Headline Hacks
What Famous Startup Taglines Can Teach You About Headlines
These 10 software-tool value propositions in a nutshell will make your writing more concise
Have you ever noticed that software taglines are written in a particular way? They seem so compact, direct, and clear.
These taglines need to work. They catch reader attention quickly with the intention of drawing people to action — usually to start a free trial. How useful would this be to us as writers?
We also want to call our readers to act: to click and read more. Today I want to analyze 10 software taglines to see if we can learn anything extra that will helps us improve our own headlines.
Software Taglines and What They Teach Us
Trello
Tagline: Trello lets you work more collaboratively and get more done.
Subtitle: Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable you to organize and prioritize your projects in a fun, flexible, and rewarding way.
Analysis:
- Addresses reader directly
- Shows understanding of reader’s need to ‘get more done’ and to work ‘collaboratively’
- Uses subline to add details, show a deeper understanding of reader’s need, and help the reader imagine what it would feel like to use Trello
Asana
Tagline: Keep your team organized and connected.
Subtitle: With Asana’s work management platform, your team can stay focused on their goals, projects, and tasks — no matter when or where they work.
Analysis:
- Addresses reader directly and knows the target reader is a team leader
- Reinforces what leader wants out of their team — focus in a flexible environment
- Positions itself as the solution for a mobile team, a situation that’s particularly relevant today
Postfity
Tagline: Save time on social media
Subtitle: Schedule posts to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram (reminders), and VKontakte! With our post scheduler you can manage social networks, schedule posts and engage your audiences.
Analysis:
- Audience is people managing social for others such as agencies, social media managers, and online communication professionals. Postfity identifies that the key pain is the time it takes to post across all the platforms
- Subline clarifies what platforms it helps with — this would be an important and common frequently asked question from their target audience
- Simple and direct
Animoto
Tagline: Easily make your own videos
Subtitle: Join millions of people creating and sharing videos with our easy drag and drop video maker. No experience necessary.
Analysis:
- Knows the reader’s frustration — making videos seems complicated
- The word ‘easily’ is a keyword for readers
- Understands what people want and don’t want: they want to DIY, they don’t want to pay every time they want a video
Animatron
Taglines: Make marketing videos in minutes AND Create HTML5 and video animation
Subtitle: Empowers businesses and individuals to be video and animation creators
Analysis:
- Uses a power word: ‘empowers’
- Explicitly addresses target markets
- Positions themselves as a guide who will help people achieve their aspirations — rather than focusing on how great their product is
- Tells us clearly what they are about: video and animation
Freshbooks
Tagline: All-In-One Small Business Invoicing and Accounting Solution
Subtitle: The all-new FreshBooks is accounting software that makes running your small business easy, fast, and secure. Spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love.
Analysis:
- Highlights the user frustration as a benefit: ‘all-in-one’ is a solution to the many programs out there that help small business owners yet don’t integrate
- Subtitle shows an understanding of their target market’s specific needs and concerns: ‘easy, fast, secure,’ ‘less time on accounting,’ ‘more time doing the work you love’
- Explicitly tells the reader who this is for
Canva
Tagline: Design anything. Publish anywhere.
Subtitle: Create an account, it’s free. Canva is loved by beginners and experts, teams and individuals.
Analysis:
- Simple yet powerful words
- Says a lot in few words
- Poetic yet functional
- Subtitle qualifies who will benefit
Tagline: Welcome to your professional community
Analysis:
- Explicitly identifies target audience
- Highlights what they’re about
- Addresses reader directly
Dropbox Business
Tagline: Everything teams need, all in one place
Subtitle: Dropbox Business is more than just secure file storage — it’s a smart workspace where teams, tools, and content come together.
Analysis:
- Explicitly addresses target reader
- Expresses the solution to a common team need
- Clarifies what it offers
Zoom
Tagline: In this together. Keeping you connected wherever you are.
Analysis:
- Uses casual language
- Clarifies what they help people do
- Focuses on a strong human desire — to connect
10 Insights That Can Be Applied to Headlines
1. Tell your reader how you’ll help them
These examples promise to help us do something. Although they don’t explicitly include the words ‘How to,’ you could add ‘How’ to the front of these taglines:
Trello: How to work more collaboratively and get more done Asana: How to keep your team organized and connected Postfity: How to save time on social media Animoto: How to easily make your own videos Animatron: How to make marketing videos in minutes
As writers: Do a Google search and you’ll see that we naturally want practical answers to our questions. We want the knowledge so we can go ahead and implement solutions. For instance, if we look up a topic such as ‘write headlines,’ you’ll see under the section People also ask: “How headlines are written” and “How do you write a powerful headline.”
‘How to’ headlines are powerful — we constantly seek knowledge and information. As shown, you don’t necessarily have to add ‘How to’ in front of a headline. What’s important is if you’re promising an answer to a burning question in your article, make it obvious.
2. Promise to make lives easier
Our bodies and brains focus on conserving energy. With so many tasks, people, and emails screaming out for our limited attention, we’ve got to filter out and prioritize.
Marketers of these software examples understand that — and promise solutions that will help readers filter and prioritize. They do it by making it easy for their prospect to decide they need this software for what’s important: to keep connected, work collaboratively, design anything anywhere, build a professional network.
As writers: Keep in mind what our reader’s life looks like and offer ways to make their lives easier.
3. Use simple language
Software marketers use casual, plain English that gives us instant understanding. No impressive words. No teasers. No bullsh*t. These businesses know the value of words and know how to harness their power.
Everything teams need, all in one place In this together. Keeping you connected, wherever you are. Easily make your own videos.
