Branding – Picking The Right Tagline For Your Website

Considering a  company tagline?
Maybe your company already has a tagline or is looking to create one.  That management meeting isn’t always fun. Some  managers will treat your tagline as an opportunity for  fun creative thinking (”lets just come up with  something unique”).   Others will will be more  defensive (”we don’t want to limit ourselves”).  So  how do you bridge the gap and come up with a  strong and valuable tag line?  By asking and answering the right questions.

How is a tagline perceived?
Its given more importance than another short  statements in your marketing materials or website.  Visitors realize that takes a higher commitment to the idea to put it in your tagline, so they’ll put  more importance on your tagline than other  statements.

What does a tagline really do?
On your website, it sets the tone (creates a starting  point) for the “conversation” that takes place on your  website.  It plants a thought in the visitor’s head –  one you want there — so they will look for proof of  what the tagline suggests about your company.

Its Value to Your Business

1. Positioning – a tagline can quickly establish your  positioning in your marketplace relative to  competitors as well as on your own.
2. Shortcut – it creates a shortcut in one area of  your marketing content, by placing an ending  conclusion first.  If the visitor trusts your company,  you may save yourself some sales time.
3. Foundational – it creates a strong foundation for  the rest of your marketing pitch.  A well chosen  tagline can create momentum in a sales situation  and create faster understanding of your unique value  proposition in the eyes of the visitor.

Creating A Tagline – Your Selection Process Needs To Be Complete
Most companies dive straight into creating a tagline  without considering the foundation on which it  should be based.
Consider how these taglines (examples) can solve a specific  business challenge:
1) Not your average ____ company (breaks the  perception of your product being a commodity)
2) Helping _____ business to grow (breaks the  assumption that your product / service is only for the  “other” types of businesses)

Why does your selection process need to be complete? Otherwise you’ll waste some incredibly valuable real estate on a catch phrase that doesn’t'  address your most significant sales cycle gaps.  Here are some key steps:

1. Consider your competitive landscape
2. List your company strengths
3. Analyze your customer segments
4. Give yourself options prior to debating which is  the best one

We’ve seen it work
In many client situations, we seen the tagline  building process bring a much broader focus to  clients online efforts.    Armed with a large number  of ideas and a framework for choosing between  them, AftertheNet has witnessed management teams (or single managers) produce highly focused and  powerful taglines which have a big impact at the  start of a visitor’s successful flow to conversion on their  website.