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Strapline copywriting can define a business. The best brand straplines are instantly recognisable and become part of our everyday language. Short, snappy memorable phrases that capture what’s distinctive about your brand and evoke strong sentiments within your audience. Whether it’s for a business, brand, product or service, developing a meaningful, catchy and effective strapline that grabs the attention of its audience is one of the most challenging aspects of copywriting. While your business name conveys who you are, in five words or less, your strapline, tagline or slogan neatly represents what you do and the benefits you offer. A strong and confident strapline sends out an enduring message and positions you in your marketplace. So, for so few words, a strapline carries a lot of responsibility. But with responsibility comes power – or vulnerability. A brand strapline that tries to say too much can soon lose meaning while a timid strapline is instantly forgettable. Instead, it should balance relevance, honesty, boldness and creativity but most of all it should be memorable. It could be a powerful emotionally-led or nostalgic statement or a thought-provoking question that challenges beliefs, three individually bold words or a benefit-led phrase. Whatever you choose, you must say one thing or express one thought and do it well.
While a few ideas might leap out at you immediately, very few lasting straplines happen quickly. It takes time and effort to distil the perfect strapline, so drill down into your mission statement, vision, values, philosophy and ethos. Consider the business’ personality, aspirations and motives. Then turn your attention to your customer or client base. Who are they? What do they value? What sort of language do they use? Understand their motivations and pain points. As an experienced strapline copywriter, I’ve always found that the deeper you dig, the more you find. More often than not, this probing research will give me a page of relevant words and random thoughts, sketched doodles and made scribbles, moving them around and trying different combinations. Once I start to drill down into the essence of what they do and what feeling it evokes in their clients or customers, a tangent will appear or a picture will start to form. It’s the thinking that takes the time. Without thought, words are useless. The time and effort put into strapline copywriting are worth it. Get it right and it becomes synonymous with your business or brand and strengthens almost every aspect of your marketing. Which goes some way to explaining exactly why strapline copywriting can be so difficult.
- Capture the essence of your brand.
- Focus on the customer or client.
- Focus on what makes you unique.
- Be positive and bold but not arrogant.
- Evokes some sort of emotional response.
- Choose a relatable tone of voice.
- Keep it short, simple and memorable.
- Ensure it is relevant and timeless.
- Embrace the personality of your brand.
If you’re looking to create a strapline or slogan for your company or brand, product or service, please get in touch with an experienced strapline copywriter.
