Sometimes clients ask me to create slogans for their company. I screw around for a bit, generate a list of maybe 25 slogans, then present them with the 5 best.
I always have a favorite out of the bunch. A slogan that's so memorable, because it's so out of the ordinary. One that gets to the point, and really delivers the benefit of the client's product. And that slogan never gets picked. Business owners are afraid to stick out. So they pick the most tame slogan from the bunch.
Example: A web design company wanted to target a display ad to small businesses without websites. I wrote the ad with the headline: "If you're not online, you don't exist." Client changed this to "If you don't have a good website, we can help."
Most people don't know what they like, or they are afraid to admit it. So instead, they pick the same thing everyone else is doing. It simplifies making decisions. No feelings, no uncertainty. Just a quick Google of your competitors to see what they do.
I have one of those awful people as a client right now. We spent hours with a truly fantastic marketer (and I don't throw that kind of praise around lightly, especially in marketing), who not only helped us identify great copy, but also helped us identify some broader values to give the company character. I sat in that meeting with the 2 founders. We took notes, raved about the meeting, had a bunch of great concrete stuff to move forward with.
A week later the CEO designed the startup's landing page. None of the good stuff from the meeting was there, just a generic uninformative slogan and a generic long parallax marketing page that doesn't tell anyone what the product does. Sigh.
Sometimes clients ask me to create slogans for their company. I screw around for a bit, generate a list of maybe 25 slogans, then present them with the 5 best.
I always have a favorite out of the bunch. A slogan that's so memorable, because it's so out of the ordinary. One that gets to the point, and really delivers the benefit of the client's product. And that slogan never gets picked. Business owners are afraid to stick out. So they pick the most tame slogan from the bunch.
Example: A web design company wanted to target a display ad to small businesses without websites. I wrote the ad with the headline: "If you're not online, you don't exist." Client changed this to "If you don't have a good website, we can help."
Most people don't know what they like, or they are afraid to admit it. So instead, they pick the same thing everyone else is doing. It simplifies making decisions. No feelings, no uncertainty. Just a quick Google of your competitors to see what they do.