A tagline -- the small, pithy handful of words that shows up in advertising, on your letterhead, on your website and perhaps in your phone message -- is an integral part of your branding efforts. It’s a way customers can quickly identify your company: Southwest Airline’s “You are now free to move about the country” has a strong resonance with the flying public.
Yet according to a recent article in Brandweek, too
many companies have taglines that do nothing for them. Let’s look at some common mistakes, and how
you can avoid them:
Too
Close to the Competition
Good
taglines get copied. That’s the nature
of the game -- but it’s counterproductive at best. A tagline that is markedly similar to that of
your competitors does you no good whatsoever. Before you settle on your tagline, study that of your major competitors
and see how your proposed taglines stack up. If they’re too similar in tone, language choice, or feel, ditch it.
Too
Many Messages
As
Mike McGinty points out in his article, some companies can’t limit themselves
to just one tagline. They have two or
three: running the risk of diluting the message and confusing the customer. Limit yourself to one strong tagline rather
than numerous weaker ones.
Too
Creative
Creativity
is normally a good thing -- but if your tagline involves inventing words or
transforming nouns into verbs, it might be a good idea to settle down a
bit. Effective taglines use the language
in a way most people are familiar with it. It’s not nice to play games with grammar.
My tagline is "The NichePreneur Coach, helping your get rich in your niche!" What's yours?
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