Inspired, or rather uninspired by the use of the world ‘solution’ in a brand name or tagline, the thought came around what other words should be given the big miss.
Without too much trouble, superior, excellence, committed, unique.There’s two good reasons to steer well clear of such terms.
- They mean nothing – and, in actual fact draw attention to the fact it is probably what your company isn’t (i.e. superior, committed)
- It is wasting the opportunity to really describe your point of difference, the reason a potential customer might use you
So, while your company might actually come up with answers to their own clients’ problems, even in this particular can using the word solution or solutions is wrong, wrong, wrong.
In fact, thinking about it, the only time solutions could be used is if you’re a chemical company, but even then you’d need to make sure such answers are, literally, liquid-based.
Is is also obvious with many taglines and brand names that it has been an ‘everyone’s’ ideas thrown into the middle and let’s vote on what we think is best’.
The best in this case is invariably bland, boring, beige.
It results in a generic nothing, it doesn’t differentiate you.
It results in using a word like ‘Solution’.
David Heitman, of The Creative Alliance, has a great blog article on ‘How NOT to write your next Company Tagline. Check out some of his ideas
Taglines should not be overly long, in fact, they should be as short as possible.
A tagline is shorthand for your story – and everyone who reads it, should be able to get it.
That’s why I use Punchline – Messages that Matter
It is also some of the premise of Secret SAUCE – How to pack your messages with persuasive punch. You can download a free copy here.