Of course the type of business you run will often dictate the accepted and profitable practices that are used in your industry. Your brand may be strong enough that having a slogan may be overkill.
But in most new business situations, I think it's preferable to add a useful slogan as opposed to relying upon your business name alone.
I said "useful" and that is important. Just adding any slogan because it sounds cool or looks good in the logo probably won't help your marketing cause much. But if you develop a slogan that tells a story and brands your business in a useful way, it can become a great advantage to you over time.
It will take time before any slogan is recognized, repeated, and associated with a particular company. With all the advertising messages we "tune out" everyday, it's most likely going to be some time before folks recognize your brand. Persistence over time and consistency in your message are critical to your success in advertising.
A slogan, byline, tagline, or theme is generally a short phrase that in some way describes your brand or business. A "useful" slogan is one that makes sense, one that tells a story in a nutshell about your business. It can be something that uniquely differentiates your business from all others.
Think about some of these slogans and see if they bring to mind a particular company name . . .
"Let your fingers do the walking"
"Snap, crackle, and pop"
"We try harder"
"You're in good hands"
"It's everywhere you want to be"
"We bring good things to life"
Here are the answers - Yellow Pages, Kellogg's Rice Krispies, Avis, Allstate, VISA, GE.
What do these successful slogans have in common? In my mind, they're all short, to the point, unique, memorable when associated with their brand name, and they all help to "label" or describe their respective business in some important way.
As you think about a slogan for your business, test your ideas against these points we just mentioned. Most importantly, try to find one important benefit of your company or product, something you want to be recognized for, and apply that theme consistently across every aspect of your marketing.
Often, a company will call this most important benefit it's USP, unique selling proposition. The USP is that one defining trait or element of the business that you want to capitalize on and tell the world about. It could be anything from the fastest shipping in the industry, to the widest product assortment around, to the highest rated product in consumer testing.
It's important that you plan your slogan for the long term. It will become most beneficial over time. Avoid fads and trendy words as they go in and out of favor through the years. Technologies advance as well, so you may want to stay away from specific processes or products in the slogan.
Once you have found the perfect phrase for your business, put it on everything that goes out of your office: your web site, in your ads, on your logo, on your letterhead, billing statements, invoices, business cards, envelopes, everything!
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