"Because the earth needs a good lawyer" is one of my favorite tag lines. It is specific,
emotional and short.
What shorthand description do others use when describing your cause, business or other group? If it’s not the one you cite then maybe you want to create a more compelling one. Why not craft an apt, memorable tag line or slogan that describes your organization’s core value to us?
An
extra benefit is that a clear, specific and vivid slogan provides a focal point for doing
“first things first” and for making other choices when one seems overwhelmed
with options. Ask “What choice now most reflects our tagline?”
Here are three tips I gleaned from last year’s winners of Nancy E. Schwartz’s Getting Attention contest for non-profits’ best tag lines:
Tag line tip #1:
Craft a (clean) double entendre.
• A clearinghouse for finding performance and rehearsal space
called NYC Theatre Spaces: “Where Actors Find Their Space”
Tag line tip #2:
Evoke an emotion-tugging physical image.
• The American Lung Association: “One Breath at a Time”
Tag line tip #3:
Piggyback on a concern with a pithy slogan as a solution.
• Oregon Center for Public Policy provides balanced coverage of state issues, many of which are hotly contested where opinions and facts are blurred in the public debate: “Because facts matter”
As John Haydon adeptly notes, “Rather than having a tagline about the mission of the non-profit, they all speak about the client's experience and what's important to them - on an emotional level.”
Share your tag line for this year’s contest and keep a look out for fresh ideas when Nancy announces the results later this year.
