Just read some tips on writing tag lines from Marcia Yudkin’s informative marketing newsletter The Marketing Minute.
Marcia hit it right on the head with these writing tag line tips that include 3 common detours – which I’ve seen lead many marketers astray, including myself. For me, this is a great reminder about writing effective, meaningful taglines and I thought I’d share them with you:
From The Marketing Minute, by Marcia Yudkin, Marketing Expert and Mentor
When thinking up a company slogan or tag line, you know it should say something significant. Watch out for three detours that may lead you to a weak or off-point message.
1. You fixate on what matters greatly to you. If your message doesn’t speak to customers, it represents a wasted opportunity.
Example: “Committed to quality, value and care.” Sincere, but commitments matter little to customers.
2. You focus on what the market wants to hear. When this doesn’t highlight what distinguishes you or your firm, there’s another missed connection.
Example: “Good fences make good neighbors.” Catchy, but it doesn’t provide a reason to choose you over another fence company.
3. You’ve formulated your distinctiveness in a long, clunky sentence. It lacks pizzazz. Because the words don’t dance, your motto fails to get readers excited.
Example: “We improve cardiovascular health through education, advanced diagnostic techniques and clinical research.” Literal and dull.
For a compelling, differentiating message, first define your best reasons why customers should choose you. Second, make sure those reasons matter to prospects. Then fiddle with the wording until it sings.
Writing tag lines isn’t easy. Putting together only a few words or one short sentance is actually more difficult than writing long copy. Words are a copywriter’s tools. Writing memorable, action-oriented, provacative tag lines should be done using as few of those tools as possible.
It’s a lot like writing interest-grabbing headlines, a topic I also covered in a recent post called: Is It Better To Open With A Question? How To Write Enticing Headlines & Subject Lines for Blogs, Emails and E-Newsletters.
And the same tips can carry over to writing your own elevator speech. The key? Never forget that your client wants to know what’s in it for them – not how wonderful you believe that you are. Approach marketing copy from your client’s point of view and you can’t lose!
Any examples or tips to add to this post? Please leave them in a comment below.
