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Creating Your Tagline

Lesson 9 from: Brand Your Creative Business

Megan Auman

Creating Your Tagline

Lesson 9 from: Brand Your Creative Business

Megan Auman

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Lesson Info

9. Creating Your Tagline

Lesson Info

Creating Your Tagline

So now let's talk tagline or slogan or motto or whatever you want to call it, which is that kind of the thing that comes after your name or is associated with your business that's going to give people a little bit more about kind of the brand and the emotion so first things first you're tagline is not your elevator pitch this is I think, where people get confused because they're trying tio describe what they're doing and they're afraid if they change their tagline than when they meet someone at a cocktail party they're goingto not know what to say you're tangling is not your elevator pitch, so my tagline is make a statement every day it's not like when I meet people at a cocktail party I'm like hi, I'm meghan on and make a statement every day totally different context, right? So don't feel like it has to be used at a cocktail party to explain what you do it's not me it's not what you d'oh people don't buy what you dio they buy why you do it, they buy the thing behind it classic tagline...

just do it we all know who that is exactly um think different yep that apple that's me because I'm a teacher, so I get to put myself in the context of apple and nike it's really nice um but so what all of these taglines have in common? First of all, they're not descriptive again they don't tell people what we d'oh it's not nike athletic clothes for people who want to be motivated right that would that would have died a long time ago it's just do it right it's customer focused its telling the customer what action they should take just do it think different make a statement every day the customer knows that they should be inspired to take action and that's the next one it's actionable it's not think about doing it it's just do it right else when they see full of potential so this kind of again goes back to that, um idea of it's not descriptive. So if my tagline was like, steal jewelry for strong women that's super pigeonholes me right? I'd like to make a statement every day I can do whatever I want under that tagline window and it's gonna motivate people and then it reflects your purpose it's not the same as your purpose. I'm not saying strong, confident women but it make a statement every day that's something that a strong, confident woman is going to dio so those air kind of the traits that make a good tagline so let's talk taglines then maybe we're going to do some hot seats with our with our group and while we're at it, then maybe our online audience can share some of theirs so I saw monica make a face on I know you guys have won that you're working with so how do you I'm guessing what your face maybe aren't feeling it or are you really addresses what we do? And I don't think that it's not all that actionable here's my question for the flip chart you have a pen so it's not, um I don't feel like it's action so what is your tag line right now? So ours is beer in her supermom okay, so I mean, in a way it's sort of iss so your business name is sweet cheeks and then going backwards a little ice feeling like it doesn't speak tio thie image the brand that we want to portray feel like it is kind of yeah city yes, actually so this so yeah, so we're back we're backing out now, but I think that's perfect, so this doesn't give you that what's the purpose again that the mom should feel stylish, stylish, inattentive teo their child, right? So you don't have tio it's the style in the fashion to be the good mom, right? So right, so this maybe he doesn't feel as upscale know it doesn't feel of skill at all as your ran needs to be right so do you have something else that you're thinking about or not we just know this is a problem that we're gonna you know, I was sitting here and I was like the whole reason why we came up with sweet cheeks was a plan word since it's a diaper dad there's bum babies round but whatever so then I was thinking maybe it was something like shiki but then that's still sounded like she was like yeah, I don't have one and I think I don't know the case or maybe because you're trying to do something that seems a little bit more like fashionable and stylish it might be not actually related to your product at all it might be a made up word or that sounds like ah high end designer brand mod mom like the modern model lovin that maybe is is it could work we're gonna write it down but that one might be a hard one I have a feeling you're going to say that when the availability is goingto there yeah so like I'm even thinking, you know like freshly picked us so you know it's such an iconic thing in your world and it's the name doesn't really mean anything but they've built that association up and so I wonder if for you guys you know what are the fashion brands that your mom's might be looking at and what sort of the tone of those names and how can your name also kind of fit in that so think about it if you're pulling out the thing it's like oh where'd you get that oh it's a yeah, I don't like the tory burch there like you got any lines because sheiks right, right. So what are they going to say instead like could it be names could it be like it's like you know paige denham there's like you know right? Yeah so I think that yeah so there's certainly something there and so maybe I go off my inspiration which is my children right and do a play on their names or so right so you could do that? I think you also have the interesting with the monica on monica wright I know is it like to monica is is I mean others and what do your kids names olivia and lila who that there's I mean that those feel like that feels like your brand those names feel like your brand. Yeah, so maybe it's I mean, that might be I apologize if I'm not spilling the way