We all need to “brand” effectively. As I work with clients on branding, I’ve noticed a natural but self-defeating tendency when drafting a tag line. People usually do the following:
- Focus on describing their activities
- Use conceptual or technical language
- Use the same adjectives as most of their peers
- Write a paragraph
After clients do that, they usually intuitively know, it’s not special. Understandably, many don’t use the tag line they’ve developed. It falls flat, sounds boring, stilted or contrived. Below are tips for crafting a worthy tag line:
Tip of the Day – Keys to a Smokin’ Tag Line:
- Make it short – a phrase or short sentence
- Use ideas from everyday life experience
- If you can, focus on a concrete result
- Use the language of your target audience
- Frame it positively
- Resonate with people’s emotions
- Make it intriguing so they ask for more
It may not be workable to include all of the above keys into a single phrase, but try for as many as possible.
Story of the Day:
I worked with a client recently on her tag line. She is building her brand with internal and external partners, so everyone knows what she delivers. We transformed a dry, conceptual activities based description into an attractive and intriguing message.
Protecting client confidentiality prevents me from sharing the dramatic results. Instead, I’ll use my situation as an example. Here’s an activities based description of coaching:
“I’m a coach. During coaching we explore, brainstorm, set-goals, remove road-blocks and create accountability. Coaching accelerates and maximizes personal and professional achievement.”
That description is accurate, but is conceptual, long and hardly gripping. It’s hard to develop a dynamic tag line. I struggle with it myself. Below is my attempt to be concrete, evoke experiences people instantly understand and reflect the core of coaching. Here it is:
“I’m a coach, a personal-trainer for professional life”
We all know what personal-trainers do. They use all their expertise to help a client reach a goal. We also know that each client gets personal attention and a custom plan. Finally, we know that a client working with a personal-trainer produces dramatic and life-changing results.
All that is wrapped up in the idea of a “personal-trainer” and it’s identical with the core truths of coaching. That’s the best, I’ve come up with so far. I’d love your feedback and constructive advice on how to improve it!
Resource of the Day:
For those who like to read. You can learn more from academics and experts Chip & Dan Heath who wrote a research-backed book on making your ideas “sticky” so people remember them. Click the link below to order the book from Amazon.
