Differentiating yourself in the digital ecosystem with a tagline

Creating a strong digital identity is one of the challenges facing SMEs and freelancers who want to stand out in their sector and in the digital sphere. This enhances their differentiation and also helps them to be remembered and even loved more.

Some basic aspects when creating a digital identity that will help the business grow are:

• Having a name -or naming- that is memorable, simple and related to the company's activity. In addition, the web domain should be directly related to that name or as similar as possible. This will make online searches more efficient.

• Create a logo with a visual personality that is also memorable, differentiates itself from its competitors and has a design that will stand the test of time.

• Develop a visual ecosystem with useful graphic resources to create digital pieces such as the website, social media profiles, a newsletter, corporate reports and presentations or any other visual element of the company. Some of these resources can be a colour palette, a family of icons, a specific typography and a defined style for illustrations, photographs or videos. With all this, the brand's personality expands to all points of contact with audiences.

• Define a tone and style of communication that identifies the SME or freelancer when addressing their audiences, collaborators or employees.

• It is also interesting to define the tags or labels that the SME or freelancer uses on a regular basis in their social network publications. In this way, it is also promoted to be located in the top positions when searching for a specific topic in a specific sector.

What is a tagline and how does it help to promote a brand?

We know what a tagline is because most of the big brands we know have one. There are many examples, but the most famous are Nike's "Just Do It", Apple's "Think Different", L'Oreal's "Because you're worth it" or LG's "Life's Good".

As we see in the examples above, these short phrases accompanying logos are descriptors that capture the essence of the brand and help audiences understand its attitude and purpose. They succeed, therefore, in differentiating brands and endowing them with a unique personality beyond their direct competition.

A tagline is a short, original descriptor that gives a brand's personality and promotes its recognition over its competition.

If a tagline is well constructed, brief, original, eye-catching and compelling, it is a great help for a company, regardless of its size, to be recognised and remembered in the vast digital universe.

Recommendations for creating a tagline

If you think that adding an original descriptor to your brand can help you differentiate yourself in your sector, here are some guidelines for creating one:

1. Firstly, study the taglines of other companies in your sector. Be ambitious and study both large and small companies for inspiration. The idea of this first phase of research is to locate the most brilliant taglines and analyse why they are so.

2. Secondly, spend time thinking about what you want to communicate with your tagline. For example, the personality of your brand, the quality of your products or services, what you contribute to society or what attitude represents you as a professional or company.

3. Thirdly, start collecting ideas that are really interesting. Discard all those that are similar to other taglines and all those that you consider do not represent your SME.

4. Fourth, with a short list of three taglines, make a final reflection. Search for all of them on the web to check that they do not exist or that other companies are already using them. If so, be careful, as this may be considered plagiarism and legal action may be taken.

5. And, fifthly, decide on the tagline that will accompany your brand. Once it is defined, you should register it, for example at the Patent and Trademark Office. You can also find out about this step at WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

And, if you consider that having a tagline can be beneficial for your business but you find the creative process complex, there are expert professionals -such as namers and copywriters- who can help you if you have the budget to do so.

Where to implement it?

When it's created and registered, it's time to link your brand to your tagline to represent the essence of your business or activity. For it to have a positive impact and help you gain recognition, you need to implement it:

• Along with your logo, so that it is visible accompanying your brand.

• In your social media description.

• In all presentations, reports and digital materials you generate.

• In the descriptor of your website.

• On your business cards, both physical and digital.

• On any other physical or digital piece that is characteristic of your SME, such as packaging or boxes, or online publications.

This way, little by little, you will achieve that descriptor is associated with your brand and it will be easier for audiences to relate it to the activity you develop and with a unique personality in the market. With this, you will undoubtedly gain prominence.

As explained at the beginning of this post, competition is increasing, so the idea of having your own tagline will surely help you to be more recognised and to position yourself better in search engines. Therefore, we encourage you to take a step further in creating a digital identity that expresses your potential!