These days, having a solid slogan can make all the difference. Creating just the right slogan isn’t as straightforward as just throwing a handful of writers in a room for a few hours, though. The top slogan writers agree that the best slogans most often arise unexpectedly, and may well be a longer sentence, rather than the pithy phrase that conventional wisdom regards as the gold standard.
Here are seven tips for creating the ideal slogan for your business:
1. Embrace the unexpected
Assigning a writer the job of coming up with a tagline or slogan is one of the surest ways to prevent them from doing so. Some of the best slogans arise spontaneously from unrelated projects.
2. Inspire an emotional response
The tagline “What happens here, stays here” immediately gives Las Vegas that special allure of the place where you can do things that you can’t or won’t do elsewhere.
3. Fresh, but familiar
It’s important to occasionally update your slogan or tagline to stay fresh, but to not change so often as to confuse or alienate consumers. Balance is the key.
4. Brevity isn’t always a virtue
Geico’s made a name for itself with its lengthy “15 minutes” tagline. The weight of a somewhat longer phrase can trump the snappiness of a two-to-three word slogan, being both memorable and informative.
5. Negativity can be surprisingly positive
It’s astounding how oversensitive many business owners are to words like “don’t” or “never.” With slogans like “nobody doesn’t like Sarah Lee” to be had, sometimes one or two negative words can be very positive indeed.
6. Turn it into a rallying cry
When you really, truly understand your audience on a deep level, you might find that a call to action can serve well as your slogan. “Just do it” is one great tagline that follows this idea.
7. Avoid empty buzzwords
Consumers are bombarded with flashy language, to the point that it seldom registers anymore. “Power,” “innovation,” and other such words are vastly overused. The better approach is to imply such ideas by showing how your brand embodies them.
It’s all too easy to focus on what you want to say about your brand instead of what your target audience needs to hear you say. Your slogan isn’t there to puff you up. It’s there to help connect you with consumers.
