If you’re creating a slogan for your business, you’re in for a rough ride.
There are a lot of things to consider when making one, and you shouldn’t underestimate it. It’s an important aspect of a company’s marketing strategy, and it can make or break your company.
How hard is it to come up with an idea anyway?
Having ideas is the easy part – the hard part is making sure it resonates with your company and your audience. An even harder part of the process is making sure it sticks in a good way.
These are the factors you need to keep in mind when considering how to make a catchy slogan but there are more. If you want to learn more on how to make a slogan, read on and we’ll guide you through the process.
Know How to Make a Catchy Slogan
A catchy slogan doesn’t pop up in someone’s mind the moment you find the need to have one. Creating it is a process. This can take you and your team weeks and even months to master.
Remember that the best slogans have a great impact on their audience. They also enhance public opinion regarding your brand, of which you can learn more here. It’s best if you don’t make light of the process.
Don’t worry, we’ll outline how to make a good slogan and the various factors that make a slogan bad or good.
1. Highlight Your USP
Before you start making a slogan, take a good look at business and answer the following questions:
Who are you and what does your company do? In what way does your company make it unique?
You’ll have to do a lot of thinking to answer these questions but the goal is to find your unique selling point. In the end, you should be able to know and understand what your USP is and how you can apply it.
You may be a delivery company that only uses electric cars. This could be in line with your goal of saving the environment.
What you want to do is to highlight not the fact that you’re a delivery company but your mission and your USP. In this case, your mission would be to save the environment and your USP is that you only use electric cars.
Consider M&Ms. You most likely know what their slogan is, which is “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.”
They’re a chocolate company selling some delicious chocolate products. However, that’s not their USP even though the taste of their product is top-notch. What makes them unique is that the chocolate doesn’t melt in your hands as their slogan claims.
Another good example of this is Secret Deodorant. They use the slogan “Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman.”
As it suggests, the deodorant is different than others because they’re stronger than the usual deodorant for women.
2. Research Your Target Market
Next on your list is research.
Know who your target audience is and who are the ones more likely to engage in your product.
You can obtain data from a lot of sources, such as your website and social media accounts. In Facebook, you can see the locations, ages, and other general information of the people who engage with your profile.
As for your website, Google Analytics is a useful tool for gathering data about your visitors.
Knowing your target market will be able to help you create a slogan that will speak to them. You want to spark the right feelings when these people hear or read your slogan. They should be able to relate to it.
The Secret Deodorant example is a good example of this point as well. They know who their target audience is: women who need a stronger deodorant. That’s why their slogan speaks in a direct manner to their target audience.
In the case of M&Ms, their slogan shows that they’ve researched their market well too. No one likes chocolates melting on their hands and they made sure the target audience knows that their product doesn’t.
3. Have a Brainstorming Session
When you have all the data you need, it’s time to create the actual slogan. What better way to do that than to call your team members and have a brainstorming session?
Get creative and don’t hesitate to throw in all your ideas on the table. While doing so, don’t forget your USP, your core values, and what you’ve learned about your target audience.
There are a lot of advantages to having a team come up with a slogan together. You get different brains working and each one can provide real-time feedback.
Each member can bounce back an improved version of another member’s idea, for example. Each one can also give an opinion on why an idea might not work and why it might. These should allow you to form better ideas as time goes on.
Don’t worry if you’re not able to create a slogan even after hours of discussion. The perfect slogan may come at an unexpected time, such as when you’re in the shower. Write down your ideas on a paper and then bring it to the next brainstorming session.
4. Keep It Short and Memorable
Slogans only work if people are able to connect it to your brand. That’s why it should be easy to understand and be pretty memorable.
Don’t use complicated and five-dollar words; these won’t work on your audience. Use simple words that a 7th or 8th grader can understand instead.
Why? Because the average American reads at a 7th or 8th-grade level. You’ll notice that some of the most iconic slogans are at an even lower level.
Nike’s “Just do it” is a great example of a slogan that even young kids can understand. McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it” and Burger King’s “Have it your way” also use simple words since these make them effective.
Another characteristic of a great slogan is that it rolls off the tongue. The most memorable slogan, KFC’s “Finger-lickin’ good,” rolls off the tongue with ease. The examples above are also pretty easy to say, making them memorable.
5. Be Honest
We get that you want to hype up your product but you still have to be realistic when creating a slogan. If you promise something, make sure you can see it through.
That’s why it’s preferable if you stay away from phrases like “The best” or “#1 at…” Not only is it typical for a slogan, but it’s also boring. It’s also hard to back up this kind of claim.
People will see it as too good to be true even if you are the best at it. It’s hard to substantiate and at least one person in the whole world thinks otherwise. The “best” is subjective and so it’s a good idea to stay away from using these words altogether.
It can also come across as pushy, whereas a good slogan can encourage the audience to try without being forceful.
The same is true for something like “you’ll never find a lower price.” If you don’t intend to price match or you’re not 100% sure that no one in the whole world is selling for a lower price, don’t say so.
6. Make Sure It’s Timeless
Most of the examples above are timeless, meaning they can still be good slogans decades after. Verizon’s “Can you hear me now?” isn’t a good example, though.
The catchphrase became famous when it came out, but is it still relevant today? The answer’s no.
Modern technology now makes communication and clear as can be. Verizon doesn’t have the monopoly on this technology, either.
With that said, you might have to stay away from words like “the only” or something along those lines. Even if you are the only business at the time, another one similar to you will come sooner or later.
To expand on the delivery company we gave an example above, don’t say “the only eco-conscious transport company around.” The idea of a company setting up an entire fleet of electric cars is 100% possible. When that happens, do you have the means to rebrand and think of a new slogan?
We also recommend avoiding references to technology as much as possible. Electric cars may be somewhat of a rare thing now, but 10 years into the future, this might change. They might be the ones dominating the roads by then, and so your company won’t be something special.
You might have to change a few things in the future, so make sure that your slogan can keep up with the changes. You can still be an eco-conscious company without attacking technology in your slogan.
7. Ask Your Audience
Don’t leave your audience out of this! After all, they’re the ones who can tell if a slogan works or not, and they’re the ones who should like it. An idea may sound good to you, but the market may have something different to say.
Get your best ideas and have a poll on social media, for example, to see which one the audience likes best. You may also ask the audience what they think about a particular slogan.
You’ll get loads of “it’s good” or “it’s bad” and their variations. These are not what you want, though – what you should consider are the ones that have a more in-depth feedback.
Get them to explain why they like it or why they don’t. Ask them what they think is missing, and you may also be able to ask them to suggest a slogan for you.
Take note of the comments and bring them with you back to the drawing board. Be ready to repeat the process again.
Keep Learning
Now you know how to make a catchy slogan, the next part is the actual creation. If you need more help, like learning how to create a food packaging design, visit our blog today.
