"I'm sorry, to me, your tagline seems pretentious!", she said.

She was sharing her unfiltered, emotional response to my beloved tagline: 'Helping You to Own Your Awesome'. This was at the Speed Mentoring event organised by Nick King of South & Vale Business Support, which provided me with a lot of great insights and reflections to work on. Including my tagline.

I wasn't sure what to make of it! My tagline had come to me years ago and I felt emotionally drawn to it. It's become my mission, my purpose and my battle cry. It is definitely working for me!

But, is it alienating to my clients and audience? I wouldn't want that, of course!

A business' tagline needs to be both: meaningful for your ideal clients AND powerful for yourself. Obviously it can't be neither, nor can it just one or the other.

But how do you know? How do you decide? How was I to determine whether to change it, question it further or re-commit to it as my business' raison d'etre?

That same day I had the conversation about my tagline, I had a call from one of my clients. She called to update me on how she felt triggered to re-think her branding, and especially her tagline, since our most recent coaching session. And that, while doing the dishes, she had an inspired moment – as one does – and had come up with two alternative taglines to the one she'd been implementing.

She wasn't sure how to proceed – should she stick with her original idea or pick one of the newly inspired tagline contenders?

Testing your tagline

This is one of those things not to be brooded over too much, and instead, to be taken to market to try it. The more we test things in the market, with our ideal clients, we know whether we're on the right track or not. It confirms whether it's ticking the box for our clients. Ideally, they will say things like "This is so you!", and "That's exactly what I need!"

Ways to test

One way to test it is to ask your clients what they think of your tagline. Contact your best clients and people whose opinion and reflections you trust which tagline they think best reflects you and your offer. Call them or send them a message or email.

Alternatively, if you want a broader opinion, ask your audience in a post on Linkedin or Facebook. A best practice here is to set the scene by describing what the service is, who it's for and what problems it solves.

You might be surprised by the responses, and you may get new input that you hadn't thought of.

We often think we have to figure it all out by ourselves, that we have to know it all. But why not allow our people to help us along by inviting them to express what they are drawn to? It's no sign of weakness or 'not knowing' to ask whether we're on the right track. It's actually a sign of strength that we open up the conversation about what we stand for and our offer.

Having asked our clients and audience ticks the box of whether it sends the right message for your clients. It confirms if indeed your tagline speaks to them as an invitation to buy into you and your offer.

However, do take the responses with a healthy sprinkle of salt! Your service is not for everyone and so you don't need to please everyone. It's most important that some people absolutely adore you, your brand and all that you offer.

Which brings me to the other box to tick.

The Other Tickbox

Your tagline also needs to tick is whether it speaks powerfully to you as the business owner. Does it serve as a reminder of what you stand for, what you pledge to deliver?

Intrinsically, by you coming up with a tagline, it will resonate with your values and beliefs. The question here is, does it stand boldly and proudly for who you are and what you offer? You don't want your tagline to be a weak, safe and watered-down version of what you stand for.

Be like marmite

There is no right or wrong: some people love Marmite, others can't stand the gooey stuff. And just like Marmite doesn't care about people hating it, allow people to dislike you while inviting others to decide they cannot live without you! It's more important that you "Do You" than that you're universally liked. You cannot control other's opinion of you. Instead, it's your job to find your tribe by being and doing fully what feels true to you.

Nilofer Merchant has got a good take on this. She has coined the phrase Onlyness, which she describes as "the power we each have based on that spot where only we stand [...] Your history, your experience, visions, hopes – even if they are imperfect – are perfectly yours. Each of us, distinctly ourselves gets to add value. It’s not saying ‘you matter’, it’s saying ‘each of us matters.’"*

The other part to her Onlyness is that "If the people around you keep shutting you down or ignoring your ideas altogether, don’t change who you are. Change who you’re with."* (*Source: “Nilofer’s article on Silicon Republic”)

So in short, "Do You" and make it your mission to find and serve your tribe.

Over to you

What's your tagline, how did you come to it, what does it mean for you and if you've tested it in the market, how did you test it?

Wishing you an amazing day,

Got questions? Get in touch!

And if you feel inspired to, connect to see how we can work together.