← Insights

Have you noticed how noisy marketing has become? In a client meeting this week we were going over a creative brief for an upcoming project. When I opened the document, one project had more than five taglines attached to it.

Wait, what? I wasn't a math major, but a 5:1 ratio seems high. Yet there they were, highlighted, each giving meaning to a different element of the project.

I understand the impulse. Some projects and campaigns are so big it seems impossible to boil everything down to one idea. But from a branding perspective, and thinking about what we want customers to take away, too many ideas at once is simply confusing.

So why did the project need a tagline at all? Like a logo, a tagline builds brand recognition. It clarifies a thought and adds a bit of drama that makes a project memorable. It sums up the mission, the promise and the brand in a few words, and it reinforces the marketing messages already in place. A good tagline is a branding element that defines a project, product or service and sets it apart in the market.

Simply put, a tagline gives a company or a campaign extra meaning for customers.

The question was never whether the project needed a tagline. It was how to create one good tagline that works across the whole project. A tagline is a strong way to differentiate a company from its competitors while reinforcing its mission. A unique offering or competitive advantage is the ideal starting point. Taglines are often a prospect's first impression of your company, so make it a good one.

A tagline should say what your brand does for the customer.

Tips for developing a tagline

• Be clear, not clever. Communicate your purpose: who you are, what you do and what you want customers to know about you. Isolate one key area of the business and build the tagline around it.
• Keep it simple, but not generic. Be direct and specific.
• Say just enough. Keep it short. Not every tagline needs alliteration, a rhyme or a pun.
• Pick your focus and stick with it. Make it memorable and functional. Highlight one key benefit, not all of them.
• Ask, "So what?" The answer should reinforce the tagline's message.
• Be honest. First impressions matter. Make sure it's an accurate portrayal of you and your company, and memorable for the right reasons.

To be clear, I'm a fan of taglines. They give marketers a way to convey a specific idea in a few catchy words. They just need to be used judiciously, and once you have one, make it work across every element of the project. If a tagline doesn't work with all of them, it probably isn't the right tagline.