ok, you might be that sort of like that feels different, right? Like so where do you think it's an olivia on lyla yeah, right that's holy changes the tone yeah, all right, I like it okay, so now that something obviously give you like I just give you a huge amount of work to do teo make that name chef so I recognize that so that something obviously you want to sit where we want to make that decision in the three seconds that I'm hot seating us here but I think that it's a good conversation to have so then as faras your tag line goes so but I think if we're using something like that then be your inner supermom doesn't quite sinner I mr letters I missed a word there supermodel a severe inner mom that didn't quite work yeah so right so maybe that doesn't quite give the same sort of call I mean it is a called action in a way but I think it's not quite it's got the part about wanting to be the attend of mom but it's sort of missing that feeling of being stylish and put together and like I got this I know I'm like I'm wondering how we can intertwine stylish or chic somewhere and you don't have to be descriptive described what they are doing so are we getting as our audience giving us any suggestions suggested the name ali and lila that she has the company oh yeah lots of people have said they really really like that they've said it's cute they agree that there was a great idea so ali and lila holly and lila for your inner supermom for your inner supermom interesting for you is it twists teo mom seems to be something I think they'll be fairly common though yeah you don't sound very original no and I think there's something and again I think it's missing that like style peace a little bit meredith says be the sheik is mom on the block yeah, I think there's something yeah I'm like I definitely or maybe it's something like beer inner supermom with flair or make it I don't know I like how you say make me but I don't know how I would say make in my contact right and I think I'm not sure that one I mean it is it's like a good way to call the action but also it could be something else no, we'll have to think about that one a little you guys you guys thinking anything in our studio audience like kathy your brain looks like it's working hard I do like the names yeah yeah it creates like a didn't identity like a emotion or something yeah yeah, it makes it personal. Yeah and they are they're beautiful names there it feels like you're yeah brand yeah, they're they're scale names to this just what you're yeah feeling toe can you do instead of saying be the cheeky smile on the black you could to three things like she so we did we did one where it was like a convenient compact and she um but I think the convenient and compact don't reflect the new products right releasing the the nursing cover right sure right yeah um all right I don't know what I something with versatile uh personals a cumbersome words though okay I think like again like short short actionable words yeah are the way to go there okay uh we'll come back we'll come out on that one sit for a little bit of everybody's basically saying I don't like supermom it's too cliche that way don't like supermom but we have to we're going to come back to it I shake mom's carry ali and lila how about something that's I mean it's not quite it's headline but it is a nice way to phrase that like right she comes so something that I've been using recently is baby here that works harder for you so you'd that works harder so you don't I think that people were kind of kind of clicks like resonates it's something it's multifunctional yeah that I say that but I don't know how you can make that right how do we like take that down a little because I think that is a good again I'm going to describe it like maybe you're the works harder so you don't have to but uh um and like maybe it's something like like I don't like work less to live stylishly or something but something that's sort of really quickly encapsulates those like it's easier and you're more stylish in like a yeah like less stress lasses dress less stress more style yeah something like something like that I think we could play with something maybe because that's really I think something and it might that might not be quite right but I think kind of heading in that direction totally love it awesome all right. So are we getting any, um kind of tag line sharing online? Yes quite a few minutes playing in the chic wealth style the motherhood there's one that just came in motherhood cheek or rock your mom hood no, that sounds like a set of rock girl thing yeah, that might be that's not quite on brand creo oliver sorry olivia and lila modern tools from modern mummy modern tools for a modern mommy interesting I like that they were gonna write that down to I don't think that fits with the polly in line I think that because that sounds slightly poetic right? Whereas modern tools and modern mummy is much more fast paced that story I mean to take it to both good but not great but not quite is upscale. I think maybe it's the brand so we can keep playing for michelle says great gear for sheik mumps I get lots of ideas yeah there's a lot of modern have you thought this wasn't in quotes? It says livia and lionesses in court mom, you call this I love it mom, you got what I would love teo kind of see as if anyone in the online audience wants to share their tagline kind of see what maybe what some people are working with um and I know we want to kind of move on a couple of things so where the three of you do you have taglines is there something that you're working on? Yeah, I had keeps switching between the two because I get to really find one but it's called glimmer of gold where is your brand? Right? Yeah and then the first one that I wanted that I wrote on my business cards initially was art that makes your soul sparkle sparkle and then I wasn't sure if that was really representing I mean just by saying soul it was kind of I don't know if that really mimicked the brand right? And then another