The advertising message always seeks impact and permanence, this is how the concept of a slogan emerged, a short, simple and ingenious phrase that came to reinforce some essential aspect of the brand.
For many, the slogan is like a battle cry with which a brand is presented in a given market and, depending on its strength, is how it will prevail among its competitors; For others it is like a surname, since the brand represents the name that tells us who it is and with the «surname» we have information to know what it does.
What is a slogan?
A slogan is a short, easy-to-remember phrase commonly used in advertising, business strategy, and political propaganda. From a commercial point of view, a slogan is a phrase that highlights what a company or business does, emphasizes a value or characteristic, or clarifies the mission of your brand.
Surely you have heard or read various company slogans that have been forceful because they accurately reflect the value of the brand: they are so creative or eye-catching that it sticks in your mind. When this is achieved, that business will have a powerful differentiator that will boost the positive perception of the brand or product.
The truth is that the slogan is usually a fundamental component to define an advertising or communication message. It is the phrase that will always be linked to a brand permanently or, at least, for a long time. This phrase seeks to remain and be recognized, but at some point it can be modified and even eliminated if a new slogan is created that accompanies the brand or product in a new cycle. But ultimately, what is a slogan for? Let's see:
What is a slogan for?
A slogan serves to reinforce the presence of a brand or a product. Taking advantage of its ability to remember and the facility to remain in the memory of the audience, it manages to give greater visibility, but above all to emphasize the idea that the brand in question is the most appropriate.
However, those phrases do not come out of nowhere. In fact, in most cases it is a question of an awareness of the brand, the market and the audience to make a phrase that connects and motivates the people within that audience. That is, it requires a previous work to be done to build one; That's why here we are going to give you all the steps you need to make a memorable slogan for your brand or product.
To create a slogan, we must first know its nature: what are the characteristics that compose it? You are probably thinking that creating a slogan is relatively easy; However, do not forget that a slogan is one of the most visible elements in all the efforts and campaigns you carry out to position your brand, so it is worth giving it some time to think it over and do several tests until you reach that phrase that excite you.
To do this, keep in mind the following basic characteristics of a slogan (which are 10 features that you will notice in the most successful slogans). They will surely be useful for your slogan.
The 10 basic characteristics of a slogan
Brief
Striking
Sure
Positive
Persuasive
Contextual
Emotional
Inspiring
Original
Creative
Now let's look at each of these features in detail:
1. Brief
First of all, look for your slogan to be short, direct and simple. Between 2 and 5 words will be enough to build a good text.
2. Eye-catching
Remember that you want to attract the attention of the audience; To do this, look for your phrase to shine, to be shocking, fun and ingenious.
3. Sure
It is necessary that you attend to clarity in all aspects so that it is understandable and easy to remember. Your slogan must be grammatically coherent and also in rhythm and aesthetics.
4. Positive
Your phrase must affirm, be proactive and push with your voice.
5. Persuasive
If your slogan does not seduce you have problems, because it will be a cold and meaningless phrase. You have to make him able to persuade, convince and give confidence.
6. Contextual
Your slogan should be so universal as to conquer the world and so local that your audience feels identified. Therefore, take care that your phrase has a context according to where your brand or product moves.
7. Emotional
Create a phrase that touches the senses, that awakens emotions and causes a sensation in the person who reads or listens to it; a phrase that connects with your brand.
8. Inspiring
If you look at the strongest slogans they have a resonance that leads you to seek something higher in your life. We only see this when a brand is able to motivate.
9. Original
Allotting time, work and deep introspection when writing your phrase will help you look for references (the slogans of similar industries and your competitors). This way you will be able to identify when you are going on an original path. If you repeat, copy or do something similar to the slogan of others you condemn your phrase to die. Be innovative, disruptive and make your phrase a differentiator. Avoid platitudes or clichés.
