12 Awesome Tips on How to Write a Slogan For Your Business

Do you want to learn how to write a slogan for your business that actually grabs the attention? Continue reading to learn more!

Have you ever been to an interview in which you were asked to sell yourself in 1 minute? I have, and let me tell you, knowing how to do it with just a few words is more challenging than it seems. You will ask, what does this have to do with having a great brand slogan for your business?

Well – it’s in the simplicity that lies the power.

In other words, being able to sell your brand with just a few words is not easy. However, it can be quite rewarding in the long run. Some brand slogans and taglines are so famous and powerful that you immediately think of the brand when you hear it.

Think of Nike’s famous tagline “Just do it“. You don’t need to see the brand’s logo or hear their name to know immediately who is the company behind it.

In fact, did you know that this slogan was created in 1988? It was so successful that even after 30 years, it still remains as relevant as when it all first started.

Today, we will see some practical tips on how to write a slogan for your company that really stands out. And, to make it even more practical, we will see some of the most famous tagline examples nowadays. We all need a little spark of inspiration, right?

What is a brand slogan (tagline)?

To make a brief introduction, a brand slogan or a tagline is a few-word catchphrase that makes a particular statement for your brand. In some cases, it could coincide with the company’s mission statement or unique selling proposition statement.

In other cases, it just aims to establish an emotional connection with the audience. But in all cases, it has to be short, catchy, and even better – with a pinch of humour. A bit of light-hearted humour is a great addition to a unique tagline because it will make it more memorable.

Take KFC, for example. Everyone recognizes their fun and relatable tagline “it’s finger lickin’ good”:

Or even this hilarious, although less famous, slogan by Meow Mix: “Tastes so good, cats ask for it by name!”

So, now that we got on point with the definitions, let’s see how to write a slogan for your business from a more practical perspective:

1. Find your Unique Selling Proposition

The first step to write a slogan that really stands out is to think about your unique selling proposition. In fact, as we already mentioned, in many cases your brand slogan may coincide with your USP.

A unique selling proposition, also known as USP, is a distinctive characteristic of your company, product or service that makes you different from your competitors.

In other words, what do you do better than everyone else? What makes you different from competitors in your sector? It could be a better service, a more personalizable product, or even unparalleled customer service 24/7 in all languages.

Finding your USP is the first step to crafting a brand slogan that’s great, memorable, and truly makes you different than your competitors. Why? Because, even if you don’t use it directly in your tagline, it will give you a direction on where to start from.

For example, take a look at the slogans that we saw above. Through their particular slogan, both KFC and Meow Mix imply that the taste of their product stands out from the one offered by their competitors.

Of course, you can also take the emotional approach like Nike with their tagline “Just do it”. However, no matter what approach you decide to take, having a clear idea of what makes you unique in the eyes of the customers is always a great first step.

Now, let’s take a look at another example, this time from the multinational cosmetics company Maybeline:

How to write a slogan: Find a way to stand out. Example from Maybelline New York.

Personally, I find this brand slogan very interesting. It implies that the brand’s make up look so seamless and natural that you wouldn’t be able to differentiate it easily. Your lashes will look so great that nobody will know it’s mascara!

Of course, I don’t know if this is true. 🙂 But we can agree that the tagline is quite powerful.

Also, you can check more unique selling proposition examples here.

2. Keep your message short & clear

Another tip on how to write a slogan that’s authentic and memorable is to keep your message short and clear.

Just stop for a minute and think about it. Can you think of a brand slogan that is longer than 10 words? Probably not, because people just don’t remember these ones. Let’s take another look at some of the most famous taglines:

• Just Do It. – Nike
• I’m Lovin’ It – McDonald’s
• Taste The Rainbow. – Skittles
• Shave Time. Shave Money. – Dollar Shave Club
• Belong Anywhere. – Airbnb
• Open happiness. – Coca Cola

Did you notice what all of these taglines have in common? Yes, they are extremely short! Of course, your brand slogan doesn’t have to be as short as Nike’s. However, your message should be simple and clear enough to be expressed with just a few words.

Example on how to write a slogan: Dollar Shave Club – Shave Time, Shave Money.

For example, let’s take a look at this awesome and punny brand slogan from Dollar Shave Club. It is short, simple, and catchy! The message is clear – by using their products, you will be able to save time and money while keeping your beard on point. 🙂

If you aren’t able to express your message in less than 10 words, people will not bother processing all this information just because you weren’t clear enough. I mean, if you don’t understand it will enough to explain it simply, why should they?