one was pieces of heart like heart but a body and soul I think there's family like I think the sparkle for you is the word because it can be sparkle could be in it an action word so it's something what read the first one again all right, that makes your soul sparkle and then also because I do a lot of pieces that say love and light I got a recommendation for from my brother saying, why did you put love, light and sparkle but I wasn't sure if that's what you need to get input from like people yeah I think I think there's definitely what do you guys kind of thinking in the room there's something with sparkle somebody was saying earlier rather glimmer of gold why not just clem you might be slightly hard tto own glimmer of gold you're the first page so that I that I don't think shortening it would get you anything the only thing that I will say about the glimmer of gold is that I I said I told I was showing someone else everyone in the class and she merely thought you were a jeweler just based on the name now I know that you're talking about that eventually you want to make some jewelry so you might not be but too far too far that but just kind of keep that in mind that people might be getting a different perception when they hear the name of your business I tried to incorporate a lot of accents of gold so it's kind of why I got bright from leg glimmer of hope right glimmer of something sparkly right so yeah that's true I have hadn't had people ask me about yeah that is something that I think might be giving people a little bit of ah misconception about your brand what about something like aluminum well sparkle and glitter come up from a lot of people saying suggestions all the glitters sparkle your life all that sparkles um sparkle your life you people put that actually all be the sparkle oh yeah it's interesting but somebody just in disappointing sparkle seems a little hard to say does sound weird actually when you say it sparkling anyone you start uh, right, like it's almost like shimmer is a better word but then you can't say, like, glimmer of gold shimmer like that sort of gets a little too alliteration, maybe not quite the right way. Um, so so yeah, so I think that so in your case, we're definitely keeping keeping the name right. The name is not up for debate. Yeah, no, I was going to do my name, but then it was e I felt I was going through a battle, and I think that truly represents the kind of guy, right? So if we're doing that, then you're tagline, I think then we can't use shimmer no, but yes, I mean, you kind of play around with those ideas. Are people online sharing any of their own tagalog alexander's saying I could use other ideas in my tagline, how about treasures in a box? I don't know what a current one is, deidre the dreamer said the one I considered recently was bold designs for bold living quite like that one, um and says, I make handbags practical and stylish for every day for everyday use and my brand name is van kirsch and the tagline I was using wass it just said everyday hand back so she said she needs suggestion she's asking the chaperones to such suggest well on the other thing is, you know, with the person you said, like bold designs for bold living if you wantto make that more average actionable, the actionable thing is live boldly now some people joining andi just joining us and didn't see when kathy was in the hot seat earlier they're saying just by your name they assumed you made jewellery, so that was just yeah, so that I think is something just to keep in mind because it does evoke that and and while I think it does fit you as a name, the last thing we want people to do when they find out what you do after they've heard your name is feel disappointment, right? Disappointment is not, uh, an emotion that we want, so I think that you just want to keep that in mind. I know, and you mentioned that you might want to make jewelry, so if it's something that's gonna happen sooner rather than later, it might make this whole problem go away uh, but it is something to keep in mind yeah s o we're going to talk um we're kind of keep moving on from the touchline again tied lines or something that you know, it's hard to get like, you know, we can't stand here and brainstorm everyone's and get it all in like ten minutes it's really tough, but what you can do is exactly what we're doing here in the online chat rooms are in the online in the studio audience and online as you can grab a group of people and talk through it so really figuring out, you know, okay, this is my idea this is what we're excesses what's not working you get in there and talk it out because that can really help. So in addition to that having your tag line, you might want to create something that's a brand positioning statement, which is a fancy way of saying might be a vision and I be a mission it may be a manifesto, it might be something else, so this is just a non opportunity for you, teo expand on the purpose of your brand, right? So thinking about okay. So I've communicated very briefly in my tagline what we're about, but now I'm going to expand on that and tell people a little bit more about kind of what our brand is about or kind of what our life philosophy is about again things that build a deeper connection so this could take a million forms it could take the form of a it's just a simple statement maybe it's a story about the future a manifesto maybe you write a love letter to your customers I could see something like that for you kathy where it's like this love letter that encourages them tio to be no kind of happy with who they are or anything else that makes sense for your brand it might be a video there's a lot of different ways that you could kind of communicate these ideas but what this is that chance to sort of take a little bit more of the things we've been talking about and expand on them so for me this actually takes the form of a manifesto so I was like I'm just a dune and come up with a siri's of statements that I think encapsulate my brand and what