Creating Coaching Taglines that Titillate
Want to spice up your coaching brand? Need to communicate how you’re different from other coaches? Not sure how to go about communicating your competitive advantage? Using a tagline can be a great way to explain how your coaching practice can benefit your ideal clients while also helping to define your coaching brand.
What is a tagline?
It’s a short positioning phrase or slogan that serves to explain what a company does for its clients. It can be considered a branding tool or a marketing angle that can help coaches attract the audience they most want to work with.
Back in the days of advertising agencies like those portrayed in the TV show Mad Men, taglines were called slogans. These days, they are also known as benefit statements or positioning statements. This post will help you understand tagline concepts as well as provide tips on getting the most out this branding concept so that you can apply it to your coaching business.
Positioning
Have you ever noticed how a slogan can completely change a brand? Often, a business name is not enough to tell prospective clients what they need to know in order to make a hiring decision. When a business name is accompanied by a tagline, it can complete the brand and help to sell your services.
Here’s a company name without a slogan: Excellence Coaching.
This company could specialize in almost any type of coaching. It’s unclear whether there is any focus or expertise in a specific area.
Here’s the same company name with a slogan: Excellence Coaching, Helping Leaders Shine
Now it’s apparent that the firm coaches leaders and helps them become the best they can be.
Evolution
Slogans are used for various reasons. Some serve to motivate. Others serve to explain. The best slogans are those that are short, to the point and help to highlight the benefits of hiring your firm. Yet your slogan can evolve as your skills grow.
When I began my coaching career in 2004, my tagline was very simple. I was coaching anyone who walked in the door and thus my slogan was suitable for the masses. But as I changed strategic direction, my tagline changed as well.
I found that as my coaching skills became more sophisticated, the clients I most wanted to work with became more targeted. My branding evolved as I changed. I’ve changed my slogan several times now yet my evolution is still ongoing.
What is the optimal length of a tagline?
My personal opinion is that a slogan loses its appeal after seven or eight words. Think about the typical attention span in this day and age. With our focus on the Internet, smart phones, and getting information quickly, a slogan needs to be concise. If it’s too wordy, we lose attention; so keeping it short is the key.
Varieties
There are several types of taglines suitable for professional coaches. Deciding your approach hinges on what you want to convey. Are you in the early stages of coaching? Do you specialize in a subject-matter niche that you want to highlight? Do you serve a specific industry or profession?
Benefits of a good coaching tagline:
- Set yourself apart from other coaches.
- Define your client experience.
- Elicit strong emotions about the work you do.
- Paint a picture of your brand personality.
- Tell prospective clients what they will achieve by working with you.
Here are a few sample coaching slogans:
- Wellness: Improving Health * Improving Life
- Future-focused: Building a Better Life
- Right-brained: Create the Life You Love
- Abundance: Turning Purpose Into Prosperity
- Learning: Growing Skills * Achieving Happiness
- Motivational: Just Live Your Best Life!
- Inspirational: Growing Your Dreams
Here are coaching taglines that target a niche client:
- Leadership coaching for women: Inspiring Women to Lead
- Business coaching for financial advisors: Helping Financial Advisors Build Wealth
- Coaching for business owners: Get Your Business Edge
What do you do with a tagline?
Finish off your business card by putting your slogan somewhere near your company name on the front of the card.
Use it in your website banner to allude to the benefit clients will receive from working with your coaching firm.
Say it on your voicemail message and send visitors to your website.
Use it on your brochure to reinforce your brand.
As you can see, there are many benefits to using a positioning statement in your coaching practice. Imagine the excitement you can create by going deeper into the benefits your clients can receive from working with you. Think about the possibilities!
Suzanne Muusers (USA)
Suzanne Muusers is a business coach for financial advisors who is passionate about taglines and branding. She works with financial advisors and financial firm executives helping them develop deeper business goals by working on their business plans. Suzanne served on the board of ICF Phoenix from 2008-2010 as vice president of marketing and public relations.
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Thanks Suzzane!
very interesting, good job and thanks for sharing such a good blog
I love those examples Suzanne. The tagline puts some great energy into your brand and is so effective for when people arrive at your website and you either lose them within a few seconds or they’re instantly engaged.
Great tips.
Rachel, yes engagement is key. When you can set the tone of what you offer right off the bat, it helps to keep your visitors focused on how you can help them.
