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5th April 2012

#Branding

A strapline (or slogan to our friends across the pond) often accompanies a logo or marketing communications to help differentiate your brand or draw attention to certain areas of your business.

We are creatures of language and words can be long-lasting and powerful. So how can you develop a strapline for your business?

1) Keep it snappy

Your strapline should never be longer than a sentence, if it’s too long it’ll get messy and won’t be very memorable. Nike “Just Do It”.

2) Be yourself, nothing more

It’s quite exciting creating a strapline and if creativity gets the best of you, you might get carried away. Big yourself up but stay honest and avoid things like “the best… ” or “market leaders” and “award-winning”. This kind of thing is quite generic in any case, it’s not fun or memorable and if you’re seen to blow your trumpet a bit too loud you can turn off some of your customers.

3) Communicate your value or commitment statement

You might have a wide variety of products or services so it’s hard to be specific about one thing. You will still need to have a differentiator, maybe something based on customer service, a guarantee or brand values.

4) Highlight product benefit

If you do something different in your process or there’s something special about your product that gives you an advantage over the competition, use it. “It doesn’t lose suction” – sound familiar?

What straplines strike a chord with you, why? Does your company have a strapline, what is it?

Share your thoughts and comments using the comments below.