The following answers are provided by members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.
1. If It Helps Explain Your Unique Value Proposition
“A company needs to bring something unique to the world. That means it contributes value that other organizations don’t. This is the company‘s unique value proposition. You should be able to describe this value clearly and succinctly to potential customers. You don’t need this proposition to be a tagline, but if it makes a great tagline, go for it. I would avoid creating taglines without meaning.”
Alan Carniol, Interview Success Formula
2. If Your Brand Doesn’t Say It All
“If your brand says it all, a tagline isn’t necessary. “Bob’s Best Burgers” doesn’t need the tagline “The best burgers in town!” We know, Bob, you’ve already told us. Taglines communicate ideas and themes relevant to your business, which your brand may be failing to do. If you find your brand does the job, don’t over-communicate your message on principle. Taglines aren’t a necessity.”
Blair Thomas, First American Merchant
3. If the Company Name Is Ambiguous
“If your company name is self-explanatory, a tagline isn’t necessary. A tagline is beneficial for a company whose name isn’t descriptive or is ambiguous. The trick is to make sure that it evolves with your company. Businesses often change their value props or their goals over the years, so your tagline needs to adapt to match who you are today — not who you were 10 years ago.”
Vladimir Gendelman, Company Folders, Inc
4. If Your Tagline Is Great
“Some companies do fine without a tagline, and if your tagline is horrible, it could actually hurt your business. Lazy taglines don’t do much for your business either. Restaurants who use the tagline “a great place to eat” aren’t demonstrating what their unique purpose is. If you can create a great tagline that speaks to why you’re the best at what you do, it can do wonders for your business.”
Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now
5. If It Reflects the Mission
“Deciding if an organization needs a tagline is based on several factors. Ideally, there are very few instances where a tagline shouldn’t be present because it rarely does damage to a brand, and if effectively deployed, it helps the company be more memorable. Whenever possible make a tagline short, powerful, and reflective of the organization’s value to the client.”
Michael Spinosa, Unleashed Technologies
6. If It Can Evolve
“At Round Table Companies, “Vulnerability is Sexy” has emerged as our tagline. It wasn’t created from a strategy; we simply took an internal conversation and directed it outward. As a result, we now sell branded T-shirts, are launching a card game under the same name, and I recently delivered a TEDx talk with that title. A great tagline tells the world what you stand for.”
Corey Blake, Round Table Companies
7. If You Want to Build Word of Mouth
“Developing a strong tagline forces you to synthesize your story into an easy soundbite. This is critical if you want to build word-of-mouth referrals. When you deliver a great experience, your fans will talk about your brand. Creating a compelling tagline gives them the language to use and allows you to control how they introduce new folks to your company.”
Aaron Schwartz, ModifyWatches.com
8. If You Want to Be Remembered
“I tried to think of a tagline for taglines and came up with: “What’s not to love about taglines?” After all, every time an announcer runs through the list of sponsors, the ones that stick in my mind are the ones with taglines. “Love. It’s what makes a Subaru.” I find that infinitely more memorable than just the name “Subaru.””
Brandon Stapper, 858 Graphics
9. If You Don’t Have Memorable, Repeatable and Informative Messages Otherwise
“Having a single defining tagline is not as important as you might think. It’s more important to have a few memorable, repeatable, and informative messages that you’re able to communicate whenever relevant and suitable. Relying on a single tagline limits you in the type of message you can communicate. No matter the message we always try to build one overarching brand story.”
Aron Susman, TheSquareFoot
10. If You Want an Easy Way for the Company to Unite
“A tagline is a great tool to use to ensure that you and your employees fully understand and communicate what you do in one sentence or less. If you have an effective tagline, less impact rests on the importance of communicating a full elevator pitch. When your mission is boiled down to a handful of words, business owners and employees can fully unite on the company‘s bottom line.”
Josh York, GYMGUYZ
11. If You’re a Small Company
“Taglines are important for smaller companies who are not as widely recognized as their larger competitors. When a user is searching for a product or service, they often quickly browse through search results, briefly stopping on your site. You only have a few seconds to capture this user’s business. Your tagline needs to sum up what your company is all about in a very small fraction of time.”
Patrick Barnhill, Specialist ID, Inc.
12. If Your Pitch Isn’t Simple Enough
“We created the tagline “Make Driving Safe” for our new product Fensens. This tagline clearly demonstrates that we are automotive safety-related and that we have the vision to make our roads safe. If you can sum up your product/service and make it clear what your vision is in only a few words, you are miles ahead of the competition.”
Andy Karuza, FenSens
