Tagline vs Slogan: Differences and How to Write One

Tagline vs slogan: the difference

A tagline and a slogan are both short lines of words, and people swap the terms freely. The distinction below is useful in practice, because it tells you how long a line should last and where it belongs.

A tagline is a short line that sits with a brand's name over the long term and sums up what it stands for. A slogan is usually tied to a campaign, product or season and changes more often. The two words overlap in everyday use. To write a tagline, start from your positioning, list plain-word options, shorten them and test them with real customers.

Tagline vs slogan is a question where the answer depends on who you ask. The two words overlap in everyday use, and many dictionaries and designers treat them as near synonyms. In branding practice a distinction is common. A tagline stays with a brand's name for years. A slogan belongs to a campaign, product or season and changes more often. This guide uses that distinction. The label matters less than the job the line does. The examples use an invented bookkeeping service for freelancers.

For legal protection, the label matters less than whether the phrase identifies your business, which is covered below.

Does your business need a tagline?

Not every business does. If the name already says what you do and for whom, a tagline may only repeat it. A tagline helps when the name does not describe the service, when you want to say who you serve, or when the logo appears alone, on a sign or a social profile, and needs a hint to explain it.

A tagline is also a promise that lasts. If you cannot keep it next year, or if the business may change direction soon, wait. Decide your positioning first, because a tagline is a few words squeezed out of that decision, and it cannot make up for not having made it.

What makes a tagline work

• Clear. A stranger can tell what you do or who you do it for.
• Short. It can be read at a glance beside the logo, in a handful of words.
• Specific. It describes your business and could not be pasted onto any other.
• True. You can deliver it today and next year.
• Easy to say. Read it aloud. If you stumble, customers will.
• Complete on its own. It makes sense without the logo next to it.
• Able to travel. Wordplay and rhymes rarely survive translation. If you trade in a market such as Japan or the UAE, ask a native speaker what the line means there.

The table shows weak lines and better ones for the same invented business. Each weak line could describe any firm. Each better line could only describe this one.

How to write a tagline, step by step

1. Start from your positioning: who the business is for, what it offers and how it differs. Write it as a plain sentence: we help this kind of customer do this, so that they get this result.
2. List the words your customers use for the problem and for the result. Reviews, emails and enquiries are good sources.
3. Write many options quickly, twenty or more, without judging them.
4. Cut each option to its core. Remove adjectives that any business could claim.
5. Try two angles. One says what you do. The other names the result for the customer. Pick whichever is clearer and true.
6. Read the survivors aloud, then set each beside the logo at the size it will appear.
7. Search the phrase to see whether another business in your field already uses it.
8. Test the shortlist with real people.

Expect most of the effort to go into step four. A tagline that comes quickly is often a cliché, and the cuts are what make it specific.

How to test a tagline

A tagline is judged by strangers, not by the people who wrote it. These tests are cheap and work with a small group.

• The glance test. Show people who match your customer the name and tagline for a few seconds, then ask what they think the business does. If their answers differ from the truth, the line is not doing its job.
• The comparison. Put two or three options in front of the same people and ask which they would remember, and why.
• The placement test. Mock up the line on a website header, a social profile, a sign and an invoice. Check that it stays legible at the smallest size.
• The language check. Ask a native speaker in each language you trade in what the line means and whether it carries any unintended meaning.
• The existing-use check. Search for the phrase in quotation marks and in the trademark register of your country.

Friends and family are kind, and kindness is not evidence. Ask people who would buy from you and have no reason to be polite.

Taglines, slogans and trademarks

Whether a tagline or slogan can be protected as a trademark depends on the country and on how distinctive the phrase is. Short phrases that only describe the service are often harder to register than invented ones. Before you print a line on signs or packaging, search for similar phrases used in your field, and ask a lawyer or the national trademark office about registration. The rules differ by country and change over time.

Our guide to brand name vs company name vs trademark explains in plain words how a name differs from a trademark, and the same thinking applies to a line of words.

Where to use a tagline

Ask for a version of the logo with the tagline and a version without. At small sizes the tagline becomes unreadable, so compact versions of a logo normally drop it. A tagline is often designed as part of the lockup in a logo project; the guide to how a logo design project works shows where that fits.

Other places that suit a tagline are the first screen of the home page, social media bios, email signatures, invoices, packaging and vehicles. Page titles for search should describe each page, and a tagline alone does not do that. Set the line in your brand fonts at a size that stays readable, and in colours that contrast with the background; see how to choose fonts for your brand and how to choose brand colours for the checks.

Slogans work differently. Give each one an end date, use it on the campaign materials only and keep it out of the logo. When the campaign ends, retire it completely so that it does not sit on the website for years.

Changing or retiring a tagline

Change a tagline when it stops being true, when the audience or offer shifts, or as part of a rebrand. Otherwise leave it alone, since customers need time to learn it. When you do change it, update every place at once: the website, social profiles, templates, email signatures, signs and packaging. A mix of old and new lines looks careless, and it sends customers mixed messages about what the business is.

If you would like a team to run the workshops, draft options and test them as part of a wider identity, the branding service page describes that work. The writing itself needs no specialist, and plenty of businesses draft a good first version from their own customer language.

Common tagline mistakes

• Writing a tagline before the positioning is decided.
• Filling it with empty claims such as quality, excellence and passion.
• Choosing a pun or rhyme that needs explaining.
• Making it so long that it needs two lines at normal size.
• Promising something the business cannot always deliver.
• Treating a campaign slogan as a permanent line.
• Leaving the tagline out of the style guide, so each supplier invents a version.

Questions and answers

What is the difference between a tagline and a slogan?

A tagline is a short line that stays with a brand's name for years and sums up what it offers or stands for. A slogan is usually tied to a campaign, product or season and changes more often. People use the words interchangeably, so check which sense a supplier means when they quote.

What makes a tagline work?

A good tagline is clear, short, specific to your business, true, easy to say and understandable without the logo. It should also survive translation if you trade in other languages. Empty words such as quality and excellence make a line interchangeable with any competitor's.

How do I test a tagline?

Show the name and tagline to people who match your customer for a few seconds and ask what they think the business does. Compare two or three options with the same people, check the line at small sizes on real materials, and ask native speakers about meaning in each language you use.

Does my business need a tagline?

Not always. If your name already says what you do and for whom, a tagline may only repeat it. It helps most when the name does not describe the service, or when the logo appears alone and needs a few words of explanation.

Can I trademark a tagline?

Sometimes. It depends on the country and on how distinctive the phrase is, and short descriptive phrases are often harder to register. Ask a lawyer or your national trademark office before you rely on a line, and search for similar phrases already in use.

How long should a tagline be?

Short enough to read at a glance beside the logo, usually a handful of words. There is no fixed limit, but if it needs two lines at the size you will use, shorten it.