How To: Create Your Company Slogan

By Meg Kramig, Copywriter and Advertising Associate

Slogan, tagline, strapline…whatever you call it, your business needs it. It is the key phrase that encapsulates your mission, your promise and your brand. So how do you come up with the perfect slogan?

Just Do It…Taken
Got Milk?…Taken
Have It Your Way…Taken

Well, snap. What to you do now? All the good ones are gone…

Not so, you wordsmith in disguise. You can write your own!

So how do you get started? That’s where we come in. As we’ve already stated, you have three elements to cover: Your mission, your promise and your brand. Oh yeah, and you have to keep it short. On to step one!

Step One: Identify Your Mission (Element: Mission)

There is a popular saying in the world of copywriting: Be clear, not clever.

You only have a couple of seconds to capture the attention of those who land on your website or see your advertisement, so instead of being clever, be clear.

What is your company about? What do you do? How do you help people? That’s what people want to know. If you start them out with a ‘clever’ tagline, they might not stick around to learn more.

Step Two: People Are Selfish (Element: Promise)

It’s just honest. When you go to a website or see an ad, what are you think about?

We can tell you: “Will this help me?” “Do I like this?” “What are the benefits?” “How will this help me better than the other products I’ve seen?”

Now count the number of I’s and me’s in all of those questions.

The truth is that people want to know how YOUR product or service will benefit THEM…and they aren’t going to snoop around your site to figure it out. They are counting on your tagline to tell them. Hence why our three headline examples at the top work. “Just Do It” – Perhaps I will. “Got Milk” – I’m not sure. Maybe I should get some. “Have It Your Way.” – My way? Just how I like it.

It’s also a good idea to keep this in mind while writing your website copy, but don’t use that as a cue to go on and on about how great your product is. Instead, tell people the benefits they receive that separate you from the rest.

Step Three: Add Some Flava (Element: Branding)

You’ve got the two main components down. Now add some extra zing. It’s how you differentiate yourself from other businesses.

‘Bad’ Example: “Excellence through total quality.”

Wait, whose tagline is that? Yeah, we don’t know either.

Actually, that’s for a fairly large polymer and mold company, Arnes Corporation, but you wouldn’t know it from the tagline. What exactly are they good at and what do they do, what sets them apart and most importantly, how will they help you?

Because they didn’t answer ANY of those questions, they spend a lot of money on a tagline you can’t even identify.

Instead, add a little zing that sets you apart, but still reflects what differentiates you from the competition.

That’s It. You Are Ready.

Start painting the walls with your magnificent one-liners. Just don’t go crazy and start trying to use them on the ladies. They see through your lies.

If you need help creating your headlines, contact the copywriting specialists at Graves Advertising Plus. In no time, we will have you on your way to a perfectly branded sales-worthy slogan.
You can reach us at (714) 879-1993.