it's about so this is certainly one way that you could kind of approach this um I think on dogeared on this is another jewelry line she kind of has this paragraph in the middle where she says dog eared believes good things happen that's a great kind of I think that's both their tagline and it's also very clear like purpose like we believe that good things happen then she says the brand is more than a jewelry line and embraces the story's happy moments milestones and experiences that celebrate connect inspire customers each piece tells a story of individuality, self expression, love and friendship. So she's saying, this is our vibe, this is what our brand is about. So, you know, and again, this is to show you that it doesn't have to be fancy, right? You could just do something like this on your route page on your website that gives people a little bit more about your brand. We have some questions on this stakeout personally, very curious because you mentioned the word dog eared and maya's picture was immediately, I think of something tatty. Yes, something it's a very strange nothing to do, but you're right. So if you haven't shown me that, paige and I haven't gone there, that would be something I was looking for jewelry. I would dismiss this correctly so that's a very curious I actually don't know where actually no idea where that name came from. I don't know them personally, but I do know that this is a brand that has managed to have a pretty big following. Um, so yeah, it is actually a really interesting point. I have no idea, just a couple quick questions for going soldier servicing. It really just wants a straight yes or no is a tagline always necessary you feel it's important? I do feel like it's important I don't think it's one hundred percent necessary it's one of those details that like if you're stuck, just move on for now it might come later and again you khun you can change it it's something that gives your customers another insight into the point of view of your brand but if you need to use something a little bit more descriptive right now to start that's okay? I've been through I think I was at like two other tagline ish things before I got to where I am now so and sierra is asking where is the best place to use your tag line that should should be also on your website on your web shop on it see where l shouldn't they should be on your business card yeah, so that's a great question and we're going to talk a little bit more in a future session about exactly where you're going to apply it, but the answer is yes, yes and yes, so for me pretty much anytime my name appears the tagline comes after. So here on my website you don't just see megan on and you'll see megan arm and make a statement every day it's on the business card it's you know, on the promotional materials underneath the logo so the more places you can apply it the better with within reason it shouldn't be like every page of every piece of copy every sentence doesn't start with make a statement every day but it's a lot of places so you know now I want to give you guys the exercise and this is something that again you can kind of work through in your workbooks so you're not gonna probably sit down and make the formal version right away but you can start to create these other elements of your brand so you know, creating the sight of mission or vision statement so what elements from your purpose brainstorming didn't make it into your why but are still important to your brand so I think sarah, this is a case for you where your really talking about this idea of the transformation and all of this and so in your case maybe it becomes this kind of vision story that you tell where your inspiring your customers to go through, you know, that kind of transformation so it's a case where you could take the things that didn't fit into that very succinct like why your purpose and expand on them and some kind of vision statement have whatever that's gonna look like for your branch um and again and it could be short it could be a sentence but I noticed were wordy group so I have a feeling that most of us are probably not just tacking on another sentence but you could also think about things like if you achieved your brand purpose, how would the world be different? Right? And it might be, how would the world big be different? But it might be, how would your customers world be different? No, if they're not. If they feel more savvy and put together and can take care of this, how is that different? If they feel happy? Go lucky all the time? How is their world different? So you can start to talk about things like that? Maybe it's an opportunity to give your customers advice? You couldn't tell your customers something. What would it be? That's kind of how my mind started it. I kind of wanted to give people like this is how I think you should be in the world. I know that sounds really pompous when I say like that, but that's, how I feel these are the things that I I think they're kind of good rules for living, right? If you want to be a little bit more reactive, and again, you can see that I'm framing these questions in a lot of different ways, and what you get to do is figure out which voices right for your brand, right, so for me, this kind of giving a little bit of advice some kind of guidelines for living if you will that sort of that fits with my brand right but maybe you're brands a little more reactionary so your brand starting a revolution what are your demands but I mean it's a way more extremely to look at it but it might fit in with your brand voice or conversely if your brand feels a little bit softer if you were writing a love letter to your customers what would it say right what would you kind of have you know what would you tell them I cathy if you were writing a love letter of your customers what would you tell them? I write one with each piece and I love it because they I kind of feel like it gives it more of an explanation so it's kind of like almost like a well with like a well like a blessing