As entrepreneurs and brand builders we like to think that our tagline could be the thing that positions our brand uppermost in the minds of clients and customers.

We want something original and unique, a brilliant one liner that will make us unforgettable. I am asked what makes a great tagline a lot.

I could write a list and tell you that it needs to:

• Be memorable.
• Resonate with your idea and your mission.
• Include a key benefit of your brand.
• Appeal to the senses not to logic.
• Help to recall the brand name. “Coke is it.”
• Differentiate your brand.
• Communicate positive feelings about your brand. “Love where you live.”
• Convey the brand strategy.
• Avoid current trends. Like the one word tagline which anyone could ‘own’.
• Avoid corporate speak and jargon. Anything that sounds like a bank tagline.

I’d like to re-frame the question though by asking what does your tagline do?

Does it fill the white space on your business card and website header? Or does it communicate your intention to staff and customers? My friend Angela runs ‘Australia’s best cafe’.

Does your tagline stand for something customers can believe? Zappos’ really is, ‘powered by service’.

Does it tell and old story in a new way, ‘3 socks, 2 feet, 1 you’?

Is it easy to spread because it’s true, Moleskine, sells, ‘legendary notebooks’.

Does your tagline create meaning? Is this something your customers, clients or donors care about?

Are you making a promise you can keep, because that’s what really matters?

Image by Jamison Weiser.