I say yes! A well-crafted advertising slogan, or tagline as it’s more commonly referred to these days, sums up a company’s or organization’s unique selling proposition in a way that’s personable, memorable, original, simple, and most important of all, believable.

Unique selling propositions:

• Contain a benefit
• Offer something the competition either cannot or does not offer
• Move the masses

Taglines incorporate elements of the unique selling proposition to leave the key brand message in the mind of the target audience. They’re universal (everybody likes them) and they stand the test of time. The really good ones create buzz…remember “Where’s the beef?” Taglines are the sign-off that accompanies the logo. They say, “If you get nothing else from this ad, get this!”

Here are some examples of great taglines:

• M&Ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand.
• Does she or doesn’t she? (Clairol)
• We try harder. (Avis)
• Just do it. (Nike)
• The quicker picker upper. (Bounty)
• Don’t leave home without it. (American Express)
• Got milk? (California Milk Processor Board)

These days, everywhere I go I see good ideas executed poorly. Today at the park playground (my dogs like to play there!) I saw a height chart attached to the jungle gym. A great idea, right? Little kids love to see how much they’re growing. But this particular one started at the 3-foot mark and went up to 5’6″.

Most of the kids that play here aren’t even 3 feet tall yet. And I’ve never seen a 5’6″ kid get anywhere near the place. They’re typically sitting at a picnic table smoking. Who designed this chart? Why did this person arbitrarily or consciously choose these particular heights? Does he or she have kids? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

That seems to be case with a lot of design projects. Websites that are difficult to navigate. Signage that goes up with no usability testing. Products that manufacturers say are easy to assemble, but only if you’ve got a Ph.D. in structural engineering.

It makes me wonder why we don’t build more planning, usability and testing time into our process? Maybe it would keep a lot of great ideas from turning into crappy ones.

In author Lon Safko’s book, The Social Media Bible, it says that Social Media is all about enabling conversation. It’s word-of-mouth that takes place online. You don’t have control over these conversations. Your customers do. That’s why it’s so powerful.

The biggest faux pas in Social Media – MySpace, Facebook, LlnkedIn, Twitter, etc. – is using it to sell something outright. There’s a reason it’s called “social” media. I’ve had people connect with me on LinkedIn (who I barely knew) that started hawking their products and services to me as soon as I accepted their connection. Guess what? They’re no longer in my contact list.

It’s perfectly okay to become a fan of a product or service. Or even tweet about something you really like. But if you represent a company and blatantly try and sell stuff, no one will want to connect with you.

I recently signed up to receive tweets from a knowledgeable copywriting consultant. I expected to get valuable information from this company. What I’ve been getting instead, is tweeted to death about anything and everything they can think of. I no longer view their company as an expert offering me valuable information. I think of them as a daily annoyance, and sometimes, even rude. Why? Because they tweet me at all hours of the day and night. And they waste my time. So, if you’re going to use Social Media, please use it correctly, and with care.

1. Clients that say, “I ran this by my wife/husband and they had a few changes…” — are they copy experts? Are you paying them to do the job? If not, leave them out of the equation, please.

2. Clients that make revisions by committee — getting everyone’s input, including the delivery guy, means you don’t know what you really want. If you’ve got to send the copy around the office to be politically correct, then assign a point person to put all changes and comments into ONE document. Otherwise, your writer gets really confused.

3. Clients that use time they’re unwilling to pay for — Calling your writer to bounce a ‘few ideas around’ at all hours of the day and night and on weekends, or expecting to meet more than once or twice without getting billed is disrespectful and it wastes your writer’s time. Trust me, they’ll start putting your calls into voicemail.

4. Clients that tell writers their budget is small but ‘We’ll make it up to you the next time around’ — This is the fourth biggest lie in the world. There is never a next time around. Pay your writer what the job is worth. Or if you have limited resources, be honest about it and let your writer decide whether or he/she wants to do the job for less than what they typically charge. Most times, we will.

5. Clients that don’t provide a creative brief but expect perfection right out of the gate — If you’re not willing to put the parameters of a job in writing, complete with a description of the target audience, the key message you want to get across, the reasons to believe, and what you want the net takeaway to be, you’re not ready to hand it off to your writer. If you’re not willing to provide this information, don’t be surprised if the writing is off target and off strategy.

I attended the HOW Creative Freelancer conference in San Diego last month. Since it was a “creative freelancer” conference, I “creatively” came up with the money to go and wondered if it would be worth it. Well, I’m happy to say that it was. Not because I met lots of wonderful folks (which I did). Not because it was 85 degrees in San Diego (versus 115 in Phoenix). And not because I wanted to work for three long days (listening non-stop is tiring). What truly made it all worthwhile were the two magical sentences I learned to say to clients whose budgets are as short as their deadlines.

Here they are…I urge you to commit them to memory because they’re so good:

“It sounds like you (Mr. Client) haven’t allocated enough resources to a project of this scope.”

AND…

“I would be irresponsible as a business person if I took this project on in that period of time. It wouldn’t do it justice.”

