22 Companies With Really Catchy Slogans & Brand Taglines

You know what's really difficult?

Being succinct. Seriously ... it's ridiculously hard. If you don't believe me, just grab your favorite copywriter and ask them.

It's especially difficult to express a complex emotional concept in just a couple of words -- which is exactly what a slogan does.

That's why we have a lot of respect for the brands that have done it right. The ones that have figured out how to convey their value proposition to their buyer persona in just one, short sentence -- and a quippy one, at that.

So if you're looking to get a little slogan inspiration of your own, take a look at some of our favorite company slogans from both past and present. (Note: We've updated this post to include some suggestions from the comment section.)

Before we get into specific examples, let's quickly go over what a slogan is and what makes one stand out.

What is a Slogan?

In business, a slogan or tagline is "a catchphrase or small group of words that are combined in a special way to identify a product or company," according to Entrepreneur.com's small business encyclopedia.

In many ways, they're like mini mission statements.

Companies have slogans for the same reason they have logos: advertising. While logos are visual representations of a brand, slogans are audible representations of a brand. Both formats grab consumers' attention more readily than the name a company or product might. Plus, they're simpler to understand and remember.

The goal? To leave a key brand message in consumers' minds so that, if they remember nothing else from an advertisement, they'll remember the slogan.

What Makes a Great Slogan?

According to HowStuffWorks, a great slogan has most or all of the following characteristics:

It's memorable.

Is the slogan quickly recognizable? Will people only have to spend a second or two thinking about it? A brief, catchy few words can go a long way in advertisements, videos, posters, business cards, swag, and other places. (Take this quiz to see if you can guess the brands behind 16 memorable slogans.)

It includes a key benefit.

Ever heard the marketing advice, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak"? It means sell the benefits, not the features -- which applies perfectly to slogans. A great slogan makes a company or product's benefits clear to the audience.

It differentiates the brand.

Does your light beer have the fullest flavor? Or maybe the fewest calories? What is it about your product or brand that sets it apart from competitors?

It imparts positive feelings about the brand.

The best taglines use words that are positive and upbeat. For example, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups' slogan, "Two great tastes that taste great together," gives the audience good feelings about Reese's, whereas a slogan like Lea & Perrins', "Steak sauce only a cow could hate," uses negative words. The former leaves a better impression on the audience.

Now that we've covered what a slogan is and what makes one great, here are examples of the best brand slogans of all time. If we missed any of your favorites, share them with us in the comment section. (Note: We've updated this post with several ideas folks have shared with us in the comments.)

22 Companies With Really Catchy Taglines & Slogans

1) Nike: "Just Do It"

It didn't take long for Nike's message to resonate. The brand became more than just athletic apparel -- it began to embody a state of mind. It encourages you to think that you don't have to be an athlete to be in shape or tackle an obstacle. If you want to do it, just do it. That's all it takes.

But it's unlikely Kennedy + Weiden, the agency behind this tagline, knew from the start that Nike would brand itself in this way. In fact, Nike's product used to cater almost exclusively to marathon runners, which are among the most hardcore athletes out there. The "Just Do It" campaign widened the funnel, and it's proof positive that some brands need to take their time coming up with a slogan that reflects their message and resonates with their target audience.

 

Source: brandchannel

2) Apple: "Think Different"

This slogan was first released in the Apple commercial called "Here's to the Crazy Ones, Think Different" -- a tribute to all the time-honored visionaries who challenged the status quo and changed the world. The phrase itself is a bold nod to IBM's campaign "Think IBM," which was used at the time to advertise its ThinkPad. 

Soon after, the slogan "Think Different" accompanied Apple advertisements all over the place, even though Apple hadn't released any significant new products at the time. All of a sudden, people began to realize that Apple wasn't just any old computer; it was so powerful and so simple to use that it made the average computer user feel innovative and tech-savvy.

According to Forbes, Apple's stock price tripled within a year of the commercial's release. Although the slogan has been since retired, many Apple users still feel a sense of entitlement for being among those who "think different."

Source: Blue Fin Group

3) Dollar Shave Club: "Shave Time. Shave Money."

The folks at Dollar Shave Club have made their way onto quite a few of our lists here on the blog -- like this one on promotional product videos and this one on holiday marketing campaigns. In other words, it's safe to say that when it comes to marketing and advertising, they know what they are doing. And their slogan -- "Shave Time. Shave Money." -- is an excellent reflection of their expertise. 

