It is very challenging to create a slogan for the business nowadays. It is because there are many features that a business slogan must contain. It needs to be very catchy, memorable and sustainable for a longer period of time. It must communicate the purpose of doing business and what the business stands for.
There are many companies which have gained success because of their catchy slogans. Most of the big businesses are known for their slogans.
For instance, “just do it” is a slogan of Nike. It represents what is the culture of the business and felling of the business behind its slogan. The slogan is very short and easy to remember. It attracts the customer to do something.
Creation of a new slogan for a new business is not an easy task but even not long time task. It takes approximately an hour to come up with a working slogan and around a week to finalize it.
Creation of a slogan might look very easy but it involves a difficult process. After settling a slogan its compatibility worth the market must be seen for a week or two. If it works then it’s ok but if it does not work it must be tested again. Slogans usually led to the growth of a business at a fast pace if it is created after taking a long time and not just overnight.
Here is the Simple Guide to Choose the Right Business Slogan.
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Characteristics of a good slogan
Slogans play an important role in determining the brand of the company and recognizing it but the slogans must be chosen carefully. Every slogan must contain some features and characteristics to make it a success.
Be careful about the length of the slogan: the length of the slogan must be kept in mind while creating it. It is very difficult to remember long slogans and hence, the creator must focus on the creation of short slogans as they can be remembered easily. For example, the slogan of Nike is “Just do it.” It is short in length and easy to remember.
Consider the sustainability of the slogan: as the environment of the market is very dynamic. To keeps on changing from time to time. Hence, the tagline must not incorporate or integrate something that will become outdated in the future. It must sustain in the market for a longer time. For example, the slogan of Adidas is “Impossible is nothing.”
Maintain consistency: after finalizing a perfect and catchy slogan, it should become the keystone of the business for advertising and marketing campaign and tagline. The message must not be diluted by adding an extra phrase. It is because it will lead to creating confusion among customers by cycling through multiple slogans in a very short period of time.
Focus on making it different: the slogan must be created by identifying the unique selling proposition of the business. They must focus on creating their slogan also very different. It helps them to attract the customers for identifying what is business and their product is about. They attract their slogan and hence make a rise in the market of their products.
Make it timeless: the slogan must not be created by keeping in view its longevity. They must be made to stand the test of the time. The slogans must be compatible with the changing technology and added new lines of the product. They must not be changed over time and time again. They must be created for longevity.
Ensure it to stand alone: the slogan should not contain any kind of mystery in it. The slogan must tell the customers about the business without any need for additional information. They must tell the people exactly what they will get when they tune in. For example, the cartoon network’s “The Best place for cartoons” tells people exactly what they will get when they tune it.
Consider the targeted market: before creating any slogan the market must be analyzed. It must be considered whether the customers are local, international or national. This is because local slogans will create a problem for tourists as they will not be able to understand it.
If the business is going to be expanding in the international business, conversion or translation of the slogan into another language must not change the meaning of the slogan completely. It must reflect the same meaning as it before does. For example, Philadelphia’s new slogan, “PHL: Here For The Making,”
Get input: it is a very tough job of being creative. It can be reduced by taking opinions from followers. Facebook and Twitter can be taken into consideration to host a slogan contest with a designated hashtag to track the entries. Some free tagline generator tools can also be considered to make the catchy slogans.
Start from the logo: it is very important for a business to have a logo of the company. If any company do not have its logo, it must first go with it. It is because the logo and slogan go side by side. The slogan works with the logo to promote the brand of the company.
A slogan usually does not work without a logo. It created an opportunity for the business if slogans are created on the basis of the slogan. Uniqueness and creativity of both at once allow the better growth of the business with the help of integration of the two as a final product.
Also, top brands change their brands from time to time. The small business can also do the same approximately every five years.
Give the time it needs: the company must give proper time on researching a good slogan for the company, extra time to brainstorm the ideas for the initial research and some more time for clients to consult and edit them.
Also, if it is done on a contract basis then the limited amount of time should be given otherwise it will result in great time wastage. It is not an easy task to create a new slogan.
It takes approximately an hour to create it hence, before hiring an expert for its creation their work must be checked to maintain trust between them.
Keep it simple: as it takes only a few seconds for the customers to get impressed towards any product, every business must focus on its simplicity. Slogans must not go over one sentence.
They must contain only limited words and can be a phrase sometimes. For example, just do it. Not simple but enough slogan. For example, if Las Vegas had tried to use “Whatever you do while you are in Las Vegas, Stays in Las Vegas” instead of “What Happens Here, stays here”
Make it funny if possible: the slogan must bring humour wherever it goes. When it comes to the making of slogan funny, the approach of injecting a joke or two can be adopted. It is something that a creator can adopt when it is creating a slogan.
If the person is not making it funny then he must drop the idea and go with the next best alternative. For example, General Electric’s slogan “imagination at work,” draws attention to their brand with a simple, yet powerful logo that celebrates human imagination and innovation.
Stay honest: the business must show honesty in his work by delivering what he actually promises through his slogan.