So very PC, yet so very powerful, don’t you think?

I once took on a freelance writing gig for a PR firm. They wanted me to write a print ad for a housing community. When I asked where I should source the information from, they said, “Oh, just look at the community’s website.” Stupidly, I did. Big mistake. The website identified the community’s “unique selling proposition” as offering large, single-level, Mediterranean-style homes. So that’s what I wrote about – large, single-level, Mediterranean-style homes. Proudly, I turned in my highly creative copy to the PR firm. A few hours later they tossed it back into my court saying, “That’s not what the client wants to say.” Really? You could have fooled me!

That was lesson number one for me in demanding a creative brief from clients. Even if clients don’t want to fill it out themselves – and many don’t – I’ll ask the creative brief questions over the phone. Oftentimes, they have the information in their heads, but don’t share it or can’t articulate it with their creative team. And because no one’s a mind reader, critical information may be forgotten or ignored. A creative brief gives the copywriter a road map to follow for staying on strategy. And it gets everyone – clients included – on the same page for the direction the communication will take. Below is a sample of the questions found on a creative brief:

Current Situation
(Key Fact):
A one-to-two sentence description that defines the problem or opportunity. It should
describe the relevant events or conditions in the market place.

Consumer Problem:
This is what’s on the prospect’s mind – it is the obstacle that must be overcome in
order for us to achieve our advertising objective. It is what the consumer needs and
is something that advertising can influence.

Assignment
(Advertising Objective):
This is what we want to accomplish with our advertising – it’s how we want the
customers/prospects to respond and/or act. It must solve the consumer problem.

Marketing Objective:
This is your objective for advertising – It must be solved by the advertising objective.

Marketing Strategy

Product Positioning:
This is the general description of how the development is / should be positioned in
the minds of the customers. It’s a characterization of what makes your development
worth choosing.

Target Audience: This is how we define our prospects in terms of who they are:
• Demographics
• Affinity groups (associations)
• Relationship to development
1. New versus existing prospects
2. User/decision maker/buyer/influencer
• Segments

Competition:
This is a description of all that you’re up against

Direct competition – details competitors and competitor activities

Indirect competition – other choices (out of category)

Creative Strategy
This is the primary reason why the prospect will want to choose your development
over all others. It is the significant benefit that only your development provides is the
unique selling proposition

Main Idea(s) to Communicate:
(Features/Benefits/Reasons Why)
This is why the benefit is truly beneficial to the prospect – it is how the prospect can
envision the benefit to them. It is the solution to the Consumer Problem.

Call to Action: This is exactly what/how we want the prospect to respond.

Creative Considerations/BackgroundInformation:
Any/all other related information that should be considered in the creative process
that otherwise does not fit in the previous sections. Typically, it is a review of market
conditions/activity leading up to the Key Fact.

Net Impression:
The “Wow” statement, this is the consumer takeaway – the prevailing thought of
how the Consumer problem is overcome in the consumer’s mind.

Mandatory/Legal Requirements:
The complete list of everything that must be included with the communication

Deliverables/Schedule:

Quantity/ Budget:

1. Have a strategic plan and work it
2. Know your audience
3. Consider non-traditional media – garbage can wraps, floor stickers, building murals, etc.
4. If your competitors are zigging, you should zag
5. Make your message dramatize the benefit of what you’re selling
6. Make the product the hero – visually and verbally
7. Don’t shout at your readers – make them want to jump into your ad
8. Don’t make it look like advertising
9. Resist the usual
10. Entertain your audience

In January, I flew to Waterloo, Iowa to judge the AAF – Cedar Valley ADDY’s. It was definitely a career highlight, despite the fact that I had to take two flights – the first long, the second shorter, but on a prop jet that had to land on a snowy runway. Yikes.

Fortunately, my hosts in Waterloo were as warm as the temperature was cold. My hosts chauffeured me to a local business for the judging. The building had an auditorium where all of the entries were neatly and systematically displayed. Myself and two other judges – one a group creative director from a large agency in Minneapolis, the other a senior executive producer from a firm in Springfield, Illinois– were handed our own thick stacks of judging forms, organized by category to match the 300+ displayed entries.

After a briefing on how to score the entries and what point values constituted Silver and Gold awards, we were off and running. It was a blast. And it was the first time in my career I’ve gotten to judge work besides my own. I took the responsibility to heart and tried to be as fair as possible. Hey, these were people’s careers and egos I was messing with.

Like most creative work, some was mediocre. Some was respectable. And some was great. After looking at the print, we watched the TV and videos, and listened to the radio spots. The varying points of view from the judges made for lively discussion, but it was amazing to me just how often we were all on the same page in our opinions. We collaborated in choosing awards for “Best of Show” and best art direction and copywriting.

Finally, we were asked to participate in a video for the awards gala, sharing our thoughts on the work in the various categories. I told viewers they all got high marks just for living there in the wintertime! I learned that no matter where you go, those of us in this crazy business share the same commitment to do good work, meet good people, and enjoy good times. And if I’m ever asked to do it again, I’ll definitely be good to go.