This little quip cleverly incorporates two of the service's benefits: cost and convenience. It's punny, to the point, and it perfectly represents the overall tone of the brand. 

Source: TheStephenHarvey.com

4) L'Oréal: "Because You're Worth It"

Who doesn't want to feel like they're worth it? The folks at L'Oréal know that women wear makeup in order to make themselves appear "beautiful" so they feel desirable, wanted, and worth it. The tagline isn't about the product -- it's about the image the product can get you. This message allowed L'Oréal to push its brand further than just utility so as to give the entire concept of makeup a much more powerful message.

Source: Farah Khan

5) California Milk Processor Board: "Got Milk?"

While most people are familiar with the "Got Milk?" campaign, not everyone remembers that it was launched by the California Milk Processor Board (CMPB). What's interesting about this campaign is that it was initially launched to combat the rapid increase in fast food and soft beverages: The CMPB wanted people to revert to milk as their drink of choice in order to sustain a healthier life. The campaign was meant to bring some life to a "boring" product, ad executives told TIME Magazine. 

The simple words "Got Milk?" scribbled above celebrities, animals, and children with milk mustaches, which ran from 2003 until 2014, became one of the longest-lasting campaigns ever. The CMPB wasn't determined to make its brand known with this one -- they were determined to infiltrate the idea of drinking milk across the nation. And these two simple words sure as heck did.

Source: Broward Palm Beach News Times

6) MasterCard: "There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard."

MasterCard's two-sentence slogan was created in 1997 as a part of an award-winning advertising campaign that ran in 98 countries and in 46 languages. The very first iteration of the campaign was a TV commercial that aired in 1997: "A dad takes his son to a baseball game and pays for a hot dog and a drink, but the conversation between the two is priceless," writes Avi Dan for Forbes. "In a sense, 'Priceless' became a viral, social campaign years before there was a social media."

One key to this campaign's success? Each commercial elicits an emotional response from the audience. That first TV commercial might remind you of sports games you went to with your dad, for example. Each advertisement attempted to trigger a different memory or feeling. "You have to create a cultural phenomenon and then constantly nurture it to keep it fresh," MasterCard CMO Raja Rajamannar told Dan. And nostalgia marketing like that can be a powerful tool.

7) BMW: "The Ultimate Driving Machine"

BMW sells cars all over the world, but in North America, it's known by its slogan: "The Ultimate Driving Machine." This slogan was created in the 1970s by a relatively unknown ad agency named Ammirati & Puris and was, according to BMW's blog, directed at Baby Boomers who were "out of college, making money and ready to spend their hard earned dollars. What better way to reflect your success than on a premium automobile?"

The goal? To reinforce the message that its cars' biggest selling point is that they are performance vehicles that are thrilling to drive. That message is an emotional one, and one that consumers can buy into to pay the high price point.

Source: BMW

8) Tesco: "Every Little Helps"

"Every little helps" is the kind of catchy tagline that can make sense in many different contexts -- and it's flexible enough to fit in with any one of Tesco's messages. It can refer to value, quality, service, and even environmental responsibility -- which the company practices by addressing the impacts in their operations and supply chain.

It's also, as Naresh Ramchandani wrote for The Guardian, "perhaps the most ingeniously modest slogan ever written." Tesco markets themselves as a brand for the people, and a flexible, modest far-reaching slogan like this one reflects that beautifully.

Source: The Drum 

9) M&M: "Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands"

Here's one brand that didn't need much time before realizing its core value proposition. At the end of the day, chocolate is chocolate. How can one piece of chocolate truly stand out from another? By bringing in the convenience factor, of course. This particular example highlights the importance of finding something that makes your brand different from the others -- in this case, the hard shell that keeps chocolate from melting all over you.

 

Source: Platform Magazine

10) Bounty: "The Quicker Picker Upper"

Bounty paper towels, made by Procter & Gamble, has used its catchy slogan "The Quicker Picker Upper" for almost 50 years now. If it sounds like one of those sing-songy word plays you learned as a kid, that's because it is one: The slogan uses what's called consonance -- a poetic device characterized by the repetition of the same consonant two or more times in short succession (think: "pitter patter").

Over the years, Bounty has moved away from this slogan in full, replacing "Quicker" with other adjectives, depending on the brand's current marketing campaign -- like "The Quilted Picker Upper" and "The Clean Picker Upper." At the same time, the brand's main web address went from quickerpickerupper.com to bountytowels.com. But although the brand is branching out into other campaigns, they've kept the theme of their original, catchy slogan.

