Taglines work. I remember several great ones from marketing generations past. I bet you do, too. Decades later, you can probably still name the brands these taglines represented:
Where’s the beef? Let your fingers do the walkin’. Melts in your mouth, not in your hands. Don’t leave home without it. We try harder.
How did you do? Chances are, if you’re at least thirty years old, you knew them all. Why? What makes these taglines great?
Well, for one thing, they’re succinct. No long-winded proverbs or mission statements here. The average number of words in the taglines above is five. Five words! According to most marketing surveys, you definitely want a tagline to be less than ten words long, with five to seven words being ideal.
So, what else set these taglines apart?
Of the five listed above, at least three directly reflect how the company positioned itself against its competition. A good tagline communicates to the world the value of your brand. It lets everyone know why your company is unique.
Now, lets take a look at a few embarrassing ones from my personal Tagline Hall of Shame.
An auto manufacturer once ran with “We put people in front of cars.” Playtex tampons tried out “Is that a Playtex under there?” And Jimmy Dean sausages used “Eat Jimmy Dean” for a while.
These taglines seem obviously bad. How did the taglines make it out of the marketing departments of these companies and into the world marketplace?
They succumbed to the biggest tagline mistake you can make: they forced it. In my years as a marketer and copywriter, I’ve given this a lot of thought. The biggest temptation a new company or a company seeking to re-brand itself makes is to rush. Companies feel they must have a tagline before launching their new radio or magazine ad.
May I please set the record straight?
It’s okay to wait for a good tagline to happen. And, yes, they do happen. Good taglines have a life of their own, and they seem to know when they’ll be created. The greatest taglines happen by accident and not in a “tagline brainstorming session.”
You know it’s true. So, relax. Instead of hitting the PANIC button and forcing the birth of a bad tagline, take a deep breath and run that ad. Perhaps hearing some of the responses to your ad can get the creative juices flowing.
Search Results Archives: January 2011
The Biggest Tagline Mistake, And How To Avoid Making It
How to Learn the Arabic Language – Read These Words of Advice Before Starting
You may be thinking learning the Arabic language is difficult. Well you would be correct, it is! But, if you take your time and put in a significant effort to learn the Arabic language, you will gradually find it less complicated as you go through the process.
If you want to learn the Arabic language, here are few pieces of advice to bear in mind before you start
To learn the Arabic language you need to immerse yourself in it. There are many ways to do this including keeping an Arabic dictionary with you at all times, read Arabic books, watch Arab movies, listen to Arab music and even try conversing with Arabic people in Arabic as often as you can. The gist here is to throw yourself into learning the language in a more profound and intense way, than simply getting a phrase book. Develop a taste for the Arab culture. Learning more about the Arab culture, will help you develop a better understanding of its people and country. If you want to learn the Arabic language, you must similarly embrace the underlying ethnicity a particular country has. Do you know anything about pre-Islamic literature? Well then, hows your knowledge of classical Arabic prose, Kitab al-Bukhala’ (“The Book of Misers”), about al-HAMADHANI among others? Studying up on these major facets will help you to appreciate, understand and comprehend the Arabic language in a much profound context.
Lastly ensure you get a good content-based learning system to help you with coming to grips with this difficult to learn language.
Independent Contractors
Workers can be classified into two basic categories: employees and independent contractors. This distinction is not without a difference. For example, employees are generally entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay, and are covered under their employer’s workers’ compensation insurance if they are injured on the job. The wage requirements do not apply to independent contractors, who also are responsible for paying for their own workers’ compensation coverage.
Employers have frequently been too quick to mis-classify their workers as independent contractors, in order to avoid some of the responsibilities they would have if the workers were treated as employees. But you do not have to accept the label that your employer puts on your work status. Just because you may be called an independent contractor, or may have even agreed to that status, that does not necessarily make it so. The true facts of your employment situation will determine what your status is, and how you are treated under the various laws.
Illinois law has addressed some of these areas, to help ensure that workers in this state get the benefits that they are entitled to. Under the Illinois workers’ compensation laws, a set of criteria will be considered to determine if you were properly classified as an independent contractor. All of the factors together will determine if you are entitled to coverage under your employer’s insurance.
Some of the factors that Illinois workers’ compensation laws take into account are: whether you set your own hours, whether you make your own decisions about how you do your job, whose materials and tools are used for your work. What these and other factors point to is the crucial question of who has the right to control your work. If your employer actually has the right to control how and when you do your job, then regardless of what you have been labeled, you should likely be covered under their workers’ compensation insurance.
Another area of the law in Illinois that protects workers from being wrongly labeled as an independent contractor, covers workers in construction jobs working for contractors. This law says that the workers are presumed to be employees, and therefore entitled to the benefits that the construction industry provides employees including minimum wage, overtime, and workers’ compensation.
Under this Illinois law, in the construction industry, to be considered an independent contractor, you have to fall within a specific set of criteria. These criteria include the control over your work, but also relate to the type of services both you and the contractor provide. There are penalties for wrongly classifying a worker as an independent contractor, which can include a lawsuit.
When it comes to protecting Illinois employees, it is the law, not the label, that will decide what benefits you are entitled to.
