There are few components of a corporate brand more important than a slogan or tagline. Usually, taglines are one of the first things that come to mind when someone thinks of a company. As such, they are a key part of any brand identity.
For example, the fast-food giant McDonald’s is virtually synonymous with the phrase “I’m Lovin’ It,” and who could forget Nike’s famous slogan: “Just Do It.” Since these short phrases are deeply tied to the brand identity of these companies, it is imperative that the slogan or tagline is not a random collection of words. Instead, taglines and slogans need to be crafted with care.
Typically, slogans are paired with logos to form the heart of a brand’s image. In short, they communicate everything your customer base needs to know about your company based on their first impression.
Are you trying to come up with a catchy tagline or slogan for your company, but are stumped trying to put together the best line? Fortunately for you, in this article, we will go over how to create a picture-perfect slogan from end-to-end. Best of all, we name drop some of the best online slogan generators, like Zyro, to help you craft an excellent slogan in seconds.
The Slogan and the Logo
Before we discuss how to craft the ideal slogan for your company, it is important first to ask what a slogan is and what kind of relationship it has with your logo. We like to think of slogans as the perfect complement to a corporate logo. Whereas a logo describes the color scheme, feeling, and “aesthetic” of your brand, a slogan provides a convenient one-liner to inform the viewer about what the company does.
Ideally, a slogan will be both functional and information. Naturally, this equates to a phrase of no more than six words in length. It is important to recall that a slogan is designed to help your brand stand out from competitors, not to overcomplicate your company in the eyes of your readers. Shooting for too much depth or humor can rob a slogan of its punchy effect.
Creating a Stand-Out Slogan: Step by Step
Now that we know the ins and outs of your brand’s identity, and how important a slogan is for the success and memorability of your company, let us now discuss how to come up with the right slogan. Note that there is no one-size-fits-all process when it comes to slogan creation and that everyone’s experience will ultimately vary.
Making Your Logo
The first step when it comes to slogan creation is to pair it with a simple and well-designed logo. Without a logo, your brand has no face, and without a slogan, it has no voice. Therefore, you need both to go together if you want your company to succeed.
To create and cohesive and well-balanced slogan-logo pairing, start by crafting a logo from scratch. You will want to ensure that your logo is not too complicated and that it bears a close resemblance to your industry or service niche. For example, a writing and editing company may want to include a symbol of a pen or ink quill. To create your logo quickly, we recommend using Logaster, an online logo generator.
Plan
Perfect slogans are not created overnight. Rather, they take several days, weeks, or even months to refine until they are ready to be included in your company branding. This is why marketing professionals and MBA graduates are often hired to work together on the creation of a corporate slogan: they are hard work!
Make sure that you dedicate enough time for the project. In most cases, this will involve at least an entire week of work. If you feel like you need to hire external support, contact a trusted marketing professional which you can consult during the creation process.
Don’t Get Fancy
Nothing can kill the buzz behind a great brand like overdoing a slogan. Imagine how successful a company would if its slogan was “North America’s Finest Electric Car Accessories and Decal Since 1999.” That doesn’t sound catchy, now does it. Instead, boil your slogan down to a few simple words for maximum effectiveness. For example, the phrase, “America’s Finest Electric Car Decal” is a far better phrase.
Keep It Light
This step goes together with the one before. If you want your customers and clients to remember your brand, throwing in a little humor can go a long way.
For example, when we were in college one of our student union presidents ran a campaign where his slogan was “the world’s least-bad candidate.” The humor in this tagline went a long way, especially considering that we still remember it after all these years.
Honesty and Integrity
Avoid hyperbole like the plague. Especially if your company is a startup or a mid-size firm, we highly recommend staying clear of tired claims like “America’s best” or “the number one company” since these are either misleading or outright false.
Targeting
Consider who your target audience is. Account for the age and gender of who you want to attract the most and make your tagline appeal to them. If you want to bring in a younger clientele, consider adding a slang word or two in your slogan. For those who speak English as a second language, you need to remember to keep your language choices as simple as possible.
Picking a Slogan Generator
These days, online slogan generators are no longer the cop-out some people once considered them to be. Instead, they can pop out decent slogans that are worthy of use in real-life marketing campaigns. If you are short on time and want an easy solution for your tagline issues, trust any of these excellent slogan generators to get the job done in a pinch:
- Shopify
- SloganGenerator.org
- Oberle
- Logaster
- Brocato
- Getsocio
Those who are short on time and ideas will find that any of the above options will make for excellent choices if you need a slogan and don’t have the time to sit around brainstorming. However, be warned that the slogans they produce will sometimes not fit your brand’s logo or personality, so you might want to try using a few generators before coming to any conclusions.
