How to Create a Tagline: Successful Brand Tagline Formula

Struggling to find out how to create a tagline? We get that. Crafting a few limited words to represent your entire business is not exactly an easy task. There is a way to make it easier, though, so you don't have to resort to random taglines using an online generator. Let's find out how to create a tagline for your brand.

What is a tagline?

A tagline is a short, memorable description of your brand or business. With a tagline, your target audiences will have a general idea of what you offer and it also helps your brand stay on top of mind.

Tagline vs. slogan

Even the best marketers can get confused between a tagline and a slogan. Those with less experience might even think they're interchangeable, but that is incorrect.

A tagline represents your business purpose, values, and/or missions and will be used forever unless you decide to completely, drastically rebrand in the future. Meanwhile, slogans only represent a small part of your brand (usually a campaign or sub-brand), so it's temporary.

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Think of your brand as a parent, tagline as a daughter, and slogans as the cousins that come to visit for a little while.

How to create a tagline: Breaking down your business

It is easy to feel like you've hit a wall trying to create a tagline for your business, especially after the exhausting brainstorming session to create a brand name. However, you can make it easier by following this formula.

First, you need to break down your brand into these five elements:

1. Unique selling point (USP). What does your brand have that your competitors don't?
2. Your offers. Or the products and/or services that you provide.
3. Your users. Who will use your product/service, for example, women entrepreneurs, older moms, health-conscious people?
4. Their pain points. What problem do they have that they can solve using your product/service?
5. Their desired state. After the pain point is solved, how will they be or feel?

Now that you have laid out these five elements, it is time to start to create a tagline by mixing them up.

Examples of brand taglines

Let's have some fun mixing up the elements! You're welcome to mix up all the five elements, if your want. But if you want to keep your tagline short and sweet, try using two to three elements.

Example 1: Your users(3) + Your offers(2)

Helping women-led brands(3) fast forward their business(4)

Example 2: Your USP(1) + Your offer(2) + Desired state(5)

Hormone-free(1) pills(2), worry-free(5) life

Example 3: Your USP(1) + Your offers(2)

The most skin-like(1) wireless bra(2) you’ll ever wear

Example 4: Your users(3) + Their pain points(4)

You’ll never forget(4) taking your PCOS(3) treatments again

Example 5: Combining all five elements

You can even combine all 5 elements for a bit longer, detailed tagline, like this example: An all-around(1) mobile app(2) that helps new moms(3) bond closer with their babies(5) without feeling blue(4)

Don't forget to test your brand tagline(s)

When you break it down like this, creating a successful tagline doesn’t seem so hard, right? You might even end up with two to three tagline options. A tagline only lands when it sits on clear positioning underneath, which is exactly what our branding work builds. If so, try conducting internal and external surveys to find out which one people find reflects your brand the most.

If you don't really have the luxury of time to brainstorm and come up with a brand tagline, though, there are tagline or slogan generators you can find online, like what Shopify has. But we think it's way more fun to create it yourself. You get to have a tagline that's truly deep-rooted in your brand identity.