On a similar note, I would avoid slogans. A slogan is meant to be a catchy motto that people will associate with you. Really it is the verbal equivalent of a logo.

Statements like ‘Saving you money, every day’ or something along those lines, is really not differentiating you in any way against every other Mortgage Broker out there, and it doesn’t even explain what it is you do. It could describe a lot of industries that claim to save people money. Just like with logos, unless you are going to spend big trying to popularise it, it’s not going to catch on, and it requires the context of people knowing you are a Mortgage Broker.

 

Just imagine you were in front of someone and they asked what you do and you replied ‘Saving you money, every day’. You would likely be asked to explain your vague answer, which means it has failed in explaining quickly what you do and why they should care.

It’s good to have a short marketing statement that defines you, but it has to be meaningful and not something that could just as easily be applied to a different business or industry altogether. It needs to be tied to who you are and what you do and who you do it for. Generic wishy-washy slogans will be treated as such and forgotten quickly.

Alternatively, have a short statement that simply says what you do and who you do it for. I call this your ‘Defining Statement’. Something like ‘Specialist in getting home loans for first home buyers’ achieves this. Sure it’s not as creative and exciting as the clever slogan you hope will go viral, but it naturally leads the person to think of prospective first home buyers they know, or possibly they are one themselves and now know you are relevant for them.

Who said that? – Buyers don’t recognize some slogans

“Slogans are losers.

At least, many are, according to a consumer survey by brand consultancy Emergence.

Among tag lines for 22 of the nation’s biggest marketers, only six were recognized by more than 10% of those surveyed — this for companies spending more than $100 million a year on ads.

It gets worse. Three slogans — Circuit City (‘We’re with you’), Kmart (‘The stuff of life’) and Staples (‘That was easy’) — scored an embarrassing 0% recognition.

This is no small matter. Advertisers will spend more than $250 billion domestically in the next year. A solid chunk of that is focused on making each company’s tag line memorable.

“These findings are a wake-up call to Corporate America,” says Kelly O’Keefe, CEO of Emergence. The findings also might represent a needed wake-up call to the country’s big ad agencies, whose livelihoods depend on consumers remembering the images, jingles and one-liners they create.

Most slogans don’t work, O’Keefe says, because consumers are too smart — or cynical — to believe them.

Only Wal-Mart’s ‘Always low prices. Always.’ was recognized by more than half (64% actually) of the 1,021 consumers phoned in mid-July. The poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

“Low price is the lifeblood here,” says Wal-Mart spokesman Tom Williams. “We take it very, very seriously.” So seriously, in fact, that the slogan also appears on all 30,000 Wal-Mart trucks and on the front of every Wal- Mart.”

Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY, September 2003