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Do brands need a tagline to catch eyes? Taglines are concise, powerful messages that reinforce brand identity. They can also increase memorability, boost recognition, and create trust. We often think of a tagline as being something we “hear.” However, taglines can be visually represented. In fact, taglines featured on packaging create powerful messaging. Should brands consider using taglines to make packaging stand out? Take a look at the relationship between taglines and packaging that all brands need to know about!

How Does a Tagline Benefit a Brand?

Imagine being able to communicate your brand’s value and purpose in a single line on your packaging. It’s possible with a tagline. After all, we can all rattle off the timeless taglines from some of the country’s biggest brands without even thinking twice. In fact, a good tagline isn’t easy to remember. An effective tagline is ultimately impossible to forget. Take a look at the key points taglines hit when you want your packaging to reinforce your brand’s identity:

• Your Unique Selling Proposition: A tagline “tells” how your brand stands out from competitors right at the point of sale. You’re able to explain how a product makes your customer’s life better!
• Customer Expectations: A tagline featured on packaging tells customers exactly what to expect. This sets up expectations that match experience.
• Brand Personality: A brand’s tagline reflects the brand’s voice, character, and personality. This is essential for creating a connection. It also allows brands to control if they will come across as helpful, thoughtful, bold, creative, authoritative, or traditional.
• Defining the Experience: A tagline defines the experience customers will have when opening packaging. A declarative statement, action statement, or descriptive statement subconsciously shapes the experience that your customer will have. This ultimately shapes their perception of your product based on how it makes them feel.

Keep in mind that researchers estimate that brands have less than 10 seconds to create an impression. That means that a quick glance at a tagline can influence how customers feel about your product for the rest of their lives. A first impression is so powerful that it will actually influence how a customer rates a product’s value and performance.

Choosing the Right Tagline for Your Packaging: Good Impressions Don’t Happen by Mistake

How does a brand pick the right tagline for packaging? Yes, brevity is important simply because of the economy of space. However, impact is just as important as length. Here are 10 tips for creating effective packaging taglines that really let the cat out of the bag when it comes to your brand’s value:

• Choose a Unique Tagline: Don’t just reshape a slogan that a competitor is using. Spend time crafting a tagline that’s never been done before. Making a tagline too similar to the tagline of a competitor can actually cause your audience to think of your competitor instead of you. Don’t accidentally provide free advertising for the competition.
• Remember That Simplicity Is Wisdom: A complex tagline that makes customers have to reread the words a few times is a mistake. Keep it simple. In fact, do enough polling on your tagline to ensure that people “get it” on the first reading.
• Limit It to Seven Words: Aim for a tagline between three and seven words for maximum impact. While 10 to 15 words may not seem like a lot, it’s harder to remember any combination of words that requires us to take a breath in the middle.
• Make Your Tagline Iconic: Don’t be afraid to draw from universal “truths” and principles. Pull from culture, history, science, or any other “medium” that people feel connected with.
• Don’t Be Afraid to Use a Question Mark: A slogan with a question mark can make the customer feel like you are talking directly to them. It can also create a sense of self-reflection that makes your brand seem “deep.”
• Make a Tagline That’s Actually for Your Customers: There’s no need for a self-aggrandizing tagline. A tagline needs to be about your customers instead of the “greatness” of your brand. Use the words to demonstrate what your brand offers to customers!
• Use Action Verbs: A quick action phrase is lively and inspiring. Just do it!
• Know Your Customers: Don’t choose a tagline just because it’s clever if it doesn’t connect with your audience. Mismatched taglines leave customers alienated and confused. Do some market research on the messaging that works for your demographic. You never want a tagline to feel like a joke your intended audience doesn’t get.
• Make Your Tagline Support Your Brand’s Name Instead of Replace It: Your tagline is not intended to replace your brand name. Don’t make them compete. In fact, tying your tagline into your brand name is wise whenever possible.
• Make Your Tagline Positive: Don’t make your tagline a “downer.” It should be positive and uplifting even when you’re using your tagline to point out how your brand solves a problem.
• Consider How Words Look in Print: Take some time to consider the aesthetic of the words you’re choosing based on how the letters look together. Short words tend to “pop-off” the surface of packaging better than longer words, hyphenated words, or unusual words.

These 10 tips should help you to create a crisp, memorable logo that reflects your brand. There should never be any pretending with taglines. Taglines aren’t masks! They are sincere brand expressions in concise formats. Here’s a look at some “power words” to include in a tagline:

• “Best.”
• “Fast.”
• “Cheap.”
• “Quality.”
• “You.”
• “Right.”
• “Value.”
• “Guaranteed.”
• “True.”
• “Real.”
• “Today.”
• “New.”
• “Top.”
• “Us.”
• “We.”
• “Together.”
• “Fresh.”
• “Bright.”
• “Now.”
• “Always.”
• “Priority.”
• “Trust.”
• “True.”

A great way to begin brainstorming over a new brand tagline is to simply think of the words you want to come to mind when people think of your brand. In fact, your team can consider making a list of positive thoughts, attributes, qualities, and actions that you’d like the public to associate with your brand. You can even consider doing research on the keywords people are using to find your brand. These can then be incorporated in your tagline-building plan.

Going Forward With a Packaging Plan Once You Have a Tagline

Let’s skip ahead to after you’ve crafted the perfect tagline for your brand. Following intense market research and brainstorming, your team is ready to let the tagline out in the wild to wow customers. What’s next?

It’s time to get your design team involved. This is the phase of deciding how your tagline should be stylistically integrated into your branding. If your company has its own team of packaging designers and engineers, it’s time to get them involved with placement. If this is a smaller company, it’s time to connect with a qualified packaging vendor capable of helping you to integrate your tagline into your packaging aesthetic in a way that’s natural, powerful, and easy to recreate time after time across your packaging theme.

Clever placement of a tagline can make the messaging more powerful. Of course, poor placement and execution can cause your tagline to become distorted, confusing, or overlooked. That means that all of your efforts will be entirely counterproductive. The bottom line is that the period of marrying your new tagline with your custom packaging is an important phase of creating a cohesive branding strategy that’s going to reinforce brand value, connect with customers, and boost sales.

Get Help Putting Your Slogan on Your Packaging

Packaging with custom slogans isn’t just for large brands with billions in their marketing budgets. This is something that every brand can utilize to grow its market reach. If you’re wondering where to start with putting your slogan on your packaging, the first step is connecting with packaging experts capable of bringing your vision for eye-catching, product-specific packaging to life. That’s exactly what we do here at Mid-Atlantic Packaging. Schedule your custom packaging quote with us today!