What makes a good tagline?

Creating the perfect tagline is something that many brands struggle with. How can you fit what you are into a few words? How can you convey your essence in a three-word message, in such a way that gets people to act?

What Your Tagline Needs to Consist of

There are many articles on the web giving examples of the best business taglines. The most common examples that come up include Apple (Think Different), Samsung (Imagine), and the like.

However, what many of them fail to address is the simple fact that you aren’t Apple, Samsung, Google – or any of the largest companies in the world.

Think about it. As a small B2B company trying to position yourself as a niche leader, can you really get away with a one-word tagline like Think or Imagine?

Remember that your tagline can change over time. As your brand visibility increases, there may be a place for abstract taglines that invoke dreamy emotions or clever, witty slogans.

For most businesses, though, what your tagline needs to consist of is pretty simple. You can be smart and clever, but above all, your USP needs to shine through. What do you do? How do you help?

You should try to add personality (The Few. The Proud. The Marines) and be memorable (The Happiest Place on Earth). You should also try to position yourself as the market leader. However, your main focus should be on conveying your USP so people know what you do and how you can help them.

Crafting Your Perfect Tagline

Coming up with the perfect tagline doesn’t have to be more complicated than it is. It’s pretty simple, actually.

Imagine you had only one sale to make, and you were asked to describe your business in one, short paragraph. Your job is to use that paragraph to tell the buyer what you do, how you can help them, and why they should buy your product.

Then, imagine that you had to condense all of the information in that paragraph into a 160-character text message or tweet. Once you have done that, shorten it even further into one sentence.

Your tagline is the essence of what you do, boiled down into one single sentence.

Let’s have a look at seven B2B tech companies that have created taglines that perfectly describe their USPs.

1. LeadPages – Turn Clicks Into Customers

LeadPages is a drag-and-drop landing page builder. Clients can build landing pages, websites, and funnels.

Why it’s a great tagline: The tagline addresses a problem many businesses have — they spend money on a lot of clicks but they aren’t able to convert those clicks into sales. Turn Clicks Into Customers is catchy, memorable, and makes getting conversions sound easy with LeadPages.

2. WP Engine – WordPress Hosting, Perfected.

WP Engine offers managed WP hosting plans. Since it’s a managed hosting platform, businesses will be able to focus on their strategy without worrying about website updates, optimizations, or security.

Why it’s a great tagline: It’s simple yet catchy and speaks directly to what business owners want: High-quality hosting that won’t let them down, without glitches or security issues. The use of the word perfected positions them as the leader of WordPress hosting.

3. Oracle – Enabling the Information Age Through Network Computing

Oracle sells integrated cloud applications, database technology, and enterprise software.

Why it’s a great tagline: Oracle has used a number of taglines over time, and all of them are great examples. The tagline we mentioned not only sums up what they do (network computing) but positions them as innovators and leaders who are enabling a new age and paving a new path that nobody has tread on before.

Other taglines they have used include:

• Oracle: The Information Company
• Hardware and Software, Engineered to Work Together
• Software. Hardware. Complete.
• Enabling the Information Age
• Integrated Cloud Applications and Platform Services

All of these taglines sum up what they do, and taglines like The Information Company also position them as industry leaders. Taglines like Enabling the Information Age and The Information Company are also memorable.

4. Paypal – The Safer, Easier Way to Pay Online.

Paypal offers businesses and consumers online money transfer and payment services.

Why it’s a great tagline: Paypal speaks directly to what’s on every online consumer’s mind: Their data security. They position themselves as the easiest way to send money online safely. Another tagline they have used is The Way to Send and Receive Money Online, which both sums up what they do and positions themselves as the market leader with the words “The Way.”

5. Canva – Online Design Made Easy

Canva is a free online design platform for creating infographics, social media posts, and blog post images.

Why it’s a great tagline: Many bloggers and businesses think that online design is difficult and expensive. However, every blogger needs it. Canva speaks directly to those struggling with online design.

6. Hubspot – There’s a Better Way to Grow

Hubspot offers various inbound marketing and sales tools for businesses, including marketing automation, CRM, and customer support tools.

Why it’s a great tagline: It sums up what Hubspot is about – helping businesses grow in the best way possible. It speaks to business owners who have tried other solutions and been frustrated by the lack of results,

7. ClickFunnels – Marketing Funnels Made Easy

ClickFunnels allows businesses to create hosted sales and opt-in funnels.

Why it’s a great tagline: Creating effective marketing funnels is another task many businesses struggle with, but ClickFunnels makes it easy. It’s more catchy and memorable than their longer version, Enabling People To Grow Their Companies Through Sales Funnels, but even that gets straight to the point and summarizes their USP in a single sentence.

You can look at some of our own taglines for inspiration as well: Brand Strategy for Fast Growth Companies and Brand Strategy and Venture Marketing for Fast Growth. These taglines sum up what we do and how we help; without an effective brand story, you won’t have any market value.