What’s your elevator pitch? Do you have one? Should you?
If you don’t have an elevator pitch or a tag line or headline for your business, you should consider creating one. Tag lines are a great way to anchor your business with your customers and prospects. Tag lines or company slogans have been around forever and there are some that you will never forget. Then there are others that are very forgettable.
One of the best tag lines out there today is the Geico Insurance tag line–”15 minutes could save you 15% or more on your car insurance”.
Take the tag line quiz. The answers are at the end of the article. Below is a listing of several company tag lines. Your challenge is to identify the company associated with the tag line.
1. You’re in good hands with______________.
2. The king of beers. ________________
3. Just do it. ___________________
4. Leave the driving to us. _______________
5. When it absolutely, positively has to get there overnight. ___________________
6. The ultimate driving machine. ______________
7. Fly the friendly skies. ____________________
8. My wife. I think I’ll keep her. __________________
9. Like a rock. _______________
10. You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers. _____________
So, what do you think? Do you need a tag line? Maybe you do. Maybe you don’t.
It could be that the Internet has raised the need for tag lines. Why? Think about how you do searches for information on the Internet. Have you ever clicked a link because a tag line caught your eye? You probably have whether you know it or not. Even though tag lines and slogans have been around for as long as there has been advertising–if not longer–you should consider a tag line as today’s Internet version of the elevator pitch.
An elevator pitch or stadium pitch or sales pitch is a short statement that should be designed to entice a potential customer to learn more about your business. You want to be prepared if someone asks you, “What does your business do?” you should be able to capture the attention of the person asking the question thus giving you a further opportunity to “sell” your goods and services. An elevator pitch should be designed to be delivered in 30 seconds or less–the time it take to go up a couple of floors in an elevator.
A tag line designed for the Internet should capture an Internet surfer’s attention in something less than a second. You just don’t get much time to make an impression on the Internet.
If you don’t have tag line and are considering one, your marketing plan and and creative strategy should play a key role in helping you craft your attention-grabbing slogan. In other words as with all things marketing, consistency and frequency are key. As I have written before, consistency and frequency create familiarity. Familiarity creates trust. Trust equals sales. So, if you do have a tag line, it should be memorable, repeatable and comfortable. Your tag line should become synonymous with your company.
Let’s see how good of a job these companies did with their tag line. Who do these tag lines belong to?
a. We move the world.
b. Yellow. The new brown.
c. Competition. Bad for them. Great for you.
d. The world on time.
e. Relax, it’s _________.
f. Have a _______and a smile.
g. The Pause that refreshes.
h. The taste of a new generation.
i. ________refreshes you best.
j. For those who think young.
Some of these are memorable. Some are not. Tag lines should be short statements that reflect a benefit that your company or product delivers. Your customers and prospects only care about how your product or service benefits them so your tag line should scream BENEFIT. Of the tag lines above, which ones actually identify the benefits of the product it represents?
Okay, here are the answers to the quiz and, where the benefit was part of the tag line, I’ll list that, too.
1. Allstate. Benefit: I’m in good hands–I’m protected.
2. Budweiser. Benefit? Nope.
3. Nike. Benefit? Nope.
4. Greyhound. Benefit? I don’t have to drive. If I don’t like to drive or fly, I have an alternative.
5. FedEx. Benefit. If I really need something delivered by tomorrow, I know who to go to.
6. BMW. Benefit? Nope.
7. United. Benefit? Nope.
8. Geritol. Benefit? Nope.
9. Chevy. Benefit? Possibly. The implication is that Chevy’s are tough as rocks which means they’ll last.
10. Radio Shack. Benefit? I think so. It seems that whenever I go to Radio Shack, I ask questions and the almost always give me good answers.
A, b, & c above are all from DHL. Of those, only c implies any possibility of a benefit–I might get a better price because of competition.
D and e are two more FedEx tags. Neither really do much in the way of benefits but Relax, it’s FedEx could get me there and supports the Absolutely, positively has to get there overnight tag line.
F, g, h, and I are Coke and Pepsi tags.
“Coke, the pause that refreshes” and, Coke refreshes you best,” come close to talking about benefits but I think that “refreshing” is more of a product feature. Pepsi wants you to think that you’ll be young and hip if you drink it. That’s not really a benefit or a feature.
So, do you need a tag line? Yes. A tag line is a great guerrilla marketing weapon–low cost, high impact. If you create the tag line yourself, it costs you nothing but creative energy. Keep it short. It’s not a mission statement. Focus on benefits. That’s what your customers want. Put it everywhere and on everything. Consistency and frequency are your key to marketing success.
Comment on this post and share it with others. Tell us your tag line or company slogan–it’s free marketing.
