Taglines and Titles might be two buzzwords you hear in the business world, but what’s the true purpose and impact behind them both?

Let’s back up a step… Brand messaging plays a huge role in how you’re remembered, if potential clients choose to work with you and whether you’re seen as credible and trustworthy by your audience. Both taglines and titles are an important part of your brand messaging to consider. 

If you confuse your audience with your messaging, they will look elsewhere. Plain and simple, because a confused mind always says “NO”.

In this blog post, we’re going to break down what a tagline is, what a title is, and guide you through whether or not you need both for your business (hint: in some cases, you might only need one, and in some you might need both)! 

What is a Tagline? 

I like to think of a tagline like a “verbal logo.” Just like your visual logo, it will be used across your brand, from your website, to your marketing collateral, to your business card. 

Your tagline is a succinct phrase that’s purpose is to help you become instantly recognizable to potential clients.

If you’re using your own name as your business name, it’s extra important that your tagline clearly communicates what you do (since your name does not). 

The best way to write a tagline for your business is to make it clear, concise, and memorable – when someone lands on your website or reads your business card, they should instantly understand what you offer by reading your tagline.

To achieve this clarity, before writing your tagline, you’ll want to brainstorm:

• What you do
• Who you do it for
• The biggest challenge/struggle you help your clients overcome
• The biggest benefits/results your clients receive

Now, your tagline doesn’t have to include all of these things, but it’s helpful to have them listed out for ideas before you start writing because these will be your building blocks for a clear and memorable tagline. 

For example, my tagline is: Empowering women entrepreneurs to create freedom, impact, and profit through authentic branding. This clearly communicates who I help (women entrepreneurs), how I help them (authentic branding) and the results they receive when working with me (freedom, impact and profit). 

A tagline is not the same as a title – it is meant to be supplementary to your title.

What is a Title? 

A title is what you call yourself – it’s the role you take on within your business. When choosing your title, it can be tempting to get creative – which is ok, as long as you’re not getting so creative that potential clients end up confused about what you do. 

A great title is one that clearly communicates what you do, is concise, and is specific. For example, “Brand Strategist,” “Digital Marketing Specialist,” and “Wedding Planner” all fit the criteria for a clear title. 

A confusing title is one that doesn’t clearly state what you do and is too vague – “Joy Magnetizer,” “Empowerment Coach,” and “Confidence Ignitor” are all titles that will leave potential clients confused as to what you can actually do for them – especially if you don’t have an effective tagline or the rest of your marketing is just as confusing. 

Don’t spend a lot of time trying to come up with a clever title. You have lots of opportunities elsewhere in your brand messaging to sprinkle in personality. Make it easy for your clients to understand what exactly you do – I recommend choosing a title that’s clear and concise and then moving on to more important things, like changing the world! 

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Do You Need Both a Tagline and a Title? 

Every business owner needs a clear title. 

While some can get away without a tagline, it’s something to consider adding to your brand messaging as it can help your potential clients feel more clear that you are the one for them. Your tagline can also give you a jumpstart on writing website or blog headlines and social media bios.

A mistake I often see is when a coach or service-based entrepreneur chooses three words as her title and uses these interchangeably as her tagline. 

Here’s a hypothetical example – Stephanie Chase: Coach. Speaker. Healer. 

This leaves so many questions in her potential audiences’ minds. Who do you coach, and for what? What do you speak about? Who do you heal? What type of healing do you do? The list could go on…

Her audience will need more information. 

In this case, Stephanie either needs to write a clearer title so she doesn’t need a tagline (she could elaborate on her website with strong headlines and clear website copy in lieu of a tagline), or she needs to write a separate title and tagline that support each other.

For example, if Stephanie is an emotional eating coach, her business name, title and tagline could read:

1. Stephanie Chase
2. Emotional Eating Coach
3. Helping women end their food battle

The most important thing to remember when choosing a title and tagline for your business is that they need to work in conjunction with your business name to clearly communicate what you do and for whom. While a title may be enough for some businesses to clearly get their message across, others may want to incorporate a tagline to further communicate their message.

If you want further guidance on writing a memorable tagline for your service-based business, join our Impact Tribe membership, where you’ll have access to my course: Cracking the Tagline Code. This course walks you through the tagline writing process with prompts and proven formulas so you can write your tagline in less time with less overwhelm.