Thanks, brilliant information. We have just updated ours to: Transforming your challenges into Opportunities Prior to the launch of our new website
So I will be passing your info to my partner to read to ensure we are both congruent with our intended meaning.
Thanks
Joslyn, Yes, it’s a good idea to be on the same page as your partner. Having a similar vision and idea for whom you work best with and then attracting them via your tagline, well that’s a winning strategy!
What a great article! Coaches who differentiate their Brand with a strong tagline educate potential clients on the value they can bring them through Coaching. This makes closing the Coaching sale much easier. And, of course creates client attraction.
Your examples are wonderful! What a great road map for Coaches on how to create their own taglines. Many Coaches I know would benefit from your Marketing Coaching to help them create attractive taglines, strengthen their brand, and bring discipline to their marketing efforts.
Thanks Donna for your kind words. We are not born natural marketers, but we CAN learn to adopt tools and techniques that not only help us be better coaches, but also help us attract more clients! Thanks for commenting.
Appreciate it pertaining to share………. I’m hoping in long term it’ll be truly of great help for all of us……
Hi Suzanne,
I am considering my coaching tag line to include:
“Helping executives unlock their power within.”
The focus is helping successful executives overcome obstacles to achieve their maximum potential.
-M
great post , thanks alot
This is a great article. The umbrella company that my coaching business falls under is my name followed by LLC. I am a powerful image and presentation coach for rising female leaders. The name of my signature coaching program is Passport to Ooze Confidence and Become a Powerful Presenter TM.
I have been trying to come up with a name for the coaching side of my business and having a tough time. My latest thoughts were:
1) Bold & Beautiful Presenters
2) Building Bold & Beautiful Presenters
3) Building Bold & Prosperous Presenters
4) Producing Powerful and Prosperous Presenters
5) Powerful and Prosperous Presenter Productions
I totally forgot to include in my original message that my current tagline is: “go from fearful communicator to powerful presenter”.
Thank you for sharing this valuabke informatiin. I’m just getting started and it’s encouraging to see so many good resources such as this blog. I have a better understanding of taglines now. Some even came to mind whike reading this. Thanks again!
You make an excellent case for taking the time to develop your tagline. Slogans help to differentiate yourself from others. A proper motto will call out to your ideal customer or client.
Thank you for your article. I am struggling with a tag line. I am building a website to promote the career of a Racing Groom. It will be called Racinggroom.com but I need a tag line which empowers existing staff and encourages new recruits. Should it be about the website or about the staff. ie..does the website (do what the tag line says) or do the racinggrooms do this (be professional, passionate, be skilled etc). They are really well supported in the industry so we want to demonstrate that if you become a RG you will be well supported (to promote the tole) or do we promote how staff feel about themselves?
Its a hard one. Can you please help. Struggling here. I like the strap lines of the army ‘be the best’ and I don’t want to use ‘a career with passion’ as we need to demonstrate that staff are rewarded for their passion and encourage young people to want to be a racing groom. There is something here about the bond between the groom and the horse, the team that they will work with and the excitement and invigorating aspect of the job. Any ideas ? Racing Groom – ‘ ‘
Thank you
I am looking for Job Coach Tagline. please can anyone suggest me.
Very informative!! Website is in the making. I’m a 57 year old personal trainer. For 5 years I’ve been with a group of trainers but now I’m on my own. New business name, TC3FIT. As I was asked what is my target market I said women! But, I do also train teens and men. I was told to stay focused mainly on the target yet not be exclusive either. So…you have really helped to get me thinking about the slogan. If I targeted women I might would say: Inspiring women to get fit 4 life!! I see so many women struggling and I want to help yet when people visit website I don’t want to turn anyone away. ??? I also like 3 words, and that’s where the “3” comes in: Decide•Committ•Succeed. Also 3 could represent, Terry Coulter • Total Conditioning • Transformation Coach. (TC). Also, Coach, Cheerleader, Champion??? I would love your thoughts. Terry
The article is well explained with an examples. Some sample learning slogans will be very helpful for my future project.
Amazing post! Please more things to add in the blog. Thanks for sharing this post.
Optimal article about tagline writing. Very impressive. You can get little more information about tagline writing from this article, check the link below.
https://fogads.com/branding-service-bangalore/what-makes-a-great-tagline/
Hello I’m so happy to read this article. I’m about to lunch my Coaching career and I think this article really opens my mind. Thanks