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AtricleZine - Strong Nonprofit Taglines - Seven Dos and Don'ts
Your low cost competitors will not just nibble at your low price segment, they want to eat your lunchMany industry leaders are faced with a sea of changes in the marketplace, particularly the onslaught of many low cost competitors. They are minnows and will grow to become sharks if they are not nipped in the bud. Examples abound on the proliferation of the Chinese products in the world market.The way to handle these manufacturers is to try to nip them in the bud. It is like war. You must
"Providing Medical Relief Worldwide" Doctors Without Borders
Make sure it's easy to pronounce and spell, and sounds pleasant to the ear. Don't make your audiences struggle. Remember, they're your best communicators via word of mouth.
DON'Ts
Don't be generic. Be specific and as emotive as possible.
Weak "Building a Better New York"
This tagline could represent a construction firm or the mayor's office. In reality, it's the tagline of a nonprofit providing legal services to other nonprofits.
Powerful "Connecting Lawyers and Communities" &
Modacrylic fibres are mainly used as the flame retardant component in household textiles and functional fabrics such as blankets in planes. Cationic dyeable polyester is frequently found in top-fashion sports and leisurewear, while blends of cationic dyeable polyamide with standard polyamide increase the variety of shades that can be obtained on carpets using the differential dyeing method. Work wear made from m-aramid fibres such as Nomex protect fire-fighters in extreme conditions and fireproof overalls mad
Case Study: Does Smokey the Bear's tagline work, or not?
Lets take a look at the widely-recognized Smokey the Bear tagline as a great example. Most of you are familiar with this one: "Only you can prevent wildfires." I admire its brevity, focus and emphasis on call to action. And the tagline really succeeds in engaging audiences, as it places a great deal of responsibility for preventing forest fires on "you."
Comment
However, a colleague had another perspective to offer: "There's a problem with this tagline in terms of framing. I often read how wildfires result from public policy decisions about forest and prairie use and development. But this tagline limits public thinking about other ways of solving wildfire problems, and cuts short the public debate about land use."
Response
Very good point, but from my perspective, a tagline can't cover everything. If it's crafted to do so, it tends to be too long or too vague. As a result, broad taglines generally fail.
First thing, I reviewed the Smokey the Bear mission and saw that its primary focus is on educating individuals on how they can prevent forest fires. Although Smokey articulates development policies as one of four key reasons for forest fires, Smokey's website cites that 50% of forest fires are man-made.
Not only that, Smokey focuses on educating individuals on forest fires and engaging them in the fight against fires, including advocacy. So "you" in the tagline is not to exclude the notion of non-man-made fires but to engage audiences through the use of a very personal voice. See the website for more details: http://www.smokeybear.com/wildfires.asp
What are the dos and don'ts of powerful nonprofit taglines?
Tagline Dos and Don'ts
DOs
Ensure that your tagline works together with your organization's name, positioning statement and key messages. The words in the tagline should be found in your positioning statement and key messages. Consistency of message is the name of the game.
Emphasize action and/or emotion. Use verbs, not just nouns. You want your nonprofit's tagline to actively engage your audience.
Examples that work:
"Explore, enjoy and protect the planet." Sierra Club
"Saving babies, together" March of Dimes
"Providing Medical Relief Worldwide" Doctors Without Borders
Make sure it's easy to pronounce and spell, and sounds pleasant to the ear. Don't make your audiences struggle. Remember, they're your best communicators via word of mouth.
DON'Ts
Don't be generic. Be specific and as emotive as possible.
Weak "Building a Better New York"
This tagline could represent a construction firm or the mayor's office. In reality, it's the tagline of a nonprofit providing legal services to other nonprofits.
Powerful "Connecting Lawyers and Communities" &
Higher education enrollment is changing due to distance learning via the internet. It may be difficult to ascertain just how many people are choosing to study on-line rather than attend traditional universities, but at the Eduventures conference in Boston in mid-October, an interesting figure was cited: by 2008 1 in 10 college students will be an e-learner.Aside from the experiential differences between brick-and-mortar and e-classrooms, many other issues are worth considering. For instance, in March of
However, a colleague had another perspective to offer: "There's a problem with this tagline in terms of framing. I often read how wildfires result from public policy decisions about forest and prairie use and development. But this tagline limits public thinking about other ways of solving wildfire problems, and cuts short the public debate about land use."
Response
Very good point, but from my perspective, a tagline can't cover everything. If it's crafted to do so, it tends to be too long or too vague. As a result, broad taglines generally fail.
First thing, I reviewed the Smokey the Bear mission and saw that its primary focus is on educating individuals on how they can prevent forest fires. Although Smokey articulates development policies as one of four key reasons for forest fires, Smokey's website cites that 50% of forest fires are man-made.
Not only that, Smokey focuses on educating individuals on forest fires and engaging them in the fight against fires, including advocacy. So "you" in the tagline is not to exclude the notion of non-man-made fires but to engage audiences through the use of a very personal voice. See the website for more details: http://www.smokeybear.com/wildfires.asp
What are the dos and don'ts of powerful nonprofit taglines?
Tagline Dos and Don'ts
DOs
Ensure that your tagline works together with your organization's name, positioning statement and key messages. The words in the tagline should be found in your positioning statement and key messages. Consistency of message is the name of the game.
