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10 Business Links, Tuesday, October 18, 2011 What Makes a Good Tagline? By Cor Baarda ynthia Simmons has been with Halton Hills Chamber of Commerce since 2005. While with the Chamber she has volunteered on what used to be the Halton Hills Women in Business Committee and was one of the people instrumental in changing it to the Business Networking Luncheon. She spent one of those years at the Committee Chairperson. She is also a member of the Women 2 Women organization in Acton. She maintains the website for the group. Her recent endeavours include the upcoming "Walk This Way ­ Walk C Cynthia Simmons Breast Health Thermography Clinic 905-873-5773 for Prevention" on Sunday October 23, 2011, where she is a Silver Sponsor. The goal of the walk is to promote the synergistic relationships between holistic and medical treatments and prevention. Cynthia believes that by volunteering, she can give back to her community. he answer is two-part. What works for your business will depend on your goal and largely on your marketing budget. Consider for a moment that your budget is large. You then have the luxury of being able to spend considerable time and money promoting the tagline. That being the case, the tagline can be a bit more obscure and it is likely that your goal is to develop a "brand" for your business versus immediate sales or lead generation. Take the familiar example of Nike's "Just Do It". If you hadn't seen it repeatedly associated with the company name, the tagline on its own would have no specific relevance to any product. Nike's considerable marketing effort has made it possible for most of us to be able to associate the tagline with the company. How many times T have you even used the tagline in every day conversation? The effectiveness of Nike's tag line is evident; it has become a part of our language. It would not have been possible without a very large budget. Unless you have that kind of budget available to you, you would be better served by a tagline that more directly speaks to your product or service. Using the example of an athletic apparel company but with a different objective ­ that being sales generation and with a smaller budget ­ a tagline for that company would more likely be "the best sports outfitter." The distinction between the two examples of a tagline is clear. With a more explicit tagline, a company can get a message to the consumer quickly and for less money. Chances are "the best sports outfitter" won't become idiomatic expression, however it does give the customer a clue as to what the company offers. The point is to be clear on what your tagline is intended to do. Know the difference. If branding is your objective, know that the results will not be immediate and that your company must commit to the ong-term promotion of the tagline. If your need is more immediate, utilize simple, concise language to convey the benefit of your product or service. You do not have to tell the whole story of your company in a tagline; it is best to leave the consumer with a single memorable thought about your product or service. And now..."just do it." Alpha Creative Company Suzanne Frick 905-873-0883 "Trust your image to a professional"