How to write a tagline that drives sales

Executive overview

Most taglines fail because they make customers burn calories figuring out what you're offering. A tagline must be a clear, understandable offer — not clever, not elusive, not generic.

The test: can it stand alone without the company name? Does it speak to the customer's felt need? If not, rewrite it.

A tagline is not art — it's an offer. Say what the customer gets, plainly.

The three rules of an effective tagline

• No nuance — it must be immediately clear what it means
• Memorable — the customer can recall it the next day
• Repeatable — they can say it to someone else

Why generic taglines fail

• "Great prices, great people" — nobody wakes up wanting cheap things and friendly staff; they want their problem solved
• "Quality you can trust" — says nothing specific; forces the customer to fill in the blank
• "Driving results, building brands" — could be logistics, consulting, anything
• "Live life comfortably" — could be a pill, a senior living centre, a chair
• Generic taglines are a Fisher Price hook: you're fishing, but the fish are safe

The felt-need principle

• Customers come to you with a specific problem, not a desire to save money or be around nice people
• The tagline should answer the question they're actually asking: "Do you have what I need?"
• "If you need it, we've got it" (hardware store) beats "great prices, great people" because it resolves the decision
• "Best cheeseburger in town" beats "great prices, great people" for a cafe — it names what they're buying

Brand size changes what you can get away with

• Big, familiar brands (Walmart, Motel 6, Nokia) can use elusive taglines because the consumer already knows what they sell
• "We'll leave the light on for you" works for Motel 6; it fails for an unknown B&B — the customer has no frame to decode it
• Small businesses cannot make customers burn calories — clarity is not optional
• "Save money, live better" (Walmart) — "save money" is strong; "live better" is weak and generic; find what you need, save money is stronger

Examples graded

• A: "Save big money at Menards" — names the store, names the offer, zero ambiguity
• B: "We treat your pets like family" — empathetic, positions the vet as guide, speaks to the owner's real anxiety
• C−: "We'll leave the light on for you" (Motel 6) — works only because the brand is known
• D: "Founded by firemen" (Firehouse Subs) — interesting differentiator, but doesn't say why the sandwich is better; add "who were tired of eating bad sandwiches"
• D: "Live life comfortably" (La-Z-Boy) — only works if you already know it's a chair; "the most comfortable chair ever made" is better
• D−: "Driving results, building brands" — ambiguous without the label "marketing firm"
• F: "Quality you can trust" — universal cliché, zero specific offer
• F: "Connecting people" (Nokia) — sounds like a church or dating app; "a better phone" would have worked

Fixing a weak tagline: the process

• Ask "what do you mean by that?" and keep going deeper until the real offer surfaces
• "Quality you can trust" → "We overbuild everything" → "Our homes last 150 years" → that's your tagline
• "Founded in Texas, famous worldwide" → infers quality but doesn't say it → "The best burger in Texas, now available in Tennessee"
• "Get in, get out, get on with your life" (Jiffy Lube) → strip the cleverness → "Get your oil changed, get on with your life"
• Kids love aquariums — stamped on aquarium products — drove a 99% sales increase in test markets

What every tagline must be

• A clear offer tied to a survival asset: save money, make money, look better, feel better, save time, reduce anxiety, gain status
• Specific enough that the customer cannot misidentify what you sell
• Simple enough that it sounds like it was written on a napkin — that simplicity is the hard part and the payoff