“If you’re gonna be a bag lady, make it a Gucci.”
Taglines that Rock
The above tagline belongs to a new friend of mine, Jere Webb. She’s a certified financial planner based in Tucson, and her business is focused on provided financial planning services to women. She’s 5’2″ of fire, with 30 years networking experience under her belt. We’ve met twice now for coffee, and I can easily say she’s one of the best business people I’ve met in a long time.
A lot goes into a good tagline. Jere’s didn’t come out of thin air. It took work! This tagline speaks to her own personal beliefs about finances while at the same time, keeping the focus on her potential clients.
I am a big fan of the book Duct Tape Marketing by John Janstch. So is Jere. She said that she and a group of friends put together a sort of business mastermind, and one day they decided to go through Duct Tape Marketing together. She said it took them 3 months to get everyone’s taglines right. 3 months! The lesson here is that taglines take time, and may go through some changes before they settle.
Jantsch talks about taglines as “Core Messages” and the reason it takes awhile to create them is because there is work to be done prior to that. First, you must have a marketing position. Then, you create a talking logo. Out of those two come the core message.
Taglines/Core Messages are Crucial to Making a Connection
The tagline, core message, or whatever you choose to call it is the key to communicating effectively with potential customers. I’d take it a step further – for me, it’s helped me develop a list of content assets for my work – resources that I can make available to potential customers to help educate them (includes blogs and social media accounts). Once you have your core message worked out, it’s so much easier to come up with ideas for content assets.
Have you arrived at a core message/tagline, or are you in the process? I am currently completely re-branding my corporate blogging service and have just started working on the core message. I am taking my time, as it’s good to get this part right.
Would love to hear your thoughts!
How interesting that you posted this, Tia. I have been thinking about what my brand is all about – and I’d never thought about a tagline. It’s obviously catchy, as I saw the headline of this post and I had to read it. A tagline is just like an accessory – it makes or breaks the outfit! (You can quote me on that – lol!) Thanks!
Hey Donina – There’s so much that can be done with a great tagline. I like that they can seamlessly tie every piece of marketing material that you have together, and they are also excellent for marketing-focused events like conferences and exhibitions. I am still coming up with the one I’m going to relaunch Uncorporate Blogging with. We should put together an email list of people to bounce our ideas around with.
Tia,
I’m with ItalianMamaChef. I was all pumped to talk about purses. I could go on and on about Kate Spade bags.
The thing about tag lines that work is that they seem so effortless. They are very deceiving that way. But when you get it right, it just clicks. Like your friend’s bag lady tag line. If she’s not going big, she’s going home. Good stuff!
Beth
Hey Beth – I agree. The right taglines do seem effortless. I have panic attacks about coming up with good taglines. The one thing that stuck with me is that they did theirs in a group. Sometimes, other people can help you see either the benefits or downsides with a tagline that you wouldn’t otherwise see. I know that I for one am much harder on myself than other people are. It’d be nice to have a group like that to bounce ideas off of.
She is a great woman. A connector. She’s also very inspiring!
And here I thought this was about buying the best kind of purse! You have given me a lot to think about. I had someone make up a logo/header for me awhile back-I won a contest. Recently I contacted them to update my picture in the logo I use for FB and I have had no response at all! It’s frustrating. I am not asking for free work but just for them to work with me again. Goodness! So now I’m wondering if I should just take it upon myself to go in a new direction with someone else. I’m taking some time to think about this.
Michelle – Definitely. If someone doesn’t respond, maybe they don’t have time or something else that just means they’re not a good match for you. If you need help with a logo or any kind of graphic design, I recommend John Garrett (our honorary bizchick). He is doing the badges for bizchickblogs right now, and he really is a great artist and graphic designer.
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll keep him in mind.
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 1 trackback }