like house in your home and your day be filled with or you know I can't I have it written down because there's so many variations kind of remember I like that so you're really giving like that blessing to your yes that's perfect honor yourself you know yeah awesome I love it um so I think they're in your case like what you know if you were going to kind of give your customers advice or you help them you know what would you say to them I guess I would say is you know, a cz a woman is gone through it you know you can do it give kind of yeah, I have the courage to do it um because really uh it's a choice between life living and not living so just right now words don't just market so I needed we, um we didn't really talk about tagline for you yeah, but I was writings different things down about you know they're the words transformation or or evolve like transformation or choose every evolution or have the courage to I like the word of all of our you know something about the word of all not as bulky it's not his bulky right? I like it I like the short words they feel succinct into the point, so something about evolve so, um, I mean, I was looking at different words like good growth life of a lute or grow evolve, liv, you know, I could do words or it could just have a little phrase like yeah, I'm I'm not always a fan of like the word word word thing unless they all happen to be super actionable words, so if it was like, I'm trying to think of other action words that make sense with evolve, but and I'm not totally sure, but I think there's something in that maybe we're getting anything anything online people are still interested in this goddess, sarah, things that have been coming here, but they haven't come up with anything just say s o I was actually looking myself because I was looking up saint sarah to see if there's anything that I could pull through. But no, no one's come up with anything really strong here. This is one you do flummoxed people, people, huh? Alright or theirs, then? There's passion to work passion sounded more like a medal for it. Metamorphose. I have thought about using the bike, the butterfly chrysalis transformation you know that that as a or words of, you know, even maybe using those words is names for my products, if no, yeah, but, um so there's so it I don't know if I should if passion is a better word or evolution, or at the ball isn't better. Yeah, I don't I don't know, because I think the passion, I think passion, it's overused, yeah, it's overused and I don't think it quite gets you, teo like that transformation says and again, I think it's a misleading word for you because because yes, sometimes it's more like, yeah, yeah, right? And I don't like grow like there's, something we could be like grow I think you used the word growth at one point yeah sarah shift is something that several people have suggested mall is one word sarah I'm not sure about that saying sarah shift opening lives or sarah shift of all here uh sarah shift yeah I don't think that isn't quite transition with grace that's quite a nice one we're like transition with courage something no that's family say using saying journeys might be something you want to consider somehow to work in grow passionately you've all evolved growth growth growth growth is the journey that one came from emi studio or even like evolved with passion are evolved with meaning what they mean by shift of course his shift being changed right but that's not what I thought off shift just sort of get a move on kind of your car yeah yeah I think they were like flirting around the white right words we just have to tow kind of go lenny was embrace your transformation still out there yeah a lot of options for sarah sarah's journey to the new you interesting all right, well, you know, this is a case where is we're time dealing with all of these statements again we're not going tio sometimes we're not gonna find them right away s o these are things that you can kind of work on and play with and and really sort of figure out what's working for your brand and so now, as we kind of head into the next segment, I'm going to give you guys a little bit of homework, eh? So that we can start to prep for your brand story isn't really kind of expanding on these statements because these statements are nice and punchy, but again, they're not the things that people are going to talk about it a cocktail party, no one's going to come up with the leg. Hey, have you heard about meghan on and make a statement every day, right? That doesn't make any sense that's not how people share our brand. So these kind of first elements that we talked about or how people connect to our brand, but now we're going to start to develop the stories so that people can talk about our brand in a way that's natural to their own conversations. So to help you guys kind of get started in that I'm going to give you a little assignment, which is to ask a friend or a customer to tell you about an experience they had when they were wearing or using your product, and it can be, you know, super, I don't say monday, but it doesn't have to be like I war, and I felt great it. Can be. You know, I think a great example was the story that monica told about her dad at disneyland and like I was, he was in and out, and he felt, you know better about that. So I asked them to kind of tell you about experiences where they were using your product or wearing your product. Or maybe, you know, in the case of, if you're making art for the home, you know, experience of how it is in their home or where they've put it, you know, even something as simple as, you know, finding out that they chose to put it above their desk for a certain reason. That's really useful information. So get out there and have some conversations and it's really going to help us in the next segment.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Megan Auman - Brand Your Creative Business Resources.pdf
Megan Auman - Branding Bibliography.pdf
Megan Auman - DIY Photography Resources.pdf

