, concise statement, no more than six words, that clarifies and enhances your brand.
Taglines In Action
In 2009, Coca-Cola created a new tagline, “Enjoy life’s simple pleasures,” and a subsequent global marketing campaign entitled “Open Happiness.” Both the tagline and campaign title (which was also used as a tagline) clearly define and express what makes a Coke-branded beverage enjoyable, including a reference to the “simple pleasure” of consuming a Coke and the physical act of opening a bottle or can. There are multitudes of other beverage options available to a consumer, but with these taglines Coca-Cola hoped to successfully impart a positive emotion and experience (happiness and pleasure) with the “simple” act of consuming their product. Although only six words were used across two taglines, two powerful and compelling branding messages were conveyed to consumers.
Create Your Own Tagline
Like many aspects of branding, the first step to creating a good tagline is deciding and defining what makes your business unique. All businesses are unique in some way, whether it’s a special product or service that isn’t sold or supplied in exactly the same way by any other business in your market or industry, or it may be your unique approach or “spin” to a more common product or service. Even if other businesses sell or supply the same products or services, you may offer lower rates or prices, superior service, a faster turnaround or delivery time, a larger selection of products or more locations. Defining what makes your business unique is the first, and possibly most important, step to creating a memorable tagline.
Simplify Your Business
The next step to creating a good tagline is identifying the best and most unique component of your business and simplifying it into an abstract that can be easily conceptualized by consumers. Remember, you only have six words or less, so it’s imperative that you “drill down to the core” of what makes your brand unique and present it in a clear and creative way. The best way to conceptualize this is to ask yourself this: if someone were quickly reading my tagline on the side of a moving truck, or on the front of a t-shirt, would they immediately know what my tagline and, subsequently, my branding, meant to convey?
Be Unique And Different
Remember, a great tagline doesn’t always have to describe exactly what product or service is being offered – for instance, Apple’s classic “Think different” tagline didn’t specifically convey that Apple sold personal computers, but instead informed consumers that Apple computers were “different,” different than the computers it was competing against in the marketplace. However, for some businesses a clear, straightforward tagline is equally effective – if, like Jimmy Johns, you’re known for the fast, efficient delivery of food, “Freaky Fast Delivery!” may be the perfect tagline for your business. A good tagline for your business may not necessarily be a good fit for another business, and that’s part of what makes defining the uniqueness of your brand so important when creating a unique tagline.