Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

It's important to know a few things about your business before we can really help you with a tagline.

First, what's the name of the business? Where is it located? Who is your primary target audience? What do they look for when selecting an accountant/bookkeeper? What benefit do you offer them that others don't?

Second, do you have a business/marketing plan for your business? If so, how do you expect your target audience to find you? Or will you find them? (If you don't have those plans, you probably ought to start by creating them. Then we can deal with the tagline.)

Third, how will you use the tagline? What is the objective of the tagline? What is it you're trying to communicate with the tagline? How will you know if it's doing what it's supposed to do?

Finally, how will you judge the taglines we suggest? What criteria will you use to pick a winner? If we know that, there is a much, much better chance that we can really help you. Without that kind of direction, it's like being blindfolded and trying to find the pinata somewhere in the same county. Not likely that we'll do it.

Let us help you. It's important that you get this right.

Found your website and got a few answers, at least to Q #1. Still need to get into the positioning issues because it looks like once the recession goes away so will your current selling proposition! (Not good.)

Thank you for the questions..here are some answers.....The bus. name is Lone Star Accounting, located in the Dallas TX area. Hence the name. My target audience will be new startups or existing businesses who can no longer afford an "in house" bookkeeper or acctg dept. They would usually be looking for trust, accuracy and cost savings. I have a website, www.lonestaracctg.com but that is mainly for info purposes only.

I do have a business & mktg plan. My intent is to find the new clients thru networking , direct mailing,word of mouth & referrals.

I plan to use the tagline on the website, marketing materials and bus cards. My objective is for the prospects to have something unique that will stick in their minds and make my company stand out over all the other accounting firms.

As for judging, if it hits me right and I love it I will know it..I've been struggling for weeks with this.

So correct about when the economy turns around...good catch thanks! At that point my target audience will still be startups and existing companies with an accent on the startups...I want to get their accounting functions set up correctly at the beginning so they can run the business, be creative, etc. knowing the accounting is running smoothly and effortlessly in the background.

There's still a problem with the positioning. You say:

"My objective [for the tagline] is for the prospects to have something unique that will stick in their minds and make my company stand out over all the other accounting firms."

The tagline doesn't CREATE the uniqueness. It expresses the uniqueness in a way that will be memorable. First we have to determine what makes you different from, and better than, other accounting firms in the Dallas market.

It's probably a good idea to zero in on start-ups, because whatever you promise them will likely apply to going businesses too, and you can really target your message to the start-ups so it's highly relevant to them. That alone may be a source of uniqueness in the market.

Good luck. I still have fond memories of Dallas, where I started (and sold) my first entrepreneurial venture!

Thank you all for your help. Out of the taglines accepted I will be able to make a decision. I appreciate your speedy replies.