As writers: When we understand that the focus of our brains is to conserve energy, it helps us realize why writing simply matters. Impressive, complicated words slow down your reader. They won’t think you’re any smarter or more professional either. Even experts prefer plain English.
Think of the words you use in conversation. When we’re asking for a coffee, we don’t say: ‘My intention is to take ownership of a full-bodied latte.’ We say: ‘I’d like a latte.’
Choose: ‘use’ instead of ‘utilize,’ ‘because’ instead of ‘as a consequence of,’ and ‘help’ instead of ‘assistance.’ Check out The A-Z of alternative words (Plain English Campaign) and From legalese to readease (New Zealand Law Society).
4. Carefully select words
Certain words and phrases are like bombs. They’re compact yet powerful. The taglines we’ve seen are filled with power bombs:
‘Everything’ ‘One place’ ‘All-in-one’ ‘Save’ ‘Organize’ ‘Community’ ‘Collaboratively’
As writers: Take the time to choose your words. Use words in a positive way. And use active verbs that help readers imagine gaining a benefit from your writing. Help them become more productive, less stressed, and more creative.
5. Know your target audience
Many of the businesses explicitly mention their target audiences:
Freshbooks has been designed for small business. Animatron empowers businesses and individuals. LinkedIn speaks to professionals.
As writers: Don’t be afraid to niche. Let’s avoid letterbox drop writing — generic writing that gets thrown out because it’s given to everyone, yet not addressed to anyone. Decide who you are writing for and mention them in your headline.
6. Tap into people’s deeper needs
These businesses aren’t just offering us another app or another piece of software. Instead, they know their reader’s great pains and deepest desires. They capture attention with the right words. This works because they know exactly who they’re speaking to.
LinkedIn knows professionals want to widen their professional network.
Animatron knows small businesses and individuals would love a way to create their own videos easily.
Canva knows teams, individuals, beginners, and experts want a way to design a range of items for different channels.
As writers: We need to understand the deepest needs and desires of our readers if we are to stop their wandering eyes and busy minds. We can do this by understanding mass desires.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs gives a good overview of what we need to not only survive, but to thrive — physiological needs such as water, safety needs, the need to belong by having friends, the need to feel accomplished, and the need for self-actualization by achieving our full potential.
Tap into people’s needs.
7. Short and sharp
These taglines are efficient. They hit the right spot in readers. They don’t waste words.
Keep your team organized and connected. Save time on social media. Everything teams need, all in one place.
As writers: Let’s write our headlines with the same attitude. Use the minimum amount of words for maximum impact.
8. Use subtitles to reinforce headlines
As good as these taglines are, many of these businesses realize one thing: they can’t say everything in one short line. So many clarify and amplify their messages in a second line: their subtitles.
Freshbooks: The all-new Freshbooks is accounting software that makes running your small business easy, fast, and secure. Spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love.
Asana: With Asana’s work management platform, your team can stay focused on their goals, projects, and tasks — no matter when or where they work.
Postfity: Schedule posts to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram (reminders), and VKontakete! With our post scheduler you can manage social networks, schedule posts and engage your audiences.
As writers: Subtitles are typically overlooked. Yet both headlines and subtitles work together to build curiosity and tell the reader what the piece is about. Uncertainty is stressful. Remove that stress for your reader and you’ll be more likely to be read, sell your book, or score a download. You can create certainty with:
Verbs: help your reader visualize using your product, achieving a change, or getting something. In our examples above, readers are attracted to verbs such as ‘easy,’ ‘fast,’ ‘secure,’ ‘focused,’ and ‘manage.’
Specificity: tell your reader they will get tips, inspiring stories, advice, compelling ideas. The businesses tell us their software will help their target markets: spend more time doing work you love, less time on accounting, run a business with ease, speed, and privacy, manage social networks, schedule posts, engage audiences.
Reader needs and desires: Subtitles are a second chance to persuade your reader that you understand them and you’ve got what they need.
Reinforce your headlines with well-crafted subtitles.
9. Address readers
The taglines speak to readers directly through their use of ‘you.’ This helps readers feel like the solutions have been made for them. Compare how these two versions feel and sound:
Keep your team organized Keep their teams organized
Trello lets you work more collaboratively Trello lets teams work more collaboratively
Easily make your own videos Easily make videos
As writers: Use “you” and “your” — the active voice will feel like you are personally speaking to your reader. It‘s a simple yet powerful way to draw them into your writing.
Include your reader by addressing them directly.
10. Clear offerings
What all of the above one to nine points do is clarify what the business is offering their prospect.
Headlines, subheadings, explicit audience, simple language, tapping into needs and desires, subtitles…. these help readers understand quickly and easily whether these products are for them and how they’ll fulfill a need.
As writers: When we clearly convey the crux of our writing in our headline and subtitle, we show respect for our reader’s time and we’re more likely to interest the right readers. Readers who will appreciate what we have to share and be more likely to return for more.
Use your headlines to clearly tell readers what your writing offers.
Summary
Software taglines are aimed to get their target market to act. As writers, this is useful. By analyzing 10 software taglines, we’ve discovered 10 useful insights we can use to create magnetic headlines:
- Give the reader a ‘How to’ without saying ‘How to’
- Make our reader’s life easier
- Use simple language
- Carefully select words
- Explicitly mention target audience
- Tap into people’s deeper needs
- Short and sharp
- Create subtitles that reinforce headlines
- Clear offering
- Address reader directly
Next time you’re about to sign up for software, pay attention to their tagline and subline. And keep writing great headlines.
“That’s been one of my mantras — focus & simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.” — Steve Jobs
