A clever tagline can create a positive identify for your company and play a positive role in branding your company or product.
Just what is a tagline and why is it so important? A tagline is a one word sentence placed after your company name or product name that helps to give it an identify and a positive image. It’s really a brief advertising slogan that’s consistently displayed along with you product name. t’s important because it allows you to get a positive message across about your product quickly and consistently. Plus, ithelps you to build your brand. An example of an excellent tagline is Nike’s slogan, “Just Do It”. Another good example is Wheaties “Breakfast of Champions”. I’ve never eaten Wheaties in my life but the tagline is so effective even I remember it after all thse years.
How do you go about developing a tagline for your company or product? First, you need to establish what you want to say to your customer. What’s the one most important benefit of your company or product? Think in terms of benefits to the customer, not product features. Make a list of the benefits your product offers and choose the best one from the list.
Using your top benefit, write down words that are related to the benefits you offer. You want to free associate here, no censoring of words. There’s plenty of time for that later. Think of as many words as you can that relate to the benefit you’ve identified. Use a thesaurus and dictionary or an online keyword tool to generate even more words. Once you have your comprehensive list, narrow it down to ten or so.
At this point, you want to start playing around with the words and word order to come up with something new and creative that describes your product’s benefits. Add some action verbs to the keywords you’ve identified to give your tagline impact. For example, suppose you’re trying to develop a tagline for an energy tonic, an example might be “Power In a Bottle” (I’m sure you can do better than this, but it’s just an example to show you how just a few words can create an impression). Plus, you want to keep your message short and simple so it will be memorable.
Come up with a variety of potential taglines using this technique. Write them down and revisit them the next day. Sit down with a fresh perspective and review your list. Do any of your taglines really grab you? If it’s a good tagline, you should know it right away. Pick the best one and show it to a friend or family member. Ask them what kind of image it forms in their mind? Is it memorable? Does it have impact? If not, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.
If you need help in generating ideas, take a look at some of the taglines of larger companies. These may be a source of inspiration. Time spent on developing a great tagline will be time well spent as it can greatly enhance your ability to build a brand. Be sure to include your new tagline on your business cards, signature files, ads, flyers, brochures, and anywhere else you mention your business or product name. A tagline can give your business image a real boost!
