Your company's brand identity is its public face. The visual representation of your brand — your logo —is often paired with a short marketing tagline that positions and differentiates your brand in the marketplace.
The tagline's role in branding is straightforward: Communicate your company's most important advantage, benefit or point of distinction in a few compelling words. But that's harder than it looks, and many marketers fail.
But when a tagline works, it becomes a vital component of a brand. Think of GE's longtime tagline "We Bring Good Things to Life." Successful taglines such as this one have certain attributes in common. They are:
- Unique to the brand. The tagline is so much a part of the product's or company's identity that it could apply to no other entity.
- Essential to brand identity. Hearing or seeing the words evokes the company's brand identity in the consumer's mind as much as the visual logo does.
- Ubiquitous. The tagline is integrated into the logo design and used whenever the brand logo appears — in every marketing campaign and channel.
- Unforgettable. Once you hear a great tagline, it stays in your head.
Ready to write a winning tagline for your business? Here are seven tips:
- Focus. Zero in on your singular point of differentiation, the key attribute, value or benefit you deliver that makes your product or organization stand out.
- Make it meaningful. Convey a message that your target audience will care about and understand.
- Make it memorable. Use structure, rhythm, rhyming or alliteration to coin a phrase that's distinctive and easy to remember. Consider a creative twist on a common phrase.
- Keep it short. Use as few words as possible, ideally five words or less.
- Say it out loud. Speak the words to be sure the tagline is easy to say.
- Integrate it into your logo design. Construct your brand's visual identity so that the tagline is part of the logo.
- Make it yours. If possible, choose a tagline that can apply only to your firm or product. Consider including the name of your city or state.
If you don't already have one, consider adding a compelling tagline to your brand identity. It can be a powerful way to help your company stand apart from the competition.