If it is not so they must make changes in their slogan. The company must stay away from the slogans that contain the word such as the best or any other. This is because this kind of language is not only standard and boring but hard to find if it is true.
“The happiest place on the earth” is the slogan of the Disneyland which defines the honesty of the slogan. It is because it fits with the content of the company and their working.
Some Existing creative companies’ slogan
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There are many existed creative slogans of different companies that make them stand out of the crowd. Some of them are as follows:
- Walmart – Save money. Live better.
- Reebok – I am what I am
- Nike – Just do it
- Adidas – Impossible is nothing
- Levis – quality never goes out of style
- IBM – solutions for a smart planet
- Sony – make belief
- IMAX – Think big
- Kodak – Share moments. Share life.
- FedEx – when there is no tomorrow
- Disneyland – the happiest place on earth
Steps to find a slogan of the company
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To create a catchy slogan within a limited time there are some steps that need to be followed to create it.
Step 1: Assemble the team for the slogan
There is a need to involve all the stakeholders of the company especially the staff to create a great slogan for the company. There is no need to involve the entire office. It just needs some creative and innovative stakeholders and especially the interested one.
It will become very difficult to twist the slogan according to the opinion and ideas of all the stakeholders. Hence the first step must be to assemble a team that must include
- Some staff members that know about the culture of the company in detail
- Applicable executives that are familiar with the future goals and line of the business
- Creative and good copywriters
- Marketing team members including branding and PR teams
The remaining staff will be divided into two groups to act as A or B tester after finalizing two slogans at the last. A date will be set for the meeting with the employees who will be decided to work on the slogan.
Step 2: Explain the purpose of the company and its nature
If the company is small in size or just starting their business then it will not be possible for the people to know much about the company without the help of the descriptive slogan. If the slogan will include unclear description it will not be able to attract the customers toward it.
This will be done with the help of the team members by deciding what they can do differently from others to make their business slogan work out.
Step 3: Decide the motive behind the slogan
As all the employees or staffs know the culture of the company they have to find out something that will help the customers to communicate your business line and products and services. It is basically a fact that customers remember only those slogans that create a feeling or emotion in them.
The slogan must be something that makes a customer excited or happy. The slogan must depict a carefully or specific feeling that will remain forever in them. It must be directly related to the brand of the company.
Adding emotional feeling to the message will help the customers to make a personal connection with the business and its products. If they will get a wrong feeling it will directly have an inverse impact on the brand of the business.
Step 4: Pen up all the selected slogans and choose the best two
After the planning is over it now comes to the hardest part. It is related to creating a catchy slogan for the business. It is related to coming up with some slogans and several iterations of slogan ideas.
Everyone can be given 30 minutes to 40 minutes to create a slogan and share with others. They must not give any bad idea at this stage.
Step 5: Test for the best between the two
Running A or B test is very simple as it has to choose the best from the few slogan options. It is done with the help of others by taking the help of the entire company through mail, paid surveys, current clients etc.
This test will be based on two choices and test them against each other to see which one is more catchy and specific. The superior or most voted slogan will be selected.
After considering the success of the business from a slogan it is clear that business and other companies must come up with a new slogan after it is being used for a decade and establishing the brand.
Statistics of the right slogan
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Finding the right slogan for the company is not an easy task. It has to follow some steps and includes many features in it. Every slogan must be choosing on the basis of the statistics that must be reviewed before deciding any slogan. The slogan must be based on features that were explained before. Some of the statistics are given below:
-78% of consumers believe that companies must focus on custom content for the making of a slogan.
-90 % of consumers expect that their experience with a brand will be similar across all platforms and devices.
-The right words can improve readership by 40 % by making them easier to read and visually appealing.
-Colour is the first thing that the brains perceive from brand according to 40 % of people.
-It takes about 5 to 7 impressions for a consumer to recognize any slogan.
-Our brains process images 60000 times faster than process words.
-77 % of consumers make a purchase based on the brand slogan.
-72 % of the best brands are named with made-up words or acronyms.
-82 % of investors believe that brand strength and name recognition are becoming relatively more important.
-71 % of consumers say that social media makes it crucial to choose a name that is available across multiple platforms.
Here is also a Bonus Infographic which will insight you about history behind Popular brand slogans
Conclusion
There are many reasons why slogans are made. This includes the launching of a new product or service or some find it a way to rebrand or bringing a new life to an already fading brand.
It can also act as a controller of the damage in case the brand is facing any kind of issues or problems. If the company has a logo the company must try to integrate the slogan with it. It must be based on the words and message used in the logo from its design elements.
The slogan must be based on the core of the business and its offerings. It is not based on any hard and fast rule. There is no rule regarding the length of the slogan. But it must be as short as a single word or two. For example, think small is a very attractive slogan. It could even be a long sentence or even two but in rare cases.
When choosing the words for the slogan a. Always choose simple and easy to understand words. It does not contain any hard words that are not understood by the people and it takes a few minutes for them to identify its meaning. They must get full picture instantly of the message that the company wants to convey through the slogan.
The slogan must also contain some emotions. It should make the customers feel and think something.