Coming up with a tagline for a product or offering can be a head scratcher. You want something that gets your point across and really sums up your products and services… while showing your personality.
You want your name or tagline to deliver so much meaning, while remaining short and to the point. No pressure, right?
4 Tips For How To Come Up With Your Tagline
1. Do you need a tagline? How taglines are different from headlines.
A tagline is the short description that goes after your product, service, or business name. This is different than naming a blog or business.
You can use it to deliver a unique selling proposition (USP). I talk more about your USP in my Launch It and Profit course.
Use it to clarify your program or product name, and to explain why someone should pick your company or product.
An example comes from FedEx: “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.”
Or, Hallmark’s: “When you care enough to send the very best.”
A tagline is the umbrella for your brand (or product), whereas a headline is specific to a sales message. Headlines can be used in advertising messages, subject lines, or sales pages.
2. Clarity above cleverness
This is one the biggest mistakes I see people make, and I’ve made it myself many times.
Instead of saying something in a straightforward fashion, you try to use a cute or clever metaphor or wordplay.
This might make you feel smart and clever but it tends to confuse your potential customers.
An example of a cute but not helpful tagline: “take flight into your best life”. It’s a cute metaphor but it doesn’t really mean a lot.
3. Use powerful words that pack a punch
Some words connect with your ideal prospects more than others. Generally speaking, when you can paint a picture in someone’s mind you know you’ve got a winner.
Let’s play with an example for a payment processing company.
Their tagline might be, “We help you receive money from your customers safely and quickly.”
Pretty straightforward, but we can use words that might grab people’s attention even more, and make it more specific too.
“We move money fast. It’ll be in your bank account tomorrow.”
Words like “money fast” and “tomorrow” give a higher sense of urgency, and specifying that money will be transferred to your account makes it more tangible.
4. Can you make it more specific and simplify it even more?
Many of us start out with taglines that talk about the big picture of what we’re all about.
These types of taglines call to us because they have alliteration or they look pretty on our websites but they don’t help you stand out.
“Big heart. Big impact.”
“Motivation, movement, and moxy.”
These are nice, but they can fall flat. The solution is to get more specific and keep it simple, while moving in the direction of your ideal clients.
We can play with “big heart, big impact” and come up with…“My business gives back to tree planting foundations, so our children will have clean air to breathe.”
You don’t need to mention the heart or the impact, it’s clear from what you’re doing. It’s a case of “show, don’t tell”.
For “motivation, movement, moxy” you might use…“Never talk yourself out of a workout again.”
Wow, even I want to know how that might work. And it’s way more specific for what people who are looking for movement practices are searching for.
Okay, your turn! Share your tips for coming up with a tagline.
Share your tagline ideas in the comment section below, and let’s brainstorm together! And no stealing, this is a safe place so respect each other’s tagline ideas.
