How to Write a Tagline

Entrepreneur magazine describes a tagline as “A catchy quip that evokes an image of your brand in the minds of your customers.” I find, that when writing them for a client creating the tagline typically goes one of two ways:

1) We either figure it out right off the bat.

Or,

2) It takes a lot of ideation and iteration to craft one that feels the best. (And this way is most common.)

So I wanted to talk about when you are in the latter situation. How do you come up with a good tagline for your brand? Read on to get my tips!

First of all, your tagline is a short "About Me" for your brand and it is coupled with your brand name. Slogans are technically different and can be a little longer than a tagline, but many brands use the two interchangeably. For this article, I’m just going to use the word tagline.

The best taglines focus on how a product or service helps its customers or clients see outstanding results.

Taglines should be:

1. Short and sweet.
   (Because ideally, they’re easy to remember!)

2. A little bit catchy.

3. A little bit descriptive.

Also, taglines should be about them — not you. They should be all about the person you’re helping and what they’ll get out of what you offer.

Taglines are typically words that accompany your business name, so you want to bolster your brand name with the words you choose for it. Your tagline can even complete your business information in a creative phrase.

Ideas for Taglines

1. Be more descriptive about what you offer. Especially good if your brand name doesn't explain this. Examples:

   Brand: M&Ms
   Tagline: The candy that melts in your mouth but not in your hand

   Brand: MasterCard
   Tagline: There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s Mastercard.

2. Highlight the benefit you offer. This is a great choice if your brand name does include what you offer like Dollhouse Furniture or Sweat Yoga Studio. Some examples:

   Brand: Dollhouse Furniture
   Tagline: Heirloom quality on a small scale

   Brand: BMW
   Tagline: The ultimate driving machine

   Brand: General Electric
   Tagline: Imagination at work

3. Clarify who you serve.

   Brand: Back Label Branding
   Tagline: I started writing copy for the back of wine labels, now I help female entrepreneurs create impactful messaging.

   Brand: VRBO
   Tagline: Where families travel better together

And finally, a lot of copywriters will use the "so what?" test for taglines. As in, if your tagline isn't a good "answer" to the question So what? about your business. Rule it out. I don't take this as a hard and fast rule but it's helpful to play with. Especially if you feel like you're coming up with words that feel a little generic or too broad.

And finally, apply creativity! The word choice should be creative and a little catchy. Play with different variations of writing a tagline idea. I will often write a list of 10 or more tagline ideas and narrow it down from there.