photo credit: Jonty Wareing

For their size, taglines sure carry a lot of weight.

In just a few mighty words, you are making a statement that:

• Explains what your business is really about
• Conveys your promise to your clients
• Works for today – and has legs for tomorrow
• Touches an emotional chord with the reader
• Is easy for your target market to “get”
• Has “stand-out” value

It sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

It isn’t.

For me, taglines are among the hardest things to dig out of my copywriting repertoire. And I’ve been writing them for years.

Five steps to nailing the perfect tagline

1. Promises. Promises.

Begin with a solid understanding of a company’s promise to their customers. What exactly is the product or service, and what unique factors make the company stand out in the industry?

2. Do a brain dump.

Create two columns: Product/Service and Emotional. Under Product/Service, write down all the possible logical words you can think of that may relate to this company and its product or service. Scan the company website and other marketing materials as well as competitive sites. Which words keep popping up? Which ones jump off the page?

Under Emotional, consider the company’s promise to its customers. What are the emotional benefits? How would working with this company make a customer feel? What pains are they solving and what are the positive results when that pain goes away?

On both columns, put a check mark next to the words that you think may have the most potential . . . Are they tightly connected to the company? Maybe they’re clever words that one doesn’t hear very often. Perhaps they rhyme with the company name, or have a double meaning that you can play with. Keep your mind open and consider all options.

3. Start piecing words together.

Look at the selected words in both columns and start pairing them up. Which product words deliver an emotional response? This tagline is for a package design company: “Ideas that celebrate shelf-expression.”

If the name is self-explanatory in terms of what the company “does,” you can afford to put more emphasis on the emotional pull, like this tagline for a retirement home for active adults: “Leave your cares. Live your life.”

Have fun with idioms. An idiom is a group of words that, as a whole, has a different meaning from the meaning of the words taken individually. For example: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Sometimes, you can twist these into clever taglines. This tagline for a recycling company plays off the idiom “nothing ventured.” nothing gained. The tagline is: Nothing wasted. Everything gained.

Visit www.idioms.thefreedictionary.com for suggestions of commonly used idioms. You can type in your words and uncover many jewels.

4. Check your ideas against competitors.

With so much riding on the tagline, you want to make sure that your list is fresh and unique. Thanks to the Internet, this is easy to do. Just type the entire phrase into Google and see what comes back. You’ll be able to tell very quickly if your slogan or something close to it is already being used.

5. Narrow them down to 4 or 5 winners.

Whether the tagline is strategically targeted, highly creative or predictably pedestrian, at the end of the day, the final decision is subject to a client’s personal preference. It depends on whether he/she likes taking chances or prefers to stay in the safe lane. Because of this, you want to include a nice mix of taglines. However, make sure each one of them has real merit.

If you’re a copywriter who writes taglines, share your tips on creating them here. Or if you’ve composed some winners over the years, let the bragging begin!

No related posts.

While digging in the dirt and learning how to make my garden grow, it struck me that there were some definite similarities between creating a beautiful garden and writing engaging copy.

1. Know and understand before you dig

It’s hard to imagine what those little plants will look like once they’ve matured, but understanding their requirements – be it sun, shade, fertilizer or bees – enables you to treat them properly and address their needs so that they do what you want them to.

Before digging into copy, we have to know what kind of “garden” we want to grow. Who will read your words? What are their needs and desires? Why would they want your product or service? And what action will we want them to take once they read the copy? Sign up for a newsletter? Buy something from you?

Writing copy without having a sense of the people we want to speak to – and what we wish to say to them – is like throwing random packets of seeds on the ground in the hope that the right plants will come up.

2. Save only what needs to be there

OK, this hurt a little, but we dug up the entire garden and didn’t put everything back. We even bought some new plants to take their place! That’s because my garden was a discombobulated mess of things that I liked and that I thought needed to be there. But in actual fact, with everything squished into one area, plants were getting root-bound and stagnant, the soil couldn’t support their nutritional needs, and nothing was working.

It’s common to want to say everything upfront, and especially natural to want to “we we we” all over the place. However, just because we think it needs to be there doesn’t mean potential customers agree.  If it’s not serving the needs of your target market, it’s just a bunch of words that are getting in the way of your intentions.

Copywriting is far more effective when the story invites readers in and gradually reveals itself in a comfortable, engaging way. Lead with the points that resonate with them and provide supporting details later on to flesh your message out.

