Need a Sound-Bite Slogan?

Hmmm . . . so what POP’d out this week?

I was looking through the movie ads for something interesting to see this weekend. What caught my eye was the slogan for the bank robbery film “The Inside Man” starring Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, and Clive Owen.

The slogan? “You can’t judge a crime by its cover.”

Kudos. They used a clever twist on a cliché to produce an intriguing sound-bite slogan.

We all need a succinct summary that communicates what we have to offer in a way that anyone hearing or reading it “gets” it and “wants” it.

Wherever we go, we’re asked, “Why should I buy this?” Or, “What do you do?” It’s important to develop an intriguing elevator intro (I never call them elevator speeches – who wants to listen to a speech?) so we can quickly and compellingly articulate the essence of our work so people are motivated to try it and buy it.

Want to know an easy way to come up with an interesting elevator intro?

Write down 5-10 words you use to describe different aspects of your offering -- whether that is a service, book, movie, idea, or invention. For example, if you own a dog-obedience business, you might write down dog, canine, puppy, heel, sit, leash, lie down, train, obey, etc.

Then, go to your computer and bring up www.ClicheSite.com. Type in your descriptive words, one at a time. Up will come a variety of clichés containing your Core Words, (what these are called in the POP! Process). For example, when you enter "dog," you'll find such high-potential phrases as "Every dog has its day," "Let sleeping dogs lie," "Call off the dogs," "That dog won't hunt," and "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."

Let the word play begin. You don’t want to repeat cliché’s (boring), you want to re-arrange them so you have a fresh tagline that delights people because of its novelty. For example, your slogan could be, “You CAN teach new dogs old tricks.”

Want more examples? Humorist Loretta Laroche titled her new book, “Squeeze the Day: 365 Ways to Bring Joy and Juice into Your Life.” Dallas-based speaker Michael David Hoffman presents a program for salespeople called “You Lost Me at Hello.” A financial advisor has a business motto of, “Grow me the money.” See how this works?

To learn how to re-arrange clichés to come up with your own appealing elevator intro or sound-bite slogan, visit www.SamHorn.com for info on Sam’s three hour POP! Stand Out in any Crowd CD series.