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What Is A Tagline?

Before you decide whether a tagline is important for your business, let’s talk about what it is. A tagline is a memorable statement that represents your brand. Great ones tell a short story that stands the test of time. They sum up in seven words or less your business.

• Nike: "Just Do It." Connecting with audiences beyond sports, telling them if they wanted to do something, they should just do it. Nothing should stop them.
• Bounty: "The Quicker Picker Upper." Built like no other paper towel. Each sheet is more durable, more absorbent, softer, and thicker than anything else.
• M&M’s: "Melts In Your Mouth, Not In Your Hand." Keeps my hands clean vs. other treats which make a mess in my hands. And it melts in my mouth, enticing my taste buds and making me crave it.
• Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority: "What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas." The freedom to be someone we couldn’t be at home. The freedom from whatever we wanted to leave behind in our daily lives.

A tagline is NOT a slogan. A slogan is a memorable statement that represents a particular product vs. focusing on the brand as a whole like a tagline.

Why Do You Need A Tagline?

When done right, a good tagline has the following major benefits:

• Increases brand awareness
• It differentiates your brand
• It’s memorable
• Improves brand recall
• Reinforces your brand identity

Beware! A bad tagline can detract from the memorability of your brand.

How To Create A Tagline

1. Your Mission: Be clear, not clever. Start building your tagline based on your purpose. You can see how General Electric’s tagline, "Imagination at Work," is based on their mission, “to invent the next industrial era, to build, move, power, and cure the world.”
2. Your Promise: “So what?” Consumers are swayed by benefits, not features. Tell people what they will receive if they buy your product/service. Dollar Shave does this well with their tagline, “Shave Time. Shave Money.”
3. Your Brand: Reflect your brand image in your tagline. For example, Disney’s tagline is “the happiest place on earth,” tying into their brand focus to entertain, inform, and inspire.

Creating a tagline that packs a punch takes time, strategy, and creativity. It’s an essential part of the brand-building process. Start building your leadership brand today. You’ve got this!