A well-crafted tagline can be a memorable and valuable tool for quickly conveying your brand promise, differentiating you from your competition, and bringing a unifying message to all your marketing and communications efforts going forward.
Or . . . it can be an empty and senseless exercise in wordplay that stops people cold and opens you to ridicule, rejection and hostility from men, women and children.
Now that you understand what's at stake when doing the tag line tango, let's look at some examples of . . .
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Good Tag Lines
"M'm! M'm! Good!" Campbell's Soup
"The quicker picker upper." Bounty
"Can you hear me now? Good." Verizon
"Be all you can be." U.S. Army
"Let your fingers do the walking." Yellow Pages
What do all these slogans have in common? They promote the product or organization in a memorable way and make a meaningful promise about the brand experience. Now for the misfires.
Bad and Ugly Tag Lines
"I'm lovin' it." McDonalds
"When it rains, it pours." Morton Salt
"The choice of a new generation." Pepsi
"No rules, just right." Outback
"Every kiss begins with Kay." Kay Jewelers
What do all these slogans have in common? The make statements that aren't easily understandable, aren't based on genuine strengths, and don't reflect things that are important to customers. Opps!
Tag, You're It: Making Your Tagline Memorable
So how do you avoid creating a tagline that lands you on "the bad and the ugly" list and has a potent influence on driving sales and improving your bottom line? Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Your tagline should be simple, clear, and concise and convey your marketing message.
- Make sure it speaks to your customers in words and tomes that are important to them.
- If possible, include words or phrases that connect with your logo -- words and images working together make the most powerful impression.
- Once you create a strong tagline, commit to using it over the long haul. Changing taglines too frequently can impair awareness of your brand and weaken your competitive advantage.
One final tip: Never, we repeat never create a tagline that contains any of these five worn-out words from a million sound-alike mission statements -- commitment, quality, service, value and trust. Unless, of course, you want to wind up on a future "bad and ugly" tag line list with an entry like "Our Commitment to Quality and Service is a Value You Can Trust." Arghh!!
For more ideas that drive sales, check out the archives or visit Ambit Advertising and Public Relations.
Looking for a tagline. Selling medical Simulation products to the Military. Need help. Thanks
Posted by: Samuel Strayhorn Jr | November 05, 2009 at 09:43 AM