10. Creative
Have fun while building your slogan, play with words, with concepts, get out of the norm. Seeks to highlight your offer of value, some benefit or something essential of your brand, but not literally, but through a concept; For example, if you sell water that your slogan is not "the water that refreshes your day", better something like "your day is animated".
Now that you know what a slogan is, what it is for and what its characteristics are, it's time to get down to work. Here are the steps to make a slogan.
How to make a slogan?
Review the branding elements.
Think about what you want to boost.
Give your brand action.
Identify your essence.
Build your sentence.
Run tests.
Communicate your slogan.
1. Check the branding elements
Before you start throwing phrases you need to verify the branding components you have; That is, the name of your brand, why it is called like that, what is its voice, how it is expressed, etc. Also check your buyer persona so that you know the profile to which your phrase should make sense the most.
It is recommended that you always have a notebook and pen at hand so that if an idea comes to you, do not leave it in memory, but on paper. However, this step is not yet about forming sentences, here you must be very clear about who your brand is in a very simple and straightforward concept.
2. Think about what you want to boost
You need to verify equally (and in a very simple way) what your brand does ; Therefore, think about what you want to promote through your slogan: something specific, some quality or benefit.
You can make a list to discard some characteristics and take others as the basis of the most emblematic qualities or traits of what your brand does.
3. Give your brand action
On the other hand, you must also define the action that your brand reflects. In this step you will know how your brand does it : how it cures people's pain, how it provides a solution, how it is part of people's lives.
4. Identify your essence
In accordance with what Simon Sinek mentions about the golden circle , once you have reviewed the elements that give your brand identity, that you are clear about Who, What and How, it is time for you to find your essence, that why of your brand , something deeper .
This DNA is the one that you should link your slogan to. Remember that you are not selling a product or service in itself, but an idea; For example, a shoe store does not sell shoes, it sells comfort, style, or durability.
If you don't do this preliminary work, you run the risk of generating an insubstantial, almost dead phrase, that only sounds good, but does not connect with people and that weakens your brand, instead of strengthening it.
5. Build your sentence
Now is the time to start writing. You can brainstorm alone or with a team of contributors. Make several lists of words that can serve you: one in which the proposals have to do directly with the name of your brand or with your turn, a second with words that imply action or connection and a third with proposals that apparently do not have to see with your brand. Do not limit yourself in the number of lists or words, at this stage you are not yet looking for a sense or a logic.
Then start linking words to each other, give them meaning. Try at all times to link these phrases with the DNA or essence of your brand: think of an important action, consider the characteristics described above of what a good slogan looks like.
Then filter your phrases, refine, cross out and eliminate everything that does not work. Go discarding when you observe that a phrase does not make sense, when you detect cacophony, when you see that it goes against what you want to say; If you like some phrase, but feel that you should work on it more, you can place it in a section that you will work on later.
Finally, leave the best phrases and write them in several ways: change the order of the words and use synonyms until you are left with about 3 or 5 phrases that excite you and that you consider if they go with your brand.
6. Run tests
Test the finalist slogans: read them out loud, feel their rhythm, have someone else listen to them and read them. You can create groups to survey them and get opinions on them. A very useful tip for this step is to add your slogan in a communication piece so that you can see what it looks like, it can be in an advertisement, in a publication or in a radio spot; so you can see how it moves and inspires.
It is important that you choose the best one, the one you like the most, the most functional and the one with the most support; if you are not convinced it is better to go back and rework your text. Do not be pressured because the slogan is like a tattoo, once you put it on your brand it will be difficult to remove it.
7. Communicate your slogan
When you finally have your slogan, implement it in your communication; Spread it, show it off, use it. Many brands have had good slogans that passed without leaving an impact because they were not spread.
The 6 best online slogan creators
We know you may be short on inspiration, which is why we present you with a selection of online slogan creators that you can use to help you through the process.
1. Shopify
Price : free.
It is a fairly intuitive and very simple generator. You have to type a keyword related to your brand or related to the main activity of your business so that it will throw you several ideas (which can be more than a thousand suggestions).
Very good. Thanks.