Should I use my tagline in my header?
What should my tagline say?
OMG! I don’t have a tagline in my logo.
Any of these lines sound familiar? And if they do, I have some answers for you today.
Taglines are used for IMAGE campaigns.
Taglines are your Brand IDENTITY.
Taglines are NOT added to your logo.
A Tagline is the BASE for ALL your communication (in addition to your Brand Promise and Values & Beliefs).
Let me explain this visually.
We all know THESE top brands.
Red Bull – Giving you wings to fly (‚cause base jumping off a friggin highest tallest building is not everybody’s daily thing to do – life WTF?!)
Nike – Just Do It
Apple – Think Differently (although at the moment…I dunno)
Nespresso – What else?
Audi – Vorsprung Technik
Coca-Cola – That’s life
Each brand is KNOWN for their TAGLINE.
Not because they ADD it to their LOGO (nope – you’ll see Registered Trademark signs happening here). But because it’s in the SOUL essence of their ADVERTISING (not BRANDING).
And almost ALWAYS in their IMAGE Advertising.
IMAGE ADVERTISING? What’s this?
These are all those big billboard ads, Sunset Boulevard, Car/Busses, high gloss magazine ads that you see everywhere in the 80’s and 90’s…
Ad agencies LOVE doing Image Ads because it’s based on a THREE-POINT system (and really puts creativity and strategy to the test and sets the amateurs from the experts apart):
Visual +
Headline +
Logo +
= One-helluva-statement
(Check out fashion labels eg Tommy Hilfiger or check out perfume labels like Jennifer Lopez or Christina Aguilera)
The TAGLINE is NOT spread all over their WEBSITE.
Nor is it in their social media posts as part of their LOGO.
A Tagline is a powerful statement – your Brand IDENTITY.
And it’s PART of everything you communicate with your BRAND MESSAGE.
Now to bring things a notch down to a not-so-famous-Brand (yet)…Here’s BrandSashka’s TAGLINE (Brand Identity):
We Brand Your Soul.
My visuals are thought-provoking-creative and make a statement without necessarily writing an essay about it in my posts/advertising.
Which is why, when you head on over to the landing page of my website, the FIRST image you SEE isn’t my TAGLINE: Show me your soul and I’ll create your brand. But the ESSENCE of the tagline.
So what are YOUR next steps for YOUR Tagline today?
>> KNOW your Brand IDENTITY.
>> Ensure your Brand Identity (Tagline) is FELT through your visuals, copy and BRAND-ING. How? Check out examples of top brands: Red Bull: Giving you wings to fly
Visuals are bold and risky and adventurous
Headlines are pushing your fears to the limit and encouraging you to get some balls and FLY
Logo – so that you don’t mistake any other imitation for the real stuff
And lastly,
>> Your Tagline does NOT need to be added to your Website headline OR your logo. Your Tagline makes a BOLD statement.
And this is applicable to BOTH Product or Service-based businesses. ESPECIALLY when you’re creating IMAGE campaigns.
So out of interest – WHAT’S YOUR TAGLINE?
8 Responses
Love these examples Sashka 🙂
Follow The Arrows! (That’s my tagline btw) and it’s barely anywhere on my website but it is on various other places and is a verbal cue for when we livestream :). And if I pop it somewhere prominent on my site, I lose important SEO juice hehehehe
That is such a clever “tagline” “Follow the Arrows”… I’ve loved it since the first day I heard it and thought – aren’t they lucky to have that surname ’cause it fits perfectly to the slogan… that’s so interesting to know about the SEO… good point!
Hi Sashka,
I feel so bad .. I spent tons and tons of time working on my tagline(s) and since I’m not really using them anywhere, I forgot about it. I have some kind of UVPs, but taglines, since they don’t appear in my logos, I am was not using them often enough.
I also like the “Mantra” idea from Guy Kawasaki (in his “The Art of Start” book).
Hey Jean-Christophe…
You know what’s amazing about Life? You Live and you Learn 😉
A tagline was used in the 70’s and 80’s mostly because of Print and Billboard media. As you know the space was expensive to pay and you needed to get your message across without a gazillion words of copy. It had to “hit-the-spot” in one shot…so great Brand Strategists and Teams came up with cool taglines like “Just Do It”…
In today’s world where there are a gazillion messages (over 60.000 to be exact) being advertised to us every millisecond, it’s a little difficult to just stand out with a tagline.
A tagline really is just there for you to “summarize” your business … for things like when you meet someone for the first time and they ask you: “so what do you do?” You’ve got a one-liner “tagline” to rattle off to them to spark curiosity and interest.
What are your taglines?
And thank you for that book suggestion – definitely going to check that one out as I’m a Guy Kawasaki fan 🙂
PS Keep your head up – you’re doing an amazing job!
I’ve used “Drawing Mira(cles)” as my tagline. It has layers.. Drawing Mira means that I doodle my inner child character called Mira and Drawing miracles means that I draw miracles which are according to A Course in Miracles shifts in perception. So that means that my doodles and coloring exercises and courses offer shifts in perception for the ones experiencing them. I’ve it under my artist name elinap on my website, but I guess I haven’t used or explained it anywhere other.. 😀
Oh I’m so glad you explained this Elina as I wasn’t sure what “Mira” was – phoenetically it’s like “mirror” but I wasn’t sure… really cool <3
HI Sashka, my tagline is ‘courage to be yourself’. love this article and info but still a little confused as to where i use it. I dont have it on everything but it is on my header with logo! It is a great article and totally get the point looking at the visuals too.
That’s a strong statement Fiona – love it “Courage to love yourself” 🙂
The thing with taglines, is that it doesn’t need to be anywhere in your logo but can most definitely be a part of your headline/sub-headlines in your advertising.
The tagline sets the tone for your Brand tonality, message, vision and your core promise.
I speak about the history of advertising in my branding video in my free branding and marketing course – have you watched this yet? This explains how taglines were used ‘then’ … there’s no set rules on where and when to use your tagline… it’s more clarity for you when communicating in your advertising and marketing. Does this make sense? xxx Sashka