Why your company needs a tagline
We’ve recently created a tagline for Mivvy Creative; it’s no mean feat. After all, a tagline in its truest form summarises your business, captures its character and is also memorable.
The perfect partner to your striking logo design, a tagline executed well should conjure a feeling about your business within the reader. In just a few words your tagline tells us what your business does or what its core brand values are with absolute clarity. When utilised often it becomes engrained into your branding and the readers’ sub-conscious and can even go on to become a phrase you are immediately identified by – in essence, it distinguishes you from others like you.
What's the purpose of a tagline?
This the essence of a great tagline. It needs to appeal to the benefits your customers will receive – don’t tell them to use you, tell them why they should use you. You want to inspire with your tagline!
The biggest companies in the world have taglines, but it is for smaller companies where a great tagline can benefit the most. Taglines can help explain what an unknown or ambiguously named company does. You may have a great logo, your vehicles sign-written and your website beautifully designed, but do any of these things summarise succinctly what you do or give an indication of your brand personality? It’s true that without a tagline you can get the feel of a business and its personality through other marketing – but a tagline removes the unnecessary guesswork.
There are a million breakdowns of the most famous taglines that you’ll all know so let’s look at some lesser known taglines from smaller businesses and why they’re good.
There is a business local to me that does home improvements. Plastering is one of their key offerings as well as decorating and their tagline is ‘Our reputation is spreading’. What does this tell us about them? Well firstly, when combined with their logo, it tells us they’re good at what they do, it also explains what they do and is a light-hearted tagline, so from four words, we can establish that not only are they good, come recommended (even though we don’t know who by at this stage), and the light-hearted tone suggests they’re easy to deal with too. This is a great tagline.
We helped another local business create the tagline: ‘Your PA to Relaxation’.
It belongs to travel agency Travel by Lesley. Their target market is people too busy to research the best holiday offers and the soon-to-be married couples. The tagline succeeds in two ways. It taps into the reward from the outset by stating what you stand to gain – ‘relaxation’ and by using the acronym for personal assistant informs the reader they needn’t do any of the leg work.
Last but not least, let’s look at photographer Leana Catherine’s tagline. ‘Your bridesmaid with a camera’. The tagline makes perfectly clear that Leana is a wedding photographer, but more than that it homes in on the type of photographer she is. Bridesmaids are an integral part of the wedding party, the closest friends to the bride and everyone knows that on the day, it is the bridesmaids and other wedding party members who ensure that the day goes without a hitch. Leana’s tagline leaves you feeling that she will not let you down, that she has your back and is committed to ensuring your day is perfect. This is of course reflected in her work (which is amazing by the way). The tagline perfectly aligns her as being caring, thoughtful and creative, which of course she is.
Three little words...
There’s a school of thought that shorter is better, and the argument for why is quite compelling. Some of the most famous taglines in advertising history are just three words long. Think Nike’s ‘Just do it’, ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ from Audi, ‘I’m lovin’ it’ from McDonald’s or ‘Every Little Helps’ from Tesco, and you start to see what I mean.
That said, longer slogans are sometimes more appropriate or allow for a stronger emotional connection. Think M&M’s ‘Melts in your mouth, not in your hand’. Or ‘Probably the best lager in the world’ from Carlsberg, and what about, ‘There are some things money can’t buy, for everything else there’s Mastercard’?
A few tips...
- Keep your tagline short and to the point. Three words is great but difficult to achieve, any more than a sentence is too much.
- The main purpose is to be memorable. When it is seen it should remind people of your company, products or services.
- If you have a USP, try to integrate it into your tagline. It’s the thing that makes you different!
- If you don’t have a USP per se, focus on customer service, quality and expertise.
- Connect with your audience on an emotional level by making your tagline about them and not you… e.g: L’Oreal’s tagline ‘Because you’re worth it’.
- Focus on the positives – always, always, always speak about the benefits. There is no room for negative connotations in a tagline, ever.
To Summarise
Taglines sum up what your business is about in a quick, efficient phrase.
Taglines remove any guesswork and make crystal clear your company’s message.
It sets you apart from other businesses who offer similar services or products.
They build equity over time. When you use a tagline long enough it can become one of the most memorable parts of your identity.
Oh and our new tagline, in case you were interested:
Mivvy Creative: Telling your story with graphic detail.
Is it time your branding had a refresh?
If the answer is yes, we’d love to hear from you! Call 01732 920 236
Let’s have a conversation to find out what you would like to achieve and how we can fulfil that requirement for you.
We’ll take the time to understand what you do and how you do it so we can offer creative solutions fit for the challenge.
Mivvy Creative is a boutique design agency.
We believe collaboration is key so work closely with you, integrating into your workflow and acting as an extension to your team.