bonus material with enrollment

Megan Auman - Brand Your Creative Business Syllabus.pdf
Megan Auman - Brand Your Creative Business Workbook.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

I was drawn in immediately. Megan's ability to tender precise, goal-oriented, and REAL life experience-infused information is what captivated me the most...AND...I logged in 30 minutes late on the first day of her class. I am excited to know that her course is STILL available, and on sale a couple of days after it aired live. TY CreativeLive for this opportunity; it is truly a gift to myself which will keep on giving...I have often used storytelling to build my brand, but Megan's guidance has given me a structured approach, which I really needed. Paying it forward, and sharing her amazing course with others will be a joy, as I feel an obligation to others I know, and those I have yet to know, all who will benefit from her plethora of carefully cultivated information. Her use of emotional connections to build a brand, and to reach a solid audience based on one's authentic voice is clear, clean, and easy to follow. Thank You Megan Aumen!

Visindie
 

This is such a great class! Great content, great advice, great examples...great, great, great!! I'm so happy that I have a clear path to create a great brand for my business. Very empowering! I especially love the bonus information, especially the video on how to make your own logo in Illustrator. Exactly the information I've been looking for. Great job, Megan!

Laura Captain Photography
 

I'm in the process of launching a creative business and this class was what I was looking for. With procrastination and indecision cast aside, I will now confidently plan and carry out a productive and well organized branding strategy of my own. Before this class I felt somewhat confused and overwhelmed by all the miscellaneous branding information I had been trying to piece together. Even though I already knew some of the information she covered in the class, she put her own spin on it, gave some great examples and put it in an easy to follow plan. I particularly liked the segments related to naming your business and social media branding because I had a lot of questions on those topics. I'm very excited to get started with branding my business and I'm so glad I took the time to go through Megan's class, it will be so worth it in the long run. A big shout out to Megan, I love your business branding, your jewelry and your teaching style, great work!

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