The Differences between Tagline and Slogan, and What Your Brand Stand for

Companies often use taglines and slogans to communicate with consumers about their brand and create a memorable impression. Understanding how to distinguish between the two can help you effectively promote your business to the world. In this article, we explain what a tagline and slogan are, why they are important and the differences between the two.

What is a tagline?

A tagline is a brief phrase used to relay a brand’s value. Companies use taglines in marketing campaigns to create a lasting impression on consumers. Taglines tell consumers about the overall company without mentioning the product or service they offer.

Here are some types of taglines:

• Descriptive: These convey the brand’s promise, product or service.
• Specific: These reveal the company’s products in a creative and memorable way.
• Provocative: These pose questions to urge consumers to consider if they can improve their lives.
• Imperative: These demand a related action and typically include a verb in the phrase.
• Superlative: These position a company as the best in its industry or division.

Why is a tagline important?

Taglines are important because they gain consumers’ attention. When consumers hear your tagline, they get a clear idea of your product’s benefits. Taglines help differentiate a brand from others by stating an advantage or benefit they have over others with similar products. They are also used to reinforce a brand’s core values and give your company an identity. Consumers learn what you stand for and can better decide if your company is one they can relate to and support when reading your tagline.

Examples of taglines

Here are some examples of taglines:

• For a mattress company: Sleep better.
• For an eBook company: Read on the go
• For a baking food box subscription: Bake memories
• For an online food blog: Recipes that merit sharing
• For a puzzle book company: Be puzzled
• For a sneaker company: Run faster
• For a florist: Tell her with roses
• For a lawn service company: The speedy weedy cutter
• For a bar: Where you want to go for after hours fun
• For a seafood restaurant: Be more Pacific
• For a goo removal company: Stick be gone

What is a slogan?

A slogan is an attention-grabbing statement used to advertise or promote a brand’s products and services. These phrases share the company’s reason for existing and overall mission to the public. Companies use slogans to tell their consumers what they want them to associate their brand with.

Slogans often use a combination of persuasion and description to appeal to consumers. While slogans focus on what a company offers, there are different approaches they can take to make their message clear. The different types of slogans include:

• Product specific: Tell consumers what type of product they sell.
• Use-case specific: Instruct the public on how they can enjoy the company’s product.
• Category specific: Single out their company product category as the best one offered.
• Consumer specific: Focus on what type of consumer would use their product.

Why is a slogan important?

Great slogans are memorable and convey positive feelings about a particular brand. Slogans improve campaigns for specific products, aiming to ensure high sales for the company. A slogan can help build a relationship between a brand and the public, by telling the public what the company stands for and what they offer. Slogans use emotion to capture what a product or service can make consumers feel. For instance, a pillow company can create a slogan around the idea that their pillows make you feel you are sleeping on clouds.

Example of slogans

Here are some examples of slogans:

• Chocolate that’s good for you
• The dinner of men
• Try not to eat the whole bag.
• The sparkliest litter out there
• Your town’s news in the palm of your hand
• We deliver.
• It’s a good day to be fit.
• Let your skin shine bright like a diamond.
• Sip. Smile. Soda pop.
• Dogs deserve class.
• Our glasses look good on you.
• Happy mommy, happy baby
• Kitchenware for a smarter planet
• Perhaps she woke up like that. Perhaps she’s Stylista.
• Southern hospitality is what’s up.
• Be happier with Map ER.
• The thinnest wallet out there
• Veggies don’t have to be green.

Differences between taglines and slogans

While both taglines and slogans are types of marketing tools companies can use to leave a lasting impression on customers, they serve different purposes. Here are some differences between taglines and slogans:

Purpose

Slogans impart the company’s mission, while taglines call to mind an image of the brand. A slogan is more advertising focused, and a tagline is more public relations focused, meaning slogans are used to sell an item and taglines raise awareness about the overall brand. Unlike slogans, taglines don’t tell customers what your company does. Instead, taglines narrow in on a certain aspect of a company. For instance, a grocery store may create a tagline around a certain produce item, rather than the fact that they sell all sorts of foods.

Word count

Both phrases are quick and easy to read, but slogans are often longer than taglines. Taglines are typically seven words or fewer, while a slogan is nine to ten words. Because slogans include the business’s entire mission, they contain a higher word count.

Duration implemented

Slogans tend to be used for only one product or campaign and don’t last as long as taglines. Taglines are timeless and rarely change since they represent the overall brand. Companies change their slogans when they want to focus on a new theme or idea.

Development stages

Companies create their tagline in the early stages of brand strategy planning or when a company is rebranding. Slogans, however, evolve when companies are running a marketing campaign. As companies decide to focus on different aspects of their product, they change their slogan to focus on a component. Meanwhile, a tagline remains the same.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was published in Indeed.com on 13th May 2021.

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Published on: 4th December 2021.