Most of the excess plants found their way into the back garden. So, there was a place for them after all.

3. Keep it simple, clear and focused

The rule, Janine told me, is to keep the same plants together in groups of uneven numbers to enhance the overall appeal of the garden. What’s more, don’t overcrowd them. Leave breathing space between the plants for a clean, streamlined look.

In keeping with our garden analogy, copy messages that support a thought thread should always be grouped together. For example, if you sell time management software, you could devote a block of copy to explaining the ways in which it improves productivity. Another copy block might detail how easy it is to use. A third section may talk about the research behind this quality product. And another section would tell the customer how to purchase it. You get the idea.

Make clean breaks between your copy blocks with subheads, and use shorter sentences, colloquial words and bullet points where appropriate. This enables your reader to easily scan the material and absorb the information in a more comfortable way.

4. Tie everything together with a unifying theme

To finish things off, we laid a layer of mulch between the plants. Not the usual brown chips of cedar either: we used coal-black mulch. We added a small flagstone walkway and two black trellises for the clematis to climb. The final effect is a wonderful combination of greenery, dashes of brilliant colour, and classic black accents.

The lesson here is that your story must have a theme for a few reasons: to attract attention, to help your message flow, and to make for an enjoyable read. Start with a creative headline that sets the tone. Carry that theme through in the subheads. Support it with copy that is fresh and alluring. Add visuals that are linked to the theme for more impact.

5. Ask an expert for help

I am so excited to watch my little garden blossom over the summer. But I couldn’t have done it alone. I don’t have the time or the experience to do the job right. I needed someone who had the know-how and the vision to turn it into something really special.

This lesson speaks for itself. If you’re having trouble coaxing your garden to grow, perhaps it’s time to hand the shovel over.

Related posts:

1. My new mantra – I want copywriting work that makes me feel good

So, in a brief moment of selfishness, I asked the web developer if we could add a writing credit to the bottom. I was told that the only credit added is “Website designed by…”

Is this fair? Not to take away from designers and developers, but web writers put a lot of sweat equity into their projects too. Isn’t it possible that someone reading a particularly good site would want to know who wrote it, and how they can get in touch with that person?

I just did a quick search for “website credits” and found that there are actually sites that give credit to the whole team with a website credits link at the bottom of the page.  I also checked my own site, and discovered that my web developer, Christine Rondeau at Bluelime Media didn’t even add her credit!

I think Christine should take credit for her work, as well as Barbara Bruener of Blue Citrus, who designed the site. And while we’re at it….I think I will add my name to the list.

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1. Three things you need to know before talking to a web developer

In this frank discussion about grammar, Robin talks about many of the more common mistakes people make as well as some spelling issues that are specific to the web world. It’s well worth a read for anyone who is confused about web site vs. website or e-mail vs. email. And what’s the plural of e-mail anyway? You may be surprised!

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1. Blogging. An excuse for poor communication?

But often blogging, especially commenting on blogs, is done when the mood to say something strikes. And more often than not, people who blog aren’t professional writers or communicators. Does that mean it’s forgivable to construct a cloudy message or make the odd spelling error?

Credibility is important to your business. A carefully written and constructed blog will go a long way toward upholding your reputation. So taking a little extra time to ensure that your blog message is clear and purposeful would be prudent.

Tips for blogging to say what you mean

Write your blog posting in a text document first. Composing on a blank piece of paper comes easier than trying to write within a template with distracting links and instructions.

When your blog posting is complete, walk away before publishing it. Taking a break rests your eyes and your brain.

When you come back to your blog post, read through it again. Then, read it backwards to spot any spelling or grammatical errors. Reading copy backwards stops the tendency to skip words.

Ask a colleague to read your blog to be sure that, aside from it containing errors, your message is clear and understood by other readers.

Posting a blog comment

Posting a comment to a blog is a little different because you’re writing in an environment other than your own. How many times have you followed a thread where several responses were from the same individuals trying to fix their errors or explain what they meant in the first place?

Take your time to respond. Read your posting over forward and backwards. Ask someone in the room to give it a quick once-over to ensure it makes sense. Then, you’re ready to submit it, knowing with confidence that you won’t have to apologize, correct a mistake or clarify something you said later.

Related posts:

1. Top ten grammar mistakes on Web pages
2. At a loss for words when blogging?
3. Blogging. If it’s not part of your “here I am!” strategy – it should be.