|
|
TAG, YOU'RE IT! (OR, HOW TO WRITE SLOGANS)
by Larry Johnson
Some call them
"tag lines"; others refer to them as"catch lines" or "tie-in-slogans." Whatever
the words used to refer to them, they are perhaps the most important part of
your promotional writing.
Do you recognize any of these? :
"Like a rock..."
"Fly the friendly skies..."
"It's the real thing
!"
"Quality is job number one"
"The quicker-picker-upper"
Most
of those tag lines are recognizable by us without even including the name of
the company or product.
They summarize in a very few words the essence
of the thing they are promoting. They communicate a good, positive feeling or
relationship to the product. They do it with a simple,memorable phrase that is
easily repeated.
The shorter the description is, the more challenging
it is to write. Anyone can write a 500-word description of a product or
service. Now try doing it with 5 to 10 words ! Each word you choose is very
important to the message.
HERE ARE SOME TIPS for writing good taglines
for your business offer.
1) Start by noticing ads on billboards
as you drive down the road.
Billboard advertisers have but a couple of
seconds to grab your attention and sell their product or service. Usually their
copy is going to be a very good tagline with a picture of the product or
service. These are great examples of how to write effective taglines.
2) Notice other media forms like magazine and newspaper display ads,
business cards, brief radio and TV commercials.
Observe the thing that
caught your attention and makes the message easily remembered. It's usually a
concise and well-written tagline.
3) Write down everything you
can think of that relates to your business. You may even start with a narrative
description in paragraph form.
4) Now, make a list of the top
25 or 30 things that are important and worth mentioning.
Whittle that
list down to 8 or 10 of the most important things you wish to say.
Now
eliminate repetition or things that are not really that necessary to your
product or service.
Get your list of words or phrases down to 3 or 4
central elements.
5) Based on your final core selection, make
up some phrases that will serve as your taglines for consideration. Keep them
short and use simple, everyday language.
Which of these taglines would
you remember best? :
"Joe's auto repair shop, the lowest-prices and
the best service"
OR
"Quality Care For Your Car
!"
=====
"The Best Tax Service Anywhere Around
The Town !"
OR
"Your Tax Experts At Work !"
=====
"Emergengy ambulance service available
24-hours a day"
OR
"When Minutes Count!"
Well, you get the idea!
Do some test marketing with
your final two or three best taglines. Discover the one that works best for you
and incorporate it into all of your promotional messages.
Remember,
like any of life's endeavors, experience and practice help to improve your
skills level. If you want to be a good writer, write a lot!
Best of
luck with your promotional efforts.
About the Author:
Larry is both a publisher and webmaster with more than 10 years working on
line. His background is in radio,TV,and sales. KEEP UP WITH THE JONESES- Easily
publish your own articles to reach thousands of readers and webmasters.
http://tinyurl.com/33hwd
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
1)
Phrases That Sell : The Ultimate Phrase Finder to Help You
Promote Your Products, Services, and Ideas by Edward W.
Werz
2)
A Dictionary of Slogans by Nigel Rees
3)
Catchphrase, Slogan And Cliche by Judy Parkinson
[
VIEW ALL BOOKS
] |
|
|
Free e-book: The Lousy Writer's Guide to Writing
Persuasively
(
DOWNLOAD NOW!
) |
|
| StyleWriter -
the world's largest style and usage checker, makes it easy to write error-free,
plain English copy. |
| Readability
Formulas ~ Find the
reading levels of your
materials with these popular
reading assessment
formulas. |
| Book Formatting
Software -
Wizards For Word helps format
your papers in
APA Style,
Chicago Manual of Style, MLA
Style, and
Writer's Market
Style. |
|
 |
|
