Nancy Schwartz, of the Getting Attention nonprofit marketing blog, believes taglines are essential ingredients to success. According to Nancy:
In today's competitive marketing (including fundraising, of course) environment, nonprofit taglines must be strong enough to get attention and provoke questions.You can help Nancy with her research project on nonprofit taglines by taking this short online survey (click here).
Effective taglines complement an org's name, convey the unique value its delivers to its community and differentiates it from the competition? (Americorps' "Getting Things Done" is a great example of a tagline that works on all three fronts.)
But more often, nonprofit taglines are vague, ambiguous, over-reaching, too abstract or simply non-existent.
Unfortunately, there’s little available guidance for organizations striving to strengthen their taglines. That's why I'm making a special effort in 2008 to help nonprofit orgs craft better taglines.
Taglines can be great, but what I think most not-for-profits, as well as most businesses, are missing is a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). The USP applies equally to businesses and charities because it is a succinct statement of a single and unique reason why someone should give to you or do business with you rather than another charity or business.
ReplyDeleteToo many taglines are pithy and say nothing. In fact, not only is a USP a powerful statement, but the process of creating it is often even more powerful for the organization.
The USP makes you seriously look at the reason you were created and continue to exist. Put that way, perhaps it is needed by every individual as well.
Joshua C. Karlin
Marketing & Fundraising Ideas