This has always been true, and it is especially true in the era of digital transformation. Saturated with information, we have grown to have the attention spam of a goldfish. The shorter, the better. This way, people are more likely to remember it forever.

3. Make it understandable

If you are wondering how to write a slogan that’s unique and truly makes your brand stand out, you have to think about your audience. They should be able to understand what you mean with it.

Keep in mind that there will always be people that don’t know your brand. They don’t know what you do, what products and services you offer, and what makes you different from competitors.

So, using inside jokes or catchphrases that only people who know your brand will understand is not going to be quite efficient. Unless you are a huge brand, and people recognize you instantly, like in Nike’s case. However, we can all agree that this is rarely the case for most businesses.

Besides, this particular tagline was heavily promoted by Nike, and people finally managed to associate it with a specific emotion and call to action. However, take a look at the following examples:

• Gilette: “The best a man can get.”
• State Farm: “Like a good neighbour, State Farm is there.”

Just by looking at the slogan, can you get an idea of what is going on? Or what is the purpose behind it? The first one sounds cliché, and way too generic. The second one, especially considering the fact that I am not familiar with State Farm, just doesn’t mean anything to me.

And, when I learned that State Farm was an insurance company, I got even more confused with their brand slogan. Now, compare it with these ones:

• Playstation: “Live in your world. Play in ours.”
• BMW: “The ultimate driving machine.”

Much clear and to the point, right? So, if you want to write a slogan that makes your brand memorable, this is the way you should do it. If people are able to just get it right away, you are going to give a huge boost to your brand awareness efforts.

4. Make it evergreen

Next from our bag of tips on how to write a slogan for your organization is to make it evergreen. When you are thinking about your slogan or tagline, you should think about it from a long-term perspective. Is it able to stand the test of time?

Is it still going to be relevant 10 years from now? 20 years? 50 years? In fact, is your USP or distinctive characteristic something that is sustainable in the long run?

A great brand slogan example that has proved to stand the test of time is the one from De Beers – “A diamond is forever”:

Example on how to write a slogan: DeBeers – A diamond is forever.

I think it’s a great tagline because it not only implies the hardness and “eternity” of the gemstone itself, but also the fact that it will never go out of style. And they are right – De Beers have been selling diamonds since 1888.

However, not all taglines are able to stand the test of time. Think of Verizon and their famous slogan “Can you hear me now?”.

This slogan might have worked great when it was first created. And technology was not as advanced. However, as technology became better and more powerful, practically all mobile operators were able to offer clear calls, so the slogan became obsolete. 

It was just not something that offered a competitive advantage at this point, so it was not making them stand out in any way. For this reason, they decided to rebrand their tagline to “We never stop working for you”.

5. Understand your target

Another thing to consider before you write a slogan for your business is your target market. Is it applicable to all countries? What makes more sense for your brand – to make it local or international?

If you are a small local business, but your plan is to expand internationally, don’t restrict it to your local audience exclusively. For example, the tagline of Dunkin Donuts is “America runs on Dunkin”.

Considering the fact that Dunkin Donuts is an international brand with over 12,900 locations in 42 countries, many countries will not be able to resonate with this slogan. So, in this case, the company should have thought of something more international rather than local.

Another thing to keep in mind is the translation of your slogan to multiple languages. In some cases, your slogan might not sounds as good depending on the language. Or can even sound offensive if you try to translate it literally!

And of course, when I say that you should understand your target audience, I don’t only mean country-wise. You should also think from a demographics perspective – is the slogan appropriate for your particular audience?

For example, let’s take a look at this really bad example from SEGA:

Their brand slogan, especially combined with the image of the videogame controller, is terribly inappropriate for the target audience of the company, which is…kids and teenagers who play games. So, don’t follow Sega’s example on how to write a slogan that works!

6. Get opinions from your customers or followers

Another great way to get an idea of what your potential customers might resonate with is to ask your current ones. 

You can leverage the power of your social media channels to discover what unique slogan works the best. Think of a few different ones, but do not give too many options either. Otherwise, users might get confused and not select properly.

Up to 4 different versions for your brand slogan should be fine. You can do polls on social media, or even on your own website. This way, your followers can vote directly, and select what they resonate the most with.

Sometimes, it is difficult to evaluate our own work. So a help from third-parties, especially if it´s your own customers, can go a long way. You can even make a social media challenge in which they can think of a slogan for you!

7. Be consistent

Being consistent with your branding is very important when it comes to crafting a unique brand slogan. After all, your slogan or tagline will often get accompanied by your logo, banner, or another distinctive graphic.

