Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

Who is your target audience? What are you trying to communicate with the tagline? What do you want your audience to do when they see your name/tagline?

Is this mostly for donors or for prospective customers? What important and unique benefit are you delivering to them? Why should they do whatever it is you want them to do? What's in it for them?

We can definitely help, but we need to understand the goal. How will you know when the right tagline shows up? What criteria will you use to pick the winner? Brief, catchy and creative are not particularly helpful adjectives. Better if we can understand your unique positioning benefit and primary target audience.

Thanks for the questions. Our target audience would be working parents looking for quality, safe before and afterschool child care. We want out tagline to communicate a safe, caring, fun and educational environment for children, as well as convenience and peace of mind for working parents. Children are dropped off at center before school, they are provided transportation to and from their schools, as well as a heathly snack and well supervised activities all afternoon. Staff are well educated, experienced and caring. Parents can go to work knowing their children will be safe and happy.

I want this message to translate not only to parents but potential donors as well.

Hope this helps! Thanks for your assistance!

OK. Let's see if we can set some priorities. If I read this right, parents are the most important target audience. Potential donors second. Right?

Where do these working parents live and work? Since convenience is one of the benefits, we should probably include something that tells them you're local (to somewhere). Where is this school? What state/province/city/country?

And among the adjectives you list -- safe, caring, fun, educational -- which is most important? I'm guessing it's CARING.

I'm thinking that "peace of mind" is probably the end benefit. Maybe, though, we can extend that to an end-end benefit ... that says the whole community will know you're a good/caring parent when you entrust your child to us; or that your children will thank you some day ...; or that CASTLE shows almost as much love/concern for your child as you do.

Somehow you have to tap into the emotional payoff for your target audience parents, not just describe the service you provide. Maybe the goal should be to mitigate the guilt at not being able to do it all for your kids (and still get to work, pick up the groceries, make dinner, etc.). Example: "Helping you be the best parent you can be," or "Why Silver City Parents are the best in the world."

Ithink conveying the emotional payoff is exactly where we want to go with this. A little backgound, we are a very trusted local center in Colcheste,CT. We have had waiting lists for the last 19 years because of positive word of mouth in the community. I often hear parents telling other prospective parents that if they want childcare once their child begins school they should put them on the waiting list for CASTLE as soon as they're born!

I want to convey this sense of trust, caring, committment to quality and peace of mind to new families and donors.

I really appreciate your thoughts on this. I would love to have a few more suggestios to bring to our Board retreat next week!

Thank you all for your responses. It's all been very helpful.