How a Great Tagline can Help your Business

"Just do it." "We try harder." "The Ultimate Driving Machine." "Be all that you can be." Taglines are one of the best ways of branding a product, service, company, or organization for years. Like these:

Please don't squeeze the Charmin.
(since 1964)

A diamond is forever.
(since 1948)

All the news that's fit to print.
(since 1896)

Another classic case is Avis. When Avis (the # 2 car rental behind Hertz) incorporated the tagline, "We try harder", they not only turned being #2 into a positive, they also gave their company a likeable, underdog personality. To support that company personality, every ad that Avis created evolved from that simple, brilliant, three-word tag about better service. Now, over fifty years later, Avis still uses it. Another example is, "You're in good hands with Allstate." Being "in good hands" conveys a caring, protective personality. Another example is "Think different" for Apple Computer. The line gives Apple the personality of being innovative and aSo, what else makes a good tagline? A general rule is: The shorter the better. However, if you blindly follow that logic you'll be asking for trouble. You don't want to compromise a great line for brevity. And shorter doesn't always mean more memorable. One of the most famous taglines of all time is 10 words:

With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good.

So, as much as you may try to break creativity down to a formula, you really can't. A great tagline involves the perfect mix of right-brain creativity and left-brain strategic thinking. Both are critical. After all, it doesn't matter how clever it is if it's the wrong message, and it won't matter how strategically smart it is if it's dull.

Like a name, a tagline is something you'll want to live with forever. So, if you decide on getting a tagline, be sure it's great. Because just as a tagline can help your business, a bad one can do the opposite.

© 2005 John Follis. All rights reserved.

For John's booklet: "How to Attract and Excite Your Prospects: A Guide for Getting the Best Marketing Results", visit: http://www.follisinc.com/booklet.htm

John Follis is one of the 12 "Best Advertising Minds of New York" as voted by The New York Ad Club. His campaigns are in 3 college textbooks, he has written for ADWEEK, and he has taught at 3 New York universities. Currently, John works on select projects, consults, and speaks. John may be reached at: john@follisinc.com

For consulting info, visit: Marketing Therapy: http://www.follisinc.com/therapy.htm

For speaking info, visit: Follis Speaking: http://www.follisinc.com/speaking.htm

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Branding Information:

Related Articles

The Big-Pay Off -- Brand Value
Many CEOs and marketing directors find their time wasted evaluating marketing opportunities instead of acting on them. When every possibility is followed, a meandering trail of hit and miss effectiveness is the result.
Pressure Washing Companies and Co-Branding
Pressure washing companies often miss what we call 'super niche' markets, those industries which very much need pressure washing services and are willing to pay top dollar for them. One such industry is the signage business.
Brand Love, Part 2
Last issue, I talked about increasing your Brand Love-- meaning to increase the affection that prospects and customers feel toward your business.Why?Because increasing "affection" will build relationships.
Brand Warfare is More of a War than You Think
We will discuss Brand Marketing for a minute. In this discussion we would like to talk about brand line extension and how to do it correctly.
Profitable Partnering
Become your customers top-of-mind choice.Some of these snapshots of real life SmartPartnership success stories can be adapted to help your kind of business (or non-profit or government agency) thrive?1.
Logo-ize For Instant Identification & Increased Awareness
The task of creating an indelible impact on the memory of your target market is arduous but can be made much easier with a well thought out logo. The word comes from the ancient Greek where it was used in philosophy and theology to mean "the divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning.
Branding On The Web Is Like Mining For Fools Gold
I am sick and tired of marketing geeks touting the beauty of branding, brand building and just spouting branding in any context, especially when the term is used with "internet" or "web" or "digital!" You can't have a conversation today for more than five minutes without some marketing type throwing in a line about brand building!Branding doesn't work with the net's warp speed - look at some of the leading online brand builders, including a certain big three TV network here in the states and a book seller in Seattle trying to do classic brand extension, from books to barbecues.We tell our B2B clients to build a revenue-producing online brand by developing a campaign that sells the value of their goods or services! Forget the esoteric, very expensive brand building campaigns that have no measurable impact! Here are my ten "cliff notes" to building an effective B2B Brand Online, B2C coming next article.
How Much Is A Great Business Logo Really Worth?
A great logo can help a business project a positive image while a bad logo can bring a negative impression about a company. For many companies, a logo is the only identifiable mark a potential customer may ever see, so it needs to be memorable, descriptive and easily recognizable.
My First Year In Cyber Space
My first year as a Cyberpreneur was a steeplearning-curve. I was an academic beforestarting an online business, so I had a lot to learn.
Hawaiian Heirloom Jewelry
Back to the era of the Hawaiian monarchy, the origin of Hawaiian heirloom jewelry can be found. The Hawaiian kingdom had long enjoyed a favorable relationship with England.
Create a Niche: Stoke Your Market With Affiliate Branding
Propose success, demand performance, and brand your market with appeal. In a world of costly business start-ups, expensive design tools, and rugged competition you can still beat the system.
Why Having A Niche Automatically Boosts Your Credibility - Become The Expert by Getting Focused
Yes, yes, we've heard it all before..
Play it Again Sam
The marketing director for one of my longtime clients used to complain "does it have to be purple again?" What she and many others don't realize is that the color you are seeing in your sleep, your prospects might just be beginning to recognize, and if done well, associate with you.Consistency cannot be stressed enough in brand development: whether it is a color or a font, where you place your logo, the schedule for newsletters and promotions, or the way the receptionist answers the phone.
Simple Risk Reversal Formula Will Send Your Sales Into Space (2 of 2)
Make A Bold Promise Then Back It Up With An Awesome GuaranteeWe finished the last article with a mnemonic..
Extreme Makeover - Small Business Edition
Have you ever watched one of those home makeover shows? You know the scenario. The homeowners have decorated or remodeled their house all by themselves.
A Successful Failure
A successfully positioned business sometimes doesn't win a new client. And that, my friend, is the point.
Articles: The Perfect Branding Tool
If you own a web-based business, you're probably aware of the need for things like link exchanges, lead-purchasing, SEO copy, banner ads and all of the "traditional" ways to get exposure on the World Wide Web.But did you know that article marketing is by far the best way to build your brand while at the same time increasing your exposure?Web articles.
The Art of Successful Branding
Branding: it's a term that carries great weight in the world of advertising. Successful branding is best illustrated by the world's most prominent corporations, but it's no less important to the small business owner.
How To Create A Brand That Sticks
Most people, when they hear the word branding, think logos - but in fact, branding is really much more than that. A brand involves blending the image, purpose, and focus of your business, with your core marketing message, and coming up with something which will stick in the minds of people who encounter it.
Logo Design Tips
Logos can be described as visual icons that provide a unique identification element to a business or product. Logos provide quick visual recognition of a Company which in-turn builds branding.