So, any inconsistency will be obvious.

Example on how to write a slogan: Coca Cola – Taste the Feeling.

One company that does a great job with brand consistency is Coca Cola, with their slogan “Taste the feeling“. It is often included in brand campaigns, highlighting the feeling and the experience that Coca Cola creates for people with their flagship product.

8. Add a pinch of humour

Next on our list of tips on how to write a slogan for your organization is to add a pinch of humor. As we already mentioned, humor can be a great addition to your tagline.

Of course, it might not be appropriate for all industries and companies. However, whenever possible, I definitely recommend that you take advantage of all the possibilities it brings.

It makes your brand more memorable, recognizable, and distinctive. Take a look at some of the following examples:

• Taco Bell: “Think outside the bun”.
• Las Vegas Convention: “What happens here, stays here.”
• Lays: “Betcha can’t eat just one.”

And so on!

Example on how to write a slogan: Lay’s – Betcha can’t eat just one.

Adding humor to your brand slogan will not only make your company more relatable, but it will be easier for you to establish an emotional connection with your audience – which is exactly our next point:

9. Create an emotional bond

If you want to know how to write a slogan that’s unforgettable and catchy, think about your target audience. A great and unique tagline should be able to establish an emotional bond between you and your potential customers.

Try to use high emotion persuasive words that convey a positive message about your products.

If possible, choose uplifting words that make your audience feels better about themselves, and portray your brand values. This way, they will associate your company with something that brings them a positive experience.

Take a look at these examples:

• L´Oreal: “Because you are worth it.”
• Harley Davidson: “All for Freedom. Freedom for All.”
• Adidas: “Impossible is nothing.”

More specifically, Adidas’ famous brand slogan is particularly inspirational:

Example on how to write a slogan: Adidas – Impossible is nothing.

They use it in many of their campaigns, motivating their audience to stop believing in the impossible – and go out and achieve their dreams.

10. Use a brand slogan generator

Next on our list of tips on how to write a slogan for your organization is to use a slogan generator, such as this one developed by Shopify. All you need to do is enter a word that’s relevant for your brand, and the maker will generate ideas in the matter of seconds.

For example, I went ahead and typed the word “marketing” in Shopify’s generator:

In total, they returned 1,023 slogans that contained the word “marketing”, and here are just a few examples:

How to write a slogan for your business with Shopify

Of course, it is awesome to have a tool that generates taglines and slogans for you automatically. However, you will notice that a lot of them don’t make any sense, because what these generates do is that they simply insert the word that you entered within already pre-made phrases.

So, the way I would suggest that you use brand slogan generators like these is not to directly select a tagline from the list, but instead to analyze them and get ideas. They can give you awesome ideas for tagline types, styles, and variations.

However, generators will not be able to understand your audience and truly connect with it. So, use them wisely, and take your time to actually craft a brand slogan that people will resonate with.

11. Adapt your tagline to your logo

Another way to make your brand tagline memorable is to make sure that it is designed around the look and feel of your logo. If the brand slogan feels as an essential and inseparable part of your logo, when people see it, they will immediately think of your logo and company.

And vice versa – when people think see your logo, the slogan will immediately come to their mind – boosting your brand awareness in the long run.

Example on how to write a slogan: Nike – Just do it.

For example, going back to Nike’s “Just do it”, it fits so well into the company’s logo that it just doesn’t feel natural not seeing it there. At this point, the brand slogan has become an essential part of the logo.

12. Fit your slogan into your Marketing strategy

And last but not least, a great tip on how to write a slogan and make sure that it will be remembered by your audience is to fit it into your overall Marketing and promotional activities.

For this reason, you will need to think of a slogan that’s easily advertisable and applicable across your Marketing strategy – and I believe that all of our previous tips will be able to contribute to that.

Example on how to write a slogan: Kit Kat – Have a break, have a Kit Kat.

Think of the company Kit Kat and their famous brand slogan “Have a break, have a Kit Kat”. They’ve used it in many campaigns so far, even creating funny videos to portray hungry and angry people that immediately calm down when they have a Kit Kat. Now, it has become one of the most memorable taglines.

In other words, when it comes to your brand tagline, you should unleash your imagination, but make sure that you are sending a clear and straightforward message to your audience!

And that was all from me for today, folks! I hope you liked my article on how to write a slogan for your company, and I hope to see you in the next one! As always, thank you for taking the time to read my content! In the meantime, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to leave them in the comments below, or simply send me an email to mktoolboxsuite@gmail.com.