How to Write a Snappy Strapline

Writing something short often takes more time than writing something long.

I’m not alone in spotting this: ancient French mathematicians and philosophers struggled as well.  One of them, Blaise Pascal, famously mused, “I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time”.

The headline for this humble piece, for example, took me far longer to come up with than I’d have liked.  And yet ‘How to Write a Snappy Strapline’ isn’t exactly ground-breaking, is it?

I do like to think it describes exactly what’s to come, though, in a short-and-sweet kind of way that didn’t make your brain work too hard.

Which is the whole point of a strapline.

What is a strapline? 

A strapline is a subheading of sorts – you might also hear it referred to as a slogan, or a tagline – that sums up a specific person or business in just a few words.

In person terms, think of your LinkedIn profile headline.  In business terms, think of Mr. Kipling’s “Exceedingly Good Cakes”, or Tesco’s “Every Little Helps”.

Why are straplines so hard to write?

It’s not just you.  Most people find straplines devilishly difficult to write.

Why?  Because it’s hard to distil the complicated, multi-faceted essence of a person or a business into less than a sentence.

It’s harder still, when you consider that your strapline also has to differentiate you or your business from similar others.

None of this should stop you from giving it a good old go, however.  If you fancy it, here are a few tips to help you get started.

Ramble away, then get scissor-happy

When you start composing your strapline, you’ve got permission to cram absolutely everything in.

Don’t worry about length for now.  Just write down all the words and phrases that describe who you are and/or what you do.

I find it helps to jot down some initial ideas, then leave them to smoulder for a day or two.  During that time, other thoughts may start shyly putting their hands up for attention, so give them enough space to speak.

Next, compose a paragraph from those lovely words and phrases.

Make it shorter.

Then, compose a single sentence.

Make it shorter.

How to shorten long sentences

 You can shorten a long sentence by:

• cutting it in two,
• using the active voice,
• removing adjectives and unnecessary words,
• removing words that describe the same thing.

The trick is to focus on one core message, eliminating all distractions.

Here’s an example, from a lovely client, Adriana, whose business strapline I helped with recently.  Here’s what she sent me:

“Helping women find and flourish in a career they love without sacrificing health, personal life or aspirations.” 

And here’s what we ended up with: 

“Helping women flourish in a career they love.”

Adriana didn’t need “find AND flourish” because “flourish in a career they love” already implies that she’ll help women find such a career… or in some cases, love the one they’re in.

Meanwhile, “…without sacrificing health, personal life or aspirations” overloads the strapline, distracting from its core message (helping women flourish in a career they love).

Instead, Adriana can use this extra information to flesh out her business profile.  There, she’ll have the space to explain her unique and caring approach in enticing detail.

Just like the back cover of a book, your strapline shouldn’t tell the whole story.  It just needs to spark curiosity from the right people.

(Don’t) show your work

As we’ve seen, it takes time and effort to write an effective strapline.

That’s why it can feel tempting to use ornate wording, or a phrase that tries too hard to be clever or funny. You want people to see exactly how hard you’ve worked!

But instead, summon the courage to be plain and obvious, and don’t worry if the finished result looks too effortless. That’s exactly what you’re aiming for.

You’ll know when you’ve got it right, because you – and others – will be able to absorb the strapline in a single glance.

If you have to concentrate to get it, keep cutting!

I’m passionate about helping people to (what?)

The same ‘scissor-happy’ principles apply to LinkedIn profile headlines.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen “I’m passionate about helping people to…” cut-offs in my scrolling feed.

(What a waste of valuable space!)

If your profile headline reads like this, try explaining exactly what you’re passionate about helping people to do first. 

Then, the right people will be more likely to a) notice you, b) click on your profile, and c) get better acquainted with why you’re so passionate about helping them.

“Writing in your voice”

That’s my own strapline, right there.

It started life as “Writing the words that matter, using your unique voice”.

From there, it became “Writing words in your unique voice”, then “Writing in your unique voice”…

…and finally, “Writing in your voice”.

What seems like a ridiculously easy process took well over a week.  So if yours takes the same time, or even longer, don’t worry.  The result will more than likely be worth it.

But if you haven’t got time to spare, or you’d like some extra help creating a snappy strapline, then don’t worry.

I’ve got you.