To Tag or Not to Tag

To Tag or Not to Tag
By Steve Jaffe

You've seen them-you probably have one. But, should you have one? If you do, is it doing its job? If not, should you change it?

The Tagline-One of the most underused pieces in your marketing arsenal. It is traditionally the first "marketing" message that your client and prospect sees.

But, I am frequently asked, "Should we have a tagline?"

The obvious answer is "Why Wouldn't You?" The tagline travels with your logo/company name. Since your logo appears on your stationery, web site, signage, brochures and more, why would you NOT want to have another opportunity to educate your customers and prospects about your agency?

We firmly believe that every agency should have a tagline - but more than that, it should be a great tagline. But getting there is not as easy as it may appear.

What Makes a Great Tagline? There are many books on the subject, but bottom line:
	1.	Does it differentiate you from other agencies?
	2.	Does it enlighten someone about your agency that isn't already obvious?
	3.	Is it easy to say?
	4.	Is it memorable?

Most of the taglines that I see out there usually hit two of the four points. They usually educate someone a little more about the agency and they are easy to say. However, very few accomplish the #1 task-Does it separate you from the pack?

Countless agencies just describe what they do in some fashion: Commercial Insurance, Group Benefits, etc. But very few actually take the time to develop a tagline that is provocative or differentiating. I attribute this to the fact that a tagline is not easy to develop, and most don't know how to go about it. In our experience, when done right, our clients go through 30-50 different taglines and variations before ultimately choosing one that is really great.

Are There Any Rules to a Tagline?
Not really, but there are some good guidelines that we promote.

First, look at your company name. Does it have the word "insurance" in the name? If so, don't repeat it in the tagline. If you don't have "insurance" in your company name, you will need to bring that out in your tagline or it should be obviously implied. People need to know what you do.

The length of the tagline should be as brief as possible without giving up the message. Try to keep it around 10 syllables or less. You should also look at the tagline underneath your company name. Look at the length of both together to see how they coordinate. You want the tagline to be visually appealing.

Avoid promises, a guarantee or a statement that you can't defend or promote. People will see right through that.

Develop a positive tagline that you can speak to verbally in a very positive way that really expounds on the benefits and services of your agency.

Understand your agency-take a few hours and write down all the strengths of your agency.

Highlight the strengths that you believe differentiate you from your competition. Understand your competition-do some research. Search the web for your local competition so you can better understand them. Write down their company names and taglines.

Understand the different tagline styles. There are five that are most used:

a.	Imperative-Commands action and usually starts with a verb:Nike's "Just Do It"
b.	Descriptive-Describes the service, product or brand promise: Allstate's "You're In Good Hands"
c.	Superlative-Positions the company as best in class: BMW's "The ultimate driving machine"
d.	Provocative-Thought provoking; frequently a question: Microsoft's, "Where are you going today?"
e.	Specific-Establishes leadership of a category: CDW's "Computing solutions built for business."

Begin writing your taglines. Do not try to develop the ultimate tagline in this part of the process. Just brainstorm and write down what comes into your mind. Write about 20-30 taglines. Don't edit now. If you are involving more people in your company, let them all write some down and have someone gather and organize.

Categorize the taglines into the different styles. Now comes the time to begin narrowing the scope and ensuring that the final tagline is truly great.

Begin by crossing out taglines that don't meet your criteria.

Rewrite taglines that need more power or definition.

Narrow your list to five.

Positioning of the Tagline. Can it Speak to the Reader?

Write one paragraph on each tagline. This should talk about the company but integrates the tagline into the paragraph. You need to see how each tagline integrates to sales.

10.

Review each of the five remaining taglines. Does it still meet the criteria of a great tagline?

Final Selection

11.

Get some opinions on the taglines, but don't use a consensus to decide. You read me right. Consensus usually brings mediocrity. Why? People tend to float towards what is comfortable versus what is great.

12.

Make a choice and then move towards implementation.

Implementation
Having a tagline is only half the battle. You need to integrate it, implement it and use it.
First, make sure that your new tagline is consistently integrated with your logo. From there, add it to your business cards, letterhead, web site, brochures, flyers and any other marketing material you have. If there are items you're not going to reprint now, make sure that the tagline is on all future materials.

Next, you need to educate your team. Frequently, I will have clients who have a tagline, but the employees do not know what it is. There are others that know their tagline, but don't how to integrate it into their sales speech. You have the paragraph you wrote. Share the paragraph with your team. Ask them to sell you, while using the tagline as part of their presentation. Then, post the tagline throughout the office. Put it on your screen savers and add it to your e-mail signatures.

Once you have completed this process, the tagline should be second nature to you and your team.

The Author
Steve Jaffe is the president of Image Perspective, a leading design/marketing firm for insurance companies and agencies.

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