When you’re launching a product business, you have dozens of decisions to make—from packaging to logo design to manufacturing.
But creating compelling brand language is just as important as the visual aspects of your brand.
Your brand language is the body of words, phrases, and terms that you will use to describe your brand’s products and purpose. It includes assets like your business name, tagline, product names, and product descriptions.
You want all aspects of your brand to be cohesive and work together to deliver your brand message to customers.
Read on to find out how to create great brand language for your product business.
Taglines
A tagline is a short, memorable phrase used to describe your business. It should be brief—six words or less, and should inspire curiosity.
A good tagline has the power to stick in customers’ minds and become part of their everyday conversations. Your tagline should highlight a key feature of your business or describe your business values.
When you’re coming up with your tagline, surround yourself with inspiration that evokes the feelings of your brand. Refer to your brand story, your mood board, sketches or samples of your products, and any images that you associate with your brand.
Consider making a word cloud from your business story to find the words you like and use the most. Use that as a jumping-off point for your tagline. Next, write different taglines, then use a thesaurus to come up with more creative and interesting ways to write them.
Write at least 20 different taglines before narrowing them down to 3-5 you like the most. (Make sure to Google them to check if they have been used before.) Ask for feedback on your potential taglines from your team and from potential customers. Then narrow it down to the one you like the most.
Brand Spotlight: Taglines
Brands that craft excellent taglines know how to pack a punch and elicit emotion from their customers with just a few words.
MAC Cosmetics uses the tagline: All Ages, All Races, All Genders. This tagline highlights the brand’s emphasis on inclusivity and individuality. Instead of focusing on their products, their tagline is all about their customers. They reinforce this by including photos of people of all ages, races, and genders on their website and in their social media posts.
Dollar Shave Club’s tagline, Shave Time. Shave Money., focuses on the benefits customers get from using their product. It’s clever, but it doesn’t sacrifice clarity to be funny.
Product Names
Your product names will be repeated again and again. They should reflect your brand, be descriptive, unique, and memorable, and be easy to read and write. A good product name also evokes an emotion or idea, and leaves your customers curious to learn more.
You can have a lot of fun coming up with unique product names that convey your brand values. You can blend words, make up new ones, change spellings, and create stories with your product names. You can even use a theme across your product names that ties them together with your brand.
Always get feedback from others on your potential product names to make sure that they are clear and memorable.
Brand Spotlight: Product Names
Successful companies use their product names to reflect their brand and resonate with their customer base.
For example, the makeup brand bareMinerals uses product names that highlight their values of natural, minimal makeup, like GenNude and BarePro. Their mascara name Love Every Lash exemplifies the value of self-love that they advocate for.
The beauty brand Glossier is known for being trendy and customer-focused. Their product names, Boy Brow, Lidstar, and Generation G are quirky and feel like they’re made for young, trendsetting customers.
Product Descriptions
Product descriptions are used in websites, social media posts, online stores, brochures, posters, and anywhere your products are sold. They are powerful writing that can make the difference between a customer buying your product or not.
The best descriptions connect product features to the benefits that customers will enjoy. They should also be written in your brand voice and convey the same feelings and ideas as your business name and brand story.
Use strong verbs and distinctive adjectives. Thesaurus.com will help you come up with precise and powerful language for your product descriptions.
Product descriptions should provide accurate information so that you establish trust with your customers. Their experience with a product that they order from your online store should match the description you provide.
Brand Spotlight: Product Descriptions
Rise protein bar’s product descriptions always highlight the benefits their customers get from their products. Each starts with a small story that shows what makes their bars unique, before listing the features.
Their almond honey bars start with this paragraph that focuses on the values that Rise represents—real food without additives:
“The simplest protein bar ever. Really. It’s our best selling bar so if you haven’t tried it, you should. And if you have, have some more. Made with just 3 ingredients—almonds, honey, and whey protein, it’s everything you need and nothing you don’t.”
Their snickerdoodle bars focus on different benefits, promising healthy food with a great taste:
“Satisfy your cookie cravings without the guilt! Deliciously chewy and packed with almonds, cinnamon, and vanilla. 5 real food ingredients, 20g of protein.”
They know how to cater their product descriptions to fit what their customer base needs and wants from their products.
Be Direct
Brand language for product businesses should always be brief, clear, and bold. You have to hit the emotions of your customers in just a few words.
Each noun, adjective, and verb should be precise and appropriate for your product. Always remember to be direct and true to your company’s values.
If you haven’t created a brand story for your product business, check out our post Build Loyalty and Engage Customers: How to Create a Compelling Brand Story for Your Product Business next!
Crème de Mint has specialized in beauty, food and supplement packaging design for more than 15 years. Our CPG branding agency knows how to create compelling, craveworthy designs that can help your brand stand out! Book a call today to chat with us about your packaging design.