Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

Gary (NuCoPro) has given you good advice.

I'd suggest that "technology" is too vague. Do you fix computers? Networks? Phone wiring? VOIP? Train? Give me a clue to the benefit in the slogan, for example: Boosting Employee's Computer Efficiency

I have to agree with NuCoPro - "technology" is a meaningless word that could refer to hundreds of different services or products.

That being said, tag lines do play an important role in setting expectations. It's part of that instant appraisal and judgment by your prospective customers. You want them to read the tag line and know that they're right where they need to be, that you are exactly what they need. In my humble opinion, your name, while quite good (gives the impression of strength, boldness), doesn't tell us what you do or why we should give you any further attention.

Is there anything else you can tell us about what specific services you are offering? What problems do you solve? What do you do that will save your customer money, help them make more money, or take away some of their pain? In other words, what's in it for them?

"Technological Business Success"
"Technology to Exceed in Your Business"
"Technology to Succeed in Your Business"
"Profitable Solution to your Business"
"Technological Advance to your Business"

"Technological Business Success"
"Technology to Exceed in Your Business"
"Technology to Succeed in Your Business"
"Profitable Solution to your Business"
"Technological Advance to your Business"

I would like to start by thanking all of you for your time and input. I really do appreciate your different perspectives.

I have in my mind what I am planning to do but I haven't taken the time to be able to verbalize it. I knew this would push me to think it through some more.

In the beginning of course starting a new business I will do pretty much anything that will keep the cash flow positive. But I plan to concentrate mainly on a few different areas that I see a need for in the SMB market especially the small size businesses.

1. Developing and implementing a disaster recovery plan. For most businesses this will mainly consist of a sound backup strategy for their data infrastructure.

2. Assisting small businesses in moving to a server based environment.

3. Developing business intelligence reporting like dashboards and other tools that will allow executives and other members of management to wade through tons of data to get down to the key performance indicators for there specific role with the organization to make better and quicker business decisions.

I do not want to get in the rut of portraying what we do as fixing computers. Naturally there will be computer support involved but I would like to move more from a reactive break/fix environment to a proactive environment. I have a passion for helping businesses see technology as a tool to make their business more profitable and efficient rather than a necessary evil that just costs them money.

It seems as though most of the IT staff at a company decides on the technology first then adapts the business requirements and model around the technology. Instead of looking at the business model, where the business is going, and what they are trying to accomplish then finding a solution that fits the best. So I would like to help bridge the gap with executive management and the IT department.

I hope all that makes sense. I just quickly tried to verbalize what is in my head.

That is really good advice NuCoPro. I guess by small businesses I mean companies with 3M+ revenue and 50+ employees. So the high end of small and lower end of mid-size businesses.

If i am not wrong,its not just a software manufacturing company..You are offering

1. recovery plan ( i.e., IDEAS)

2. ASSISTANCE for server based environment
( you are not providing physical help....again providing IDEAS)

3.DEVELOPING tools ( here is different....DEVELOPMENT)

Now all the above are related to technical environment directly or indirectly..so we can't use 'your business problem'..cause we have limited scope...right?

Also, the word 'Business' looks unnecessary...I mean who else will buy your service or product?...if its individual who is willing to pay u, u r going to deny him or what?

One more thing to notice is all services & product you are offering are related to 'computer' directly or indirectly..

So, according to me following slogans fit in a bill:

"Explore Ideas....till the root....Know the computers"

Or

"Explore Ideas....till the root....Know the technology"

Or

"Know us...Know Development"
( If your main focus is on development)

Or

"Our Ideas and Development
......your step closer to business"

( but this slogan doesn't indicate if your business is related to computers if thats what you want)

Or if you don't want the word Idea and development
then you may go for:

"why wait to handshake with us?
why wait to handshake with technology?"

Or totally unrelated to words technology,Idea and development like:

"We can compromise anything...except Customer satisfaction "

( this is in general...even if you extend your small company & start giving other services)

These are all from my small brain..... :)
i wish you will get slogan of your choice...
take care...

Good advice here.

You need to start by understanding your target audience better. Not just what their sales revenues are or how many people they employ, but how they think, what they value, how they make decisions, where they go now when they need IT services, what they like in suppliers and what they don't like, etc.

Once you have that down pat, you'll be able to develop a positioning for your business that is unique and competitive. And then it's time to deal with the name and the slogan or tagline ... if you think you need one. It kind of depends on your overall marketing strategy.

How do you expect to generate leads and pursue hot prospects? Think that through before you spend too much time on slogans. The marketing strategies and plans, formal or informal, come BEFORE anything else.

Try.. "Solutions Driven...By Us"

My comment parallels a few of the excellent suggestions you've gotten so far, but your goal must be to help prospects internalize your tag deeply enough for each to think--"Yeah, now that's what I need!"

You have to look at the world through potential customers' eyes, as you've heard many times. By trying to frame yourself as a "technology" or even "solutions" company you're actually reminding owners of how other people define them, not how they see their own business issues and priorities.

So visit the sites of a few perfect prospects and copy their home-page content into one of the keyword research sites like wordtracker or keyworddiscovery. Get a "tagcloud" of their home page content to see what words or phrases they use the most. Then you can fashion a few very short, dynamic tag lines built with those keywords. Don't forget to test alternatives and see which of them blows up the most skirts.

Without knowing anything about your prospects, I suggest making your company name Oakley and Ross. Then your tagline could be "The And Company." Depending on your targeted industries, connect some of those tagcloud winners around "And": "Exploration And Exploitation," "Technology And Business," "Diversified And Focused" etc. "And" has been used prominently before in marketing tags; but if sandwiched between words with enough evocative muscle, the word still resonates. Whatever you can do to keep the line just a few syllables long will also help your bottom line.

And in every communication piece, find various ways to suggest that Oakley And Ross "gets" technology trajectory--in other words, that you're already thinking beyond "Web 2.0" to "Business Web 3.0."

Good luck!

You can go to www.ideasahead.co.nr ...these guys provide ideas with minimal or no charge i think

Hii..
"Helping businesses implement profitable technology solutions" doesn't look good.....
its quite biggggg......

how is 'shake hands with us..shake hands with technology?'

but again technology word is common..
you will get help at ideasahead.co.nr or any other site...but these sites charge money..if u r not willing to pay then search in other free sites...but dont opt for really bad slogan

I appreciate everyones time and comments. I think I am going to go with NuCoPro's advice and go with something generic or nothing at all for now. I don't need anything clever to build the business I just need to take care of my client. I will work on a tagline when I better define my target market and decide in more specifics what I am going t o do. Thanks again.