In last week’s post, I talked about how important a slogan or catch-phrase can be to promoting your business, even if—check that, especially if— your business is very small.
A well-worded catch-phrase can help people to remember you and remember why they want to do business with you. It gets your selling message down to a single, memorable phrase that can be etched on people’s minds. But of course, not any phrase will do.
Last week I mentioned that a successful catch-phrase should start with an actual customer benefit and that it should be concrete and specific as opposed to vague and general. (You can review last week’s post on my website.)
This week we continue with three more ways to make your catch-phrase more catchy so that you can catch more customers! (And by the way, if you have any doubts about the power of a catch-phrase, check out the story of the line, “Don’t mess with Texas!” below.)
3. Make Your Phrase Fresh, Unexpected and “Sticky”
If vague language is death to catch-phrases, overused clichés are the black death. How many times have you heard or seen some version of lines like the following:
We put customers first.
Committed to excellence.
You’ve tried the rest, now try the best.
There are two problems with clichés. First, they erode attention. They tend to make consumers feel, “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard that before.”
But clichés also erode credibility. When consumers hear cliché lines, they often feel, “Oh, this is just the same old blah, blah, blah.” So they don’t take it seriously.
If you only say what everyone expects in ways that are expected, you’re not going to get as much attention. But if you find a fresh, unexpected way to say the same thing—you’ll get more people to pay more attention.
For example, we expect companies to say, “We’re the best,” or “We’re number one.” So we don’t necessarily believe it. But we don’t expect them to say, “We’re number two.” That’s why Avis, years ago, was able to so effectively build their brand with the line, “We’re number 2. We try harder.”
Southwest Airlines positions themselves as The Low-cost Airline. But when it came to translating that idea into a catch-phrase, they wanted to trigger the following thought in customers’ minds: “Our fares are so low, you can afford to fly to more places, more often.” That’s the benefit. Well, an obvious way to say this might be:
Southwest Airlines
Now you can afford to fly more often
Southwest Airlines
Fly whenever you want, wherever you want
There’s nothing wrong with what these lines say. The problem is with how they say it. Very predictable, and therefore not very memorable. Not attention getting. So what line did Southwest come up with?
Southwest Airlines
You are now free to move about the country
We smile because we recognize this as a play on the line, “You are now free to move about the cabin.” Changing the word “cabin” to “country” makes the line unexpected—and it makes the point Southwest wants to make, but in a more memorable way.
Since this is a twist on a common phrase we already know, it is easier for us to remember it. And now, when we are on other flights and hear the words, “You are now free to move about the cabin,” we just might be reminded of Southwest Airline’s phrase, which means Southwest will, in a sense, be getting free advertising on the airplanes of other airlines.
Glad trash bags used this line for years and years:
Don’t get mad. Get Glad!
The TV commercials showed people experiencing the frustrations of working with cheaper trash bags that can break and leave a big mess. Then we see people using Glad bags, which work better. So in five words, this phrase sums up their brand position and benefit.
But they did it in a way that is very sticky. The rhyme between “mad” and “Glad” not only makes the phrase stick in our minds, but—even better—it also makes the name of the product stick in our minds. And the fact that it’s a play on a phrase we all know, “don’t get mad, get even,” makes it even easier to remember.
So when I’m shopping in the store and I see Glad, I may remember the line and remember that I don’t want to put up with the frustration of the cheaper wrap. I’ll reach for Glad!
When you’re working on your catch-phrase, it’s okay to start by writing down all the obvious, expected ways you can think of to say what you want to say. But then, see if you can come up with a twist, a fresh, unexpected way to say the same thing.
5. Talk the Customer’s Language
Too many tag lines or catch-phrases sound like a company talking. They use insider language or corporate speak, and when people hear this tone, they tune it out.
Last week I mentioned some examples of corporate speak:
High performance. Delivered.
Insurance for living. Solutions for life.
Strength and Vision.
We Put Customers First
These lines sound like companies talking at you rather than a person talking to you.
In contrast, you can make your catch-phrase more catchy by making it sound more like a real person talking. You might even borrow a phrase from everyday life.
We just saw how Southwest Airlines adapted a line used everyday on airplanes—“You are now free to move about the cabin”—to create their catch-phrase.
“Got milk” was a great example of using customer language. It’s something we’re apt to say in everyday conversation and it certainly doesn’t sound like corporate speak.
Likewise, “Just do it!”, Nike’s famous line, also feels like something a person would say—perhaps say to themselves—when they are getting ready to work out or compete.
Verizon has had huge success with the line, “Can you hear me now? Good!” This is something we’ve all said, and we know what it’s about: Verizon is claiming that with their network, we’ll all be able to make cell phone connections more often. We can picture ourselves in that situation, saying exactly those words, but now, when we say them, we’re more apt to think of Verizon!
I’ve mentioned the line I created for Heritage Plumbing and Heating: “Honey, just call Heritage.” When we were working on that line, we imagined a couple who has a plumbing problem. What would they say to each other? What would that conversation be like?
The pipes break and the husband is looking frantically through the yellow pages, thinking, “What do I do? Who do I call?” Meanwhile, his wife says, “Honey, just call Heritage.”
This is the voice of the customer!
To put your catch-phrase in the language of the customer, you’ll probably need to know something about your customers. In fact, you can even use a catch-phrase to change the attitudes of your target audience, as the following example shows.
Texas had a big litter problem on their streets and highways. Many of the litterers were men between the ages of 18 and 24 who were notoriously unimpressed by advertising urging them to keep Texas clean.
So public officials realized they had to talk to these guys in their own language. Instead of appealing to “cleanliness” they decided to come up with a catch-phrase that would appeal to Texas pride in a tough-talking way. They enlisted these guys’ heroes, Dallas Cowboys football players, in television ads in which they collected litter, smashed beer cans in their bare hands, and growled, “Don’t mess with Texas!”
Was it successful? In the first year, litter in the state had been reduced by 29%, and over six years there was a 72% reduction in visible roadside litter. About 95% of Texans now know the slogan, and in 2006, it was voted America’s favorite slogan by a landslide! Now people can get decals, shirts and coffee mugs with “Don’t mess with Texas!” on them—which helps to build awareness of the line.
That’s the power of a catch-phrase—and especially a catch-phrase that speaks directly to a target audience in their own language! Granted, Texas had the power of television and celebrities behind their line. But it’s still true that even the smallest business can use a slogan or catch-phrase to help change attitudes and build brand awareness.
So when you come up with your catch-phrases, ask yourself:
• Is it fresh, unexpected and sticky—or is it just a cliché?
• Can we take a common phrase from everyday conversation and put a twist on it?
• Does the phrase talk to our target audience in language they’ll relate to?
• Is it a line we can see people wanting to have on a mug or T-shirt?
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