[Case study] How I increased sales by 20% with a tagline.

[CreativePro]

Its a common mistake for business owners to focus on the creativity or catchiness of the tagline, before thinking about the message being communicated.

In this case study, I'll show you how I was responsible for increasing the sales of a small concrete pumping business by 20%, by crafting the right tagline.

Introduction:

I'm an ex-ad executive for O&M and full time entrepreneur. Fiverr is a hobby of sorts where I write taglines and make graphics for small businesses.

A lady contacted me 3 months back, she and her brother run the family concrete pumping business. They needed a tagline that would make it stand out from the crowd. After she paid the $25 starter, I agreed to give her the full suite experience (all extras) if she would measure and tell me the results.

She was game and so was I. Here's what I did:

a) Enquire:

I first ask all my clients the follow questions :

Quote:1) A brief on your company and / or product. Include the name
2) Target audience
3) Taglines of other companies your like
4) Ideal words you would like to have
5) Max words in the tag lines
6) The message you want to communicate to your customers

b) Research:

For those of you who don't know, Concrete pumping is a service provided after the wet concrete is on-site and the pumping speeds up the process of pouring.

A simple easy entry B2B, with loads of competition. I asked her questions on how these contractors find a concrete pumping company, what they do, what the pay etc. I also googled "concrete pumping" and read the titles of the ads on the sidebar.

c) Process:

I discovered that the contractors who need this service look for the following in a pumping company -> cost, reliability, availbility. Reliability was of course the most important factor, since they risk losing a lot of time and money if things go wrong.

d) Draw the Aces:

I then asked my client for information that would relate to these three factors - expertise, age of the company, awards etc. I gathered the information and then came up with the taglines.

e) The Tagline.

The copy had to be short and the words had to be communicated in such a way, that the contractors mind clicked as soon as he saw it.

These three factors could be combined in multiple variations. I provided her with these 4 taglines:

1) The First Choice Since 19XX

2) Powering Construction Since 19XX.

3) The Name You Can Trust Since 19XX.

4) Industry Leading Experts Since 19XX.

Note: The company name has the word concrete pumping and prefixes the taglines. 19XX was the year it was founded.

f) Test:

I told her to test out two - three taglines of her choice by printing different variations on the business card. She did the same for industry specific classified ads she took out a couple of time month. (I would have preferred a separate approach for ads, but lets leave that for another day.)

I wish she used a different telephone numbers for each variation to measure which one did best. Sadly, we couldn't measure that. She didn't have a website either.

g) Results:

Unlike internet business, the concrete business isn't fast paced. And its hard to measure this small change in variable.

3 months later, my client informed he she is getting about 10% more calls per week and sales has increased by 20% when compared to the following quarter.

Nothing has changed apart from the new tagline and the revised business card and ads. Is the tagline the only reason ? Probably not.I was a bit worried that we got lucky and this was just a response to a boom in construction or something of that sorts.

But then she told me something that made me jump with joy, she informed me that the last three months were the most number of new clients she acquired in a succession.

That's good enough for me :) ... Again, this is just an anecdote but I think that's a decent validation for the tagline as far as things go.

TL;DR: Focus on the message. Also, Don't be lazy, ready the whole thing.

Shameless self promotion. If you need help with graphics or branding you can check out my tagline / copywriting gig here: http://www.fiverr.com/creativepro/write-...r-business and the rest of the gigs here : http://www.fiverr.com/creativepro

Any questions ? - I would love to answer.

[NonConformer]

Nice job. I know you didn't ask for feedback or recommendations, but if you are still working with them and they want to keep trying to improve it - give this a try:

Use quotation marks on the tag line as well. Seriously, it can make a large difference.

"Trusted Leading Industry Experts Since xxxx"

"Trusted Reliable Concrete Experts Since xxxx"

Time is a huge factor in this business, which I have some experience in. You might want to try a few variations that focus on that. Example

"Reliable Concrete When You Need It. On Time Every Time"

"Trusted And Reliable Concrete Experts - On Time Every Time"

---
I'll let your blatant self-promotion go since this is useful to people. lol

[CreativePro]

@Nonconformer Nice, I'll experiment quotes with that when I have the chance.

[jhoang]

d***! thats a good case study and that's badass that you worked @ Ogilvy.

do you have any experience in direct response?

can you share some more of your work/case studies?

also noticed your location says India, how did you manage to work @ Ogilvy?

much appreciated

[NonConformer]

(04-19-2014 01:31 PM)jhoang Wrote:  d***! thats a good case study and that's badass that you worked @ Ogilvy.

do you have any experience in direct response?

can you share some more of your work/case studies?

also noticed your location says India, how did you manage to work @ Ogilvy?

much appreciated

The India Ogilvy Subsidiary. lol

[CreativePro]

(04-19-2014 01:31 PM)jhoang Wrote:  d***! thats a good case study and that's badass that you worked @ Ogilvy.

do you have any experience in direct response?

can you share some more of your work/case studies?

also noticed your location says India, how did you manage to work @ Ogilvy?

much appreciated

a) I used to work on branding and copy for the print media space at Ogilvy (news papers, flyers and brochures). I do have experience with direct response.

b) This is my experience with a client on fiverr, I can't share case studies that I have done at O&M. I'll share a few more when I have the time :)

c) Ogilvy has multiple branches in India. I was in charge of copywriting for print media in the south.

I have even retouched photos and written for magazines. You'll be surprised how much work gets sub contracted even when big names are involved

[savaloi]

What a cool contribution! This is really what it all boils down too, on and offline, exactly the same methods, just different vehicles. There's all kinds of tweaks you could throw in the mix ;)

Brilliant share CreativePro, thanks for the shameless self promotion, nice to see someone from the mainstream contributing to this community, must mean we are on the right path for disruption!

[CreativePro]

@savaloi

I joined this forum for free udemy links. I learnt quite a bit from here, only fair to contribute what I have learnt through my experience :)

[stairclimber]

Thanks for this instructive case study.

Would you recommend some good books on writing headlines, taglines, and email subject lines etc?

Thanks a million.

[NonConformer]

(05-04-2014 07:44 AM)stairclimber Wrote:  Thanks for this instructive case study.

Would you recommend some good books on writing headlines, taglines, and email subject lines etc?

Thanks a million.

Look through my threads (link in sig), as well as the copywriting section. There's some of the best copywriting resources you could ever get your hands on. Start with everything from Schwarts, Halbert and Collier. There's also numerous headline swipe files and books/guides.