How to write a tagline
A tagline is a short brand line, and it is not your positioning. April Dunford says positioning is not a tagline, and that you write one after the positioning is decided. Write one only when buyers can already see the category and the customer without it. If they cannot, publish the explanation and skip the line.
A tagline comes after the decision
Dunford separates positioning from the lines that express it. Messaging, a tagline, a brand story and a vision all require the positioning as an input. A tagline cannot carry the alternatives, the value, the customer and the category. A one-liner can carry the category and the customer. Use that when the first screen still has to explain what you are. Add a tagline only beside an explanation that already works.
Steps
Finish the five decisions
Alternatives, attributes, value, best-fit customer and category.
Pick one outcome they already say
A value theme, in their words.
Keep it short
It sits beside the one-liner. It does not replace the one-liner.
Cover the line and reread
The category and the customer must still be obvious on the first screen.
Drop it when the page gets worse
If the next paragraph has to explain the product, the line is not ready.
Illustrative first screens
| First screen | What a stranger can say |
|---|---|
| “Get time back.” | Nothing yet about billing, or about accounting firms |
| “Billing software for accounting firms whose owners still send the invoices.” | What it is, and who it is for |
| That one-liner, plus “Invoices go out the day the work is done.” | What it is, who it is for, and one outcome |
Fictional. Acme Billing is not a client. The test is what a stranger can say after the first screen alone.
FAQs
Is the homepage headline a tagline?
Not when it states the category or the outcome. A headline that only sets a mood, and needs a paragraph under it, leaves the visitor without an explanation.
Where does a tagline go if we write one?
Beside the explanation, once the explanation is clear. It does not replace the five decisions on the positioning canvas.
What if the team already loves a line?
Keep it if a stranger can still say what you sell with that line covered. If they cannot, the line is decoration.