A business tagline is the short line that sits under your logo, on your van and at the top of your website. It has perhaps five or six words to tell a stranger why you are worth a second look. Most don’t manage it. “Quality you can trust” and “Your local experts” could belong to any firm in any trade, which means they say nothing at all.
Writing a good one is hard because it is short. There is nowhere to hide. But there is a process, and it works better than waiting for inspiration.
What a business tagline is for
A tagline, also called a strapline in the UK, does one of three jobs:
- It says what you do, when your name doesn’t. “Smith and Daughters” could be anything. Add “Commercial roofing across Merseyside” and it is clear.
- It says who you are for. A line that names the customer helps the right people recognise themselves.
- It says what makes you different. A promise, an approach or a point of view that competitors can’t easily copy.
The best lines manage two of the three. Trying for all three usually produces a sentence, not a tagline.
Decide which job yours needs to do
Look at your business name. If it already describes what you do, as in “Crosby Window Cleaning”, you don’t need the tagline to repeat it. Use the space for what makes you different. If your name is abstract or a family name, clarity comes first. A clever line under a name nobody understands leaves people guessing.
New businesses nearly always need the descriptive kind. Well known ones have earned the right to be more abstract.
Gather the raw material
Good lines come from true things. Before you write anything, collect:
- What customers say. Read your reviews and thank you emails. Underline phrases that come up more than once. Customers often describe your value more plainly than you do.
- What you do differently. Same day quotes, one point of contact, a guarantee, a specialism. Be concrete.
- What customers are afraid of. Mess, delays, hidden costs, being talked down to. A line that removes a fear is powerful.
- What competitors say. List their taglines. Anything on that list is off limits to you.
Write badly, and a lot
Set a timer for twenty minutes and write thirty options without judging them. Quantity is the point. Try different shapes:
- A plain description: what, for whom, where.
- A promise: what the customer gets.
- A contrast: this, not that.
- A customer phrase, lifted straight from a review.
- A command: an invitation to do something.
Most will be poor. Three or four will have something in them. Those are the ones to work on.
Cut and tighten
Take your shortlist and edit hard:
- Remove empty words. Quality, professional, reliable, passionate, solutions. Every competitor claims them, so they carry no information.
- Prefer specifics. “Boilers fixed the same day” beats “Fast, friendly heating services”.
- Shorten. Under eight words is a good target. If you can’t say it in one breath, it is too long.
- Read it aloud. It will be said on the phone and at networking events. If it is awkward to say, change it.
If a competitor could put your tagline under their logo and nobody would notice, it isn’t finished.
Test your business tagline on real people
Don’t ask friends which one they like. Ask people who don’t know the business two questions: what do you think this company does, and why might you choose them? If their answers match what you intended, the line works. If they hesitate or guess wrong, it doesn’t, however much you like it.
Check it in place as well. Put it under the logo, on a mock up of the van, in an email signature. Some lines look fine in a document and fall apart at small sizes.
Practical checks before you commit
- Is it true? If you promise same day service, you have to deliver it every time. Advertising rules in the UK require claims to be accurate and capable of being backed up.
- Is anyone else using it? Search for the exact phrase. If a business in your sector already uses it, choose another. For anything you plan to build a brand around, take advice on trade marks.
- Will it last? Avoid lines tied to a price, a year or a service you might drop.
- Does it travel? If you plan to expand beyond your town, think twice before naming it.
Then use it everywhere
A business tagline only becomes memorable through repetition. Once you have chosen, put it on the website, the vehicles, the quotes, the invoices and the social profiles, in the same words every time. Resist the urge to tweak it for each use.
When you want help
Finding the words for what makes a business different is the core of our naming and messaging work, and it usually follows from the thinking done in brand strategy.
