Tagline creation

Introduction

A tagline or slogan is a concise way to show the essence of your organisation. It is a good way to share  who you are and attract people to want to learn more.

Why

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This toolkit is useful for an organisation that:

• needs a tagline to convey the essence of the value it provides in one or two concise sentences.
• needs a tagline for a specific important program.

What you can expect

In six steps you will be assisted in creating a tagline. Here you’ll find a step-by-step guide, a tool and examples for creating a tagline.

Step 1: Identify the Need

Identify the need for a tagline. You have a need for a tagline if you have the following challenges:

• • • Articulating your mission
    • Clearly telling people what you do
    • A logo or visual representation that needs further explanation

You might be doing this as part of a branding exercise or seperately. Look at this video to get inspiration to create great taglines:

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Step 2: Setting Parameters

• List which constraints you need to take into account, for example:
  • Number of characters of the tagline.
  • Things that need to be clearly mentioned (children or education).
  • Things that are not to be mentioned.
• Define who the decision makers for the final tagline will be and plan them into your process.

Step 3: Brainstorm

• Organise a brainstorm session, including the decision makers and a wider group of team members.
• Use the framework of:
  • “[The organisation's name] is…” to come up with the tagline. For example:“Bright Future is connecting education to employment.”
• Collect all the answers and separately start narrowing the selection.

Step 4: Narrowing the List

• Narrow down the list, keeping in mind some of the responses to the taglines in the brainstorm session.
• Use the shortened list to come up with a few more alternatives that match your demands.
• Present a narrow list of the top three to five choices to a wider committee.

Step 5: Choosing a Tagline and Testing it

• Discuss the three to five alternatives, and the reason each was selected, with your decision making group.
• Compare these against your parameters.
• Make a selection for your tagline.
• Test your tagline with a few familiar beneficiaries and donors: does it say what you want it to say?

Step 6: Integrating the Tagline into the Branding and the Design

• Give the tagline to the designer to integrate it into your logo and additionally speak to the designer about integrating it into:
  • Stationary
  • Website
  • Brochure
  • Other communication materials

Key To Success

• Having clear guidelines for what is required from your tagline.
• Working with a strong core committee who is capable of taking a decision.
• Getting a lot of input in the brainstorm session.

Challenges

• Creating a tagline that best represents an organisation can be a difficult and an exhaustive process.