The Law Firm Tagline:

Brand statement or meaningless jargon?

At one time or another, nearly every law firm contemplates the creation and use of a
tagline. This simple statement aims to distill the firm's unique value proposition into a
few memorable words. When successful, a tagline can be a powerful shorthand statement
of a brand. But too often, it becomes a design-by-committee phrase intended to please
everyone, but inspiring no one. Writing a tagline is like writing haiku: it’s easy to write a
lot of bad ones, and far more challenging to write one good one. But if you apply the
necessary discipline and creativity to the process, your tagline can be a powerful tool for
gaining mindshare with your audience.

How NOT to Write a Tagline

Here’s the secret recipe for a not-so-great tagline: Gather a large number of people in the
room…have everyone share as many ideas as possible…use one word from each person’s
idea…try to make the tagline as long as possible so that it includes everything your
company offers…take the three top choices and have everyone in the company, their
spouses and their kids vote on it…pick the winner based on the most votes…repeat the
process next year to come up with a new tagline.

OK, that’s a bit extreme, but it’s not too far from the way some organizations approach
the process. Fortunately, there is a better way.

Tagline 101

So how do you develop a truly compelling tagline? Here are a few principles for success: 

1. Remember who your audience is. In most cases, your tagline is aimed at prospective
clients who don’t yet know you. The secondary audience is your existing clients. The
important thing is to write the tagline from an external perspective. A tagline is not a
company mission statement (more on that below). 

2. Determine what kind of tagline you need. Is it merely a descriptive phrase to clarify
what you do? Is it meant to position your organization against competing firms? Maybe
the goal is to pose a provocative question that gets your audience thinking.

3. Let the tagline grow out of your unique value proposition. A tagline’s goal is to
differentiate you from your competition—to compel a prospect to put you on the shortlist
of firms to interview. Too often taglines of competing law firms are so similar that they
are indistinguishable to potential clients looking for cues on which one to hire. So it's
important to creatively put some distance between your organization and the rest of the
pack. 
4. Don’t confuse a mission statement with a tagline. A mission statement is, by its nature,
focused inwardly.

A tagline is addressed to outsiders. And here’s a quick thought on mission statements:

perhaps a company should never share its mission statement with clients and prospects.
The mission should be so deeply cherished by the firm’s partners and associates, adhered
to with such great passion by staff, and so thoroughly evidenced in day-to-day operations
that you would never actually need to say it to outsiders. They should be able to tell you
what your mission is.

5. Avoid the words of tagline death. These are words that everybody claims, and when
added to one another, produce a bland, verbal gruel that no one remembers. These are the
buzz-killers that prevent your brand from getting traction with future clients.

The top four words to avoid are: 

• Quality

• Service

• Commitment

• Excellence

Smart, busy people like you just gloss over words like that, right? You hear them too
many times, from too many companies, in too many industries. No doubt, your firm does
something better than anyone else on the planet. What exactly is it? Start there, and then
find the most concrete, visceral, creative words to describe it. (Tip: Let nouns and verbs
do the heavy lifting in your new tagline, and avoid too many adjectives).

Types of Taglines

Once committed to the tagline process, the first question to ask is which type of tagline is
best for your organization. Tagline types can be categorized as follows:

Descriptive: The goal is simply to clarify what your organization does. This can be
helpful for a new entrant into its market, or perhaps a company whose name or initials are
not self-explanatory. Often these descriptive taglines are incorporated into the company
logo.

Concept Ownership: A tagline—if well worded and frequently repeated—can enable

your company to “own” a word in the customer’s mind. Go to Meeting’s tagline “Online
Meetings Made Easy” is a good example of owning the word “easy.” Every online
conference provider can deliver a meeting; but “easy” is a great concept to own,
especially with so many non-technical people embracing teleconferencing for the first
time.
When we were hired for the re-branding for Holland & Hart a few years ago, the tagline
"The Law Out West" emerged as a powerful positioning statement to clients and
prospects both within and outside the Rocky Mountain region, affirming that Holland &
Hart "owned" the title as undisputed leader in the region.

What’s the one word (or short phrase) your company can own?

Differentiating: A tagline that differentiates is one that sets your firm apart from others,
promising one core virtue that you can credibly claim above all others. Citibank’s “Citi
Never Sleeps” is a creative differentiator as it suggests that while other banks are asleep,
Citibank is wide awake looking out for you. The play on words gives Citibank a
sophisticated, metropolitan feel—like New York City, the city that never sleeps.

Anticipatory: The approach here is to paint a picture of the future—of what the client's
life will be like with you as their vendor/partner/provider. Lending Tree’s “When Banks
Compete, You Win” is a great example of this.

Aspirational: These taglines connect your organization to the dreams and goals of your
audience. The US Army’s “Be All You Can Be” is a classic example of this. Regis
University’s “Learners Becoming Leaders” is another good example. It’s short, it uses
alliteration, and has a compelling aspirational element: prospective students immediately
identify the university as a place to achieve their dreams of making a difference in the
world.

Creating an Effective Tagline

The tagline creation process is essentially one of reduction—of taking your firm's
“elevator pitch” and reducing it down to one intriguing phrase that differentiates you
from everyone else. As with all brand-building efforts, this usually means claiming one
thing that you’ll defend at all costs, even if it means leaving some desirable turf to
others.You simply can’t be everything to everybody. (By the way, this highly focused
approach to branding dovetails perfectly, from a management perspective, with Jim
Collins’ “hedgehog concept” in the landmark book, Good to Great).

Generally speaking, the fewer words, the better when writing a tagline. Sony’s new
tagline “Make.Believe” gets the job done with just two. It uses a clever play on the word
“make-believe” to communicate the company’s ability to deliver technology that enables
people to make their own media and also to enjoy realistic, believable home
entertainment in high definition.

At the risk of sounding like a grammar nerd, it might be helpful to point out that most
taglines will end up in either the indicative, imperative or interrogatory form—a
statement, a command or a question. It’s worth examining which form is best for your
brand. Indicative statements are best for describing what you do. Imperative commands
are a bit bolder—you’re actually telling your audience what to do. Questions like UPS’s
“What Can Brown Do for You”? are for getting people to think, and reconsider their
assumptions.

It helps to use words creatively—a play on words or dual meanings have a way of getting
people to stop and think. Adidas’ “Impossible is Nothing” is a great example of a tagline
that does both. The reverse of the expected word order is rather curious, creates new
meaning and inspires the consumer- athlete to greatness.

A Great Exercise for Your Firm's Leaders

The tagline development process can be an invigorating exercise for your executive team.
It can be thought provoking as you are forced to answer the question: “What really makes
us better/different from everybody else?” It is often useful to survey your employees and
clients with questions that ask what the firm means to them at a personal level. It’s even
good to hear what competitors and non-clients think.

As Hulu CEO Jason Kilar once said, “Our brand is what people say about us when we're
not in the room.” In this inquiry into the roots of your brand, you’re not merely asking for
suggestions for a tagline, but rather how in their own words people would describe the
value, feelings and benefits they derive from their connection with your organization.
Very often they will phrase things in a way that cuts through the clutter with compelling
simplicity. And from those comments, you just might discover the keys to a great tagline.

David Heitman is the president of The Creative Alliance, an award-winning branding

and public relations firm specializing in law firm marketing. He can be contacted
at†david@thecreativealliance.com

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