How to Come Up With a Catchy Slogan for Your Business
by Carrie Hinkel on April 4th, 2008
A slogan is a catch phrase that helps to identify a company or a product. A good slogan is memorable, catchy, and descriptive of a company’s or product’s main characteristics. It should answer the question "why you and not the competition?" Take a look at these classic slogans and see how they encapsulate the product or company’s vision:
* A-1 Steak Sauce: "A-1 makes hamburgers taste like steakburgers."
* BMW Automobiles: "The ultimate driving machine."
* Charles Schwab: "Helping investors help themselves"
* General Electric: "We bring good things to life."
A good slogan can help build brand awareness as people begin to remember the phrase and start to then associate it with your company or product. You can use your slogan in advertisements, product packaging, business cards, company letterhead, email signatures and more, all with the purpose of getting people to remember your company or product.
Tips on coming up with your own memorable slogan:
Step 1: Figure out what message you want your slogan to convey - Before you begin to think of ideas for a slogan, it makes sense that you should first decide on its message to consumers. This is the most crucial step and, unfortunately, the one that is most often overlooked.
Step 2: Look at other slogans for inspiration - One of the best ways to get you in the mindset for slogan writing is to look at some of the most successful slogans. Check out the extensive ad slogan archives that the University of Texas has accumulated - you’re sure to get some ideas to point you in the right direction for your own slogan.
Step 3: Brainstorm - Okay, now that you’re full of slogan inspiration, sit down and write down whatever slogans come to mind for your business. It’s okay if they don’t sound "quite right"; just jot them down and keep the slogans coming. The idea here is to take advantage of your creativity without suppressing it by focusing too much on the perfection of one slogan.
Step 4: Condense your ideas - With a list full of slogan ideas, you’ll have a lot of work to do. In this step, you’ll spend a lot more time on each of the slogans and seeing if they can be tweaked or perhaps expanded into better slogans. After reading other companies’ tried-and-true slogans, you’ll notice that the best ones are short and snappy. They may only be three or five words, but those words are powerful and meaningful.
Step 5: Test your slogan - Once you have come up with a short list of potential slogans, show them to as many people as you can from as many different parts of the population as possible. Of course, even the best slogans will still have critics, but if 80 percent of your testing audience doesn’t like your slogan, then it’s time to cross it off the list. Use any critiques to help you hone in on the perfect slogan for your company or product.
While it takes many, many hours to come up with the right slogan, a good slogan will pay you back with brand awareness and customer recognition. And, the best part is, you don’t need to hire an expensive advertising firm to create a slogan for you. You know your company best, and you can use that to reach consumers with your slogan. Good luck!