How to double 🚀the impact of your slogans (& headlines)

Stand back non-believers. We did make it to Friday! Now, my only hope is Taylor Swift starts writing a sad, sad song Sunday night after her BF and KC get mauled by Buffalo. The Bills can’t lose to the Chiefs again, surely?

Let’s get through today first. Just some thoughts on getting the most out of your slogans and headlines, after a great motto caught my eye.

Then, I’ve got This Week’s Marketing Wrap-Up for you. Poll below if you wanna…

Twice the Power: Dual Meaning Slogans

Lucky for you, I’m dumb enough to jog in 30-degree weather. While sucking in frozen air this week, I ran by a company van with a good slogan on the side. It read…

“We treat your home with care.”

It was a pest control company. The slogan’s lettering was white. Except for the words “we” and “care.”

That was simple but slick, making the most obvious message “We care.”

First power. It makes the slogan easy to read if you only notice those two short words. Just two syllables. Which I was reminded - in a Dan Kennedy book I’m reading - makes a big difference when you consider our country’s illiteracy stats:

• 45 million U.S. adults are functionally illiterate, reading below a 5th-grade level 

• 44% of U.S. adults do not read a book in a year 

• Low literacy rates cost the U.S. up to $2.2 trillion per year 

That’s not to insult any dum-dums. Them’s just the facts😉. 

Good to remember when writing mottos, taglines, slogans, headlines, etc.

Second power…

The Main Meaning of the Slogan

Pest control companies “treat” homes to rid them of pests. 

“We treat your home with care.”

So, they managed to state exactly what the company does for you. They treat your home with a service that gets rid of nasty pests.

“Treat” sounds way better than “spray your home with chemicals that kill pests,” right?

It might be a reach, but maybe this slogan might even have a third meaning snuck in those six little words?

Triple-Powered Slogan

It might’ve been unintentional, but this small pest control company has even more meaning in their motto.

Your home’s not only going to be rid of filthy roaches and rats. Nope. 

Your home’s getting a treat. 

What homeowner doesn’t want to hire a company that offers a treat to their biggest investment (their home)?

Now, I’m big on wordplay. 

But clever slogans or headlines can confuse people. If not confuse, be just unclear enough that people stop thinking about the words and move on with their busy lives.

This pest control company didn’t have to resort to puns or skillful wordsmithing. They tripled the power of their slogan without any fancy tricks. They kept it simple. Which might be the most skillful type of wordsmithing?

3 More Examples of Slogans with Double the Power

#1 Dollar Shave Club: "Shave Time. Shave Money." Main message is affordable razor subscription. Secondary message is "Save Time. Save Money." implied through wordplay.

#2 Amazon: Arrow connecting A to Z: Main message: Smile highlights customer satisfaction. Secondary message shows they sell everything from A to Z.

#3 Lay's: "Betcha Can't Eat Just One." Main message is irresistible tater chips. Secondary message is a playful challenge to consumers.

RFK Jr. would go with “One’s too many” for Lay’s but that’s a different story. 

The lesson here is you can get more out of your slogans, headlines, and even sub-headers by using a little creativity - but not being overly clever.

Onward to the Wrap-Up…

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I appreciate you reading. Please share Inbox Hacking with your people.

Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin 

Bonus: HubSpot’s organic traffic dropped by about 5 million in December! Many SEO experts think the cause is HubSpot writing thin content and covering topics outside their expertise just to get ANYBODY to visit their blog. If so, good reminder that organic traffic can sometimes be a vanity metric - same as getting worthless Instagram likes. 

ICYMI: 🚫Using your right to refuse service to bad customers?