How to create a tagline for your online brand

A tagline, slogan, or brand mantra is the phrase that captures the essence of your brand. It sums up your mission, message, and core values in one little catchy phrase. A tagline for your business can be a great way to explain what you do or give a glimpse into who you are as a brand.

It doesn’t always have to be a part of your logo but can be used throughout your branding to help create that cohesive message you’re after. A tagline can be an important part of your brand, but creating the perfect one may not be so easy. Here’s what you can do to create a tagline for your online brand.

Define your why first

Before you dig into how to create a tagline, take a moment to really define the core of your business. If you haven’t done so already, dig deep within your brand and define exactly why you do what you do. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but having a strong, intentional foundation for your business will make everything else flow more naturally.

Do the hard work first and establish a mission, message, and core values that are true to you and your brand. Once you have a clear understanding of your why, you will be able to better create a strong brand and tagline for your business.

Brainstorm

Now that you have your foundation laid, you can start being creative. Grab a pen and paper and do a brain dump for your tagline. Write down anything that comes to mind – words, phrases, favorite things – whatever comes out. Then you can edit that page and find the most important pieces that stand out. Find common things that are a direct representation of your brand.

You can put these together into a paragraph or sentence if needed, but narrow down your brainstorm so that you end up with a more concise list to guide you when writing your tagline. Plus, this gets the creative juices flowing so you’re ready to create a tagline!

Write your tagline

If you’re struggling to come up with that catchy slogan that grabs your audience’s attention, here’s how to create a tagline for your online business:

Step 1: Keep it short and sweet

It can be easy to get carried away with words when creating a tagline. You might feel like you need to write a paragraph to really get the message across. That can be a great place to start so that all your ideas are in front of you, but in the end, you want to shorten it down to a one-liner that keeps it short, sweet, and to the point. You only have a short time to catch your audience’s attention, so you want to make sure they can read it quickly and understand what they are reading without having to analyze and study the tagline.

Step 2: Emphasize the right thing

So often businesses focus too much on what they do and not why they do it. But including an emphasis on the benefits of your business as much as what it is that you do will help to paint a better picture of your brand. By speaking to the benefits of your brand, you’re telling people what they will get from you and how it will help them.

Ultimately, that is what most people care about first. They want to know what’s in it for them and why they should hire you or purchase your products over someone else. Your tagline can help point that out to them up front, drawing them into wanting more from you. It’s important that you stay true to your brand in this step though. Make sure everything is lining up with the mission you wrote earlier and that you are representing your brand accurately.

Step 3: Make it unique and memorable

This is probably the hardest part of the process, but writing a boring tagline will do nothing for your business. Be creative, make it memorable, and inject your personality. This is where a thesaurus may come in handy to find more interesting words or something that’s not used so often. The key here is to not get too crazy. You still want it to make sense immediately and be easy to read or understand. There’s a fine balance between boring professional and overly creative so be sure to mesh those together nicely.

Step 4: Test it and use it

After you’ve come up with your tagline, or narrowed it down to two or three, test it out. Ask people who are your ideal client what they think of it and how they react. Does it work? Does it need tweaking? Once you’ve landed on the winner, start using it in your branding. As I said before, this can be used on your website, social media, or even email signature to remind your audience of what you’re all about.

Recap

Next Steps

Follow these steps and work on writing a tagline. If you’re struggling to write a tagline you might need a better defined brand strategy. The Brand Strategy Blueprint is a brand strategy course designed for online businesses + personal brands to fully and clearly develop the foundation of your brand that sets the stage for major growth and impact.