A strapline needs to represent your business, and put across something of what you do, what benefits you give your customers, or what you stand for. Think of it as if you had one short sentence to sum up your business and persuade a customer to choose you.
Examples:
Low Prices
Bad: “We are Cheaper”
Good: “Always Low Prices (Asda)
“Always Cutting Prices” (Curry’s)
Knowledgeable Staff
Bad: “Our Staff have the Knowledge to Help You”
Good: “We Live Electricals” (Comet)
“The AA Team” (AA)
“Just AAsk” (AA)
Product/Service Quality
Bad: “Expertly Made”
“We Always Provide the Best Service”
Good: “We’re Number 2, so we Try Harder” (Avis Car Rentals)
“Reassuringly Expensive” (Stella Artois)
“Your Potential, Our Passion” (Microsoft)
What You Represent or Stand For
Bad: “Quality Customer Experience”
Good: “Every Little Helps” (Tesco)
“Sense and Simplicity” (Phillips)
“Vorsprung Durch Technik” [Progress through technology] (Audi)
“Just Do It” (Nike)
If you are struggling to think of ideas, try writing a list of 10 individual words that you believe describes your business (E.g.: Value, quality, reliability, service); then try writing 10 individual words that describe the benefits you give to your customer (E.g.: Time, money, convenience, choice). Then spend a bit of time mixing and matching words, and constructing a small sentence around them.
There are many different kinds of devices that can help provide memorable Straplines; here are some of the most common, why not try a few and see what you can come up with:
“Question and Answer:” Posing and answering a question, or simply having two half sentences making different sides of a point.
E.g.: “Maybe She’s Born With it, Maybe it’s Maybelline” (Maybelline)
Some more examples of Question and Answer phrases are in the Mirroring examples below.
Mirroring: Reflecting or repeating a word or words to make a memorable phrase.
E.g.: “Conveniently Reliable, Reliably Convenient” – for a quality local shop
“Money Talks, So Let’s Talk Money” – for a financial advisor’s
“Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat” (Kit Kat)
Rhyming: Creating a small rhyme makes your sentence more memorable; though they can feel a little tacky if not done well.
E.g.: “You Can Tell When it’s Shell” (Shell)
Alliteration: Similar to rhyming, alliteration involves the first sound of a word instead of the end.
E.g.: “The Best Four by Four by Far” (Land Rover)
If you still haven’t found something you like, try taking the words you already have and look at similar words that mean the same thing.
Is Your Strapline Good Enough?
An important question to ask is whether producing a bad strapline could damage your business. The answer of course is yes, but most bad Straplines are just forgotten until a better one comes along. So unless you decide to have a strapline such as “Buy This Stupid” it is unlikely that a bad strapline will have much of a negative impact.
A good way to test whether your strapline is any good is to discuss it with suppliers or regular customers; and see what their thoughts are on it. Although you cannot rely on this kind of discussion to be completely accurate, it is better than going ahead without any research!
Once you have decided upon your best Strapline, add it to your letterheads, business cards, leaflets and website; and start spreading your message!
Links
What is Branding and How Can it Help Your Business?
Page 1: What are Straplines for?
Page 2: How to Create Straplines