Emphasize action and/or emotion. Use verbs, not just nouns. You want your nonprofit's tagline to actively engage your audience.
Examples that work:
"Explore, enjoy and protect the planet." Sierra Club
"Saving babies, together" March of Dimes
"Providing Medical Relief Worldwide" Doctors Without Borders
Make sure it's easy to pronounce and spell, and sounds pleasant to the ear. Don't make your audiences struggle. Remember, they're your best communicators via word of mouth.
DON'Ts
Don't be generic. Be specific and as emotive as possible.
Weak "Building a Better New York"
This tagline could represent a construction firm or the mayor's office. In reality, it's the tagline of a nonprofit providing legal services to other nonprofits.
Powerful "Connecting Lawyers and Communities" &
In real battle between two countries, the winner mobilizes more energy, troops, arteries, vehicles to calculated locations and forges them against the rival army in a technique to combat them at their weakest territories.Now I wish to explain the word strategy, the war management technique with another example.Karate Vs Sumo: Learn another war management technique!Karate:He is an active teenage boy, tall and lean in structure. He wanted to learn a matching mart
Not only that, Smokey focuses on educating individuals on forest fires and engaging them in the fight against fires, including advocacy. So "you" in the tagline is not to exclude the notion of non-man-made fires but to engage audiences through the use of a very personal voice. See the website for more details: http://www.smokeybear.com/wildfires.asp
What are the dos and don'ts of powerful nonprofit taglines?
Tagline Dos and Don'ts
DOs
Ensure that your tagline works together with your organization's name, positioning statement and key messages. The words in the tagline should be found in your positioning statement and key messages. Consistency of message is the name of the game.
Emphasize action and/or emotion. Use verbs, not just nouns. You want your nonprofit's tagline to actively engage your audience.
Examples that work:
"Explore, enjoy and protect the planet." Sierra Club
"Saving babies, together" March of Dimes
"Providing Medical Relief Worldwide" Doctors Without Borders
Make sure it's easy to pronounce and spell, and sounds pleasant to the ear. Don't make your audiences struggle. Remember, they're your best communicators via word of mouth.
DON'Ts
Don't be generic. Be specific and as emotive as possible.
Weak "Building a Better New York"
This tagline could represent a construction firm or the mayor's office. In reality, it's the tagline of a nonprofit providing legal services to other nonprofits.
Powerful "Connecting Lawyers and Communities" &
Advising others to change career sounds very simple and a workable proposition. When it comes to us, it becomes one of the toughest decisions to implement. A career change needs lot of mental preparation. If you have a family, that may get disrupted by your career change. The income may stop for some time. The decision itself may turn out to be a wrong one. It needs mental strength to change career. Let us see what it requires.A change of career shifts us from a comfort zone to a zone full of discomfort
Tagline Dos and Don'ts
DOs
Ensure that your tagline works together with your organization's name, positioning statement and key messages. The words in the tagline should be found in your positioning statement and key messages. Consistency of message is the name of the game.
Emphasize action and/or emotion. Use verbs, not just nouns. You want your nonprofit's tagline to actively engage your audience.
Examples that work:
"Explore, enjoy and protect the planet." Sierra Club
"Saving babies, together" March of Dimes
"Providing Medical Relief Worldwide" Doctors Without Borders
Make sure it's easy to pronounce and spell, and sounds pleasant to the ear. Don't make your audiences struggle. Remember, they're your best communicators via word of mouth.
DON'Ts
Don't be generic. Be specific and as emotive as possible.
Weak "Building a Better New York"
This tagline could represent a construction firm or the mayor's office. In reality, it's the tagline of a nonprofit providing legal services to other nonprofits.
Powerful "Connecting Lawyers and Communities" &
I recently went through a batch of new and year old graduates and after parsing (testing, interviewing) 40 odd prospects only made two offers. How do you improve your chances as a candidate. What are some of the questions I would/should ask?The key attribute that distinguishes an outstanding small business employee is self awareness. In the last 13 years I have found self aware candidates to be more productive, more loyal, more resourceful and far easier to manage than candidates who were not.Here
"Providing Medical Relief Worldwide" Doctors Without Borders
Make sure it's easy to pronounce and spell, and sounds pleasant to the ear. Don't make your audiences struggle. Remember, they're your best communicators via word of mouth.
DON'Ts
Don't be generic. Be specific and as emotive as possible.
Weak "Building a Better New York"
This tagline could represent a construction firm or the mayor's office. In reality, it's the tagline of a nonprofit providing legal services to other nonprofits.
Powerful "Connecting Lawyers and Communities"
From the same kind of nonprofit in another city.
Don't craft a tagline your organization can't stand behind 100%. Your nonprofit has to be able to deliver what you promise. When you do so, your organization reaffirms its credibility. When you don't, you lose any you may have.
Don't launch your tagline before trying it out. Before committing yourself to your top choice, get feedback from at least 10 members of key internal and external audiences. You may discover one of two things: They just don't get it, or you don't feel 100% comfortable with it yourself.
Don't change your tagline more than once a decade. Your audiences will remember it and, unless your nonprofit changes its programs and services drastically, there's value in keeping the same tagline for a decade or so.
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