Source: Bounty

11) De Beers: "A Diamond is Forever"

Diamonds aren't worth much inherently. In fact, a diamond is worth at least 50% less than you paid for it the moment you left the jewelry store. So how did they become the symbol of wealth, power, and romance they are in America today? It was all because of a brilliant, multifaceted marketing strategy designed and executed by ad agency N.W. Ayer in the early 1900s for their client, De Beers.

You can read all about the strategy here. The four, iconic words "A Diamond is Forever" have appeared in every single De Beers advertisement since 1948, and AdAge named it the #1 slogan of the century in 1999. It perfectly captures the sentiment De Beers was going for: that a diamond, like your relationship, is eternal. It also helped discourage people from ever reselling their diamonds. (Mass re-selling would disrupt the market and reveal the alarmingly low intrinsic value of the stones themselves.) Brilliant. 

 

Source: Sydney Merritt

12) Lay's: "Betcha Can't Eat Just One"

Seriously, who here has ever had just one chip? While this tagline might stand true for other snack companies, Lay's was clever to pick up on it straight away. The company tapped into our truly human incapability to ignore crispy, salty goodness when it's staring us in the face. Carbs, what a tangled web you weave.

But seriously, notice how the emphasis isn't on the taste of the product. There are plenty of other delicious chips out there. But what Lay's was able to bring forth with its tagline is that totally human, uncontrollable nature of snacking until the cows come home.

Source: Amazon

13) Audi: "Vorsprung durch technik" ("Advancement Through Technology")

"Vorsprung durch technik" has been Audi's main slogan everywhere in the world since 1971 (except for the United States, where the slogan is "Truth in Engineering"). While the phrase has been translated in several ways, the online dictionary LEO translates "Vorsprung" as "advance" or "lead" as in "distance, amount by which someone is ahead in a competition." Audi roughly translates it as: "Advancement through technology."

The first-generation Audio 80 (B1 series) was launched a year after the slogan in 1972, and the new car was a brilliant reflection of that slogan with many impressive new technical features. It was throughout the 1970s that the Audi brand established itself as an innovative car manufacturer, such as with the five-cylinder engine (1976), turbocharging (1979), and the quattro four-wheel drive (1980). This is still reflective of the Audi brand today.

Source: Cars and Coffee Chat

14) Dunkin' Donuts: "America Runs on Dunkin"

In April 2006, Dunkin' Donuts launched the most significant repositioning effort in the company's history by unveiling a brand new, multi-million dollar advertising campaign under the slogan "America Runs on Dunkin." The campaign revolves around Dunkin' Donuts coffee keeping busy Americans fueled while they are on the go.

"The new campaign is a fun and often quirky celebration of life, showing Americans embracing their work, their play and everything in between -- accompanied every step of the way by Dunkin' Donuts," read the official press release from the campaign's official launch.

Ten years later, what the folks at Dunkin Donuts' realized they were missing was their celebration of and honoring their actual customers. That's why, in 2016, they launched the "Keep On" campaign, which they call their modern interpretation of the ten-year slogan.

"It's the idea that we're your partner in crime, or we're like your wingman, your buddy in your daily struggle and we give you the positive energy through both food and beverage but also emotionally, we believe in you and we believe in the consumer," said Chris D'Amico, SVP and Group Creative Director at Hill Holiday.

Source: Lane Printing & Advertising

15) Meow Mix: "Tastes So Good, Cats Ask for It by Name"

Meow meow meow meow ... who remembers this catchy tune sung by cats, for cats, in Meow Mix's television commercials? The brand released a simple but telling tagline: "Tastes So Good, Cats Ask For It By Name."

This slogan plays off the fact that every time a cat meows, s/he is actually asking for Meow Mix. It was not only clever, but it also successfully planted Meow Mix as a standout brand in a cluttered market.

Source: Walgreens

16) McDonald's: "I'm Lovin' It"

The "I'm Lovin' It" campaign was launched way back in 2003 and still stands strong today. This is a great example of a slogan that resonates with the brand's target audience. McDonald's food might not be your healthiest choice, but being healthy isn't the benefit McDonald's is promising -- it's that you'll love the taste and the convenience. 

(Fun fact: The jingle's infamous hook -- "ba da ba ba ba" -- was originally sung by Justin Timberlake.)

Source: McDonald's

17) The New York Times: "All the News That's Fit to Print"

This one is my personal favorite. The tagline was created in the late 1890s as a movement of opposition against other news publications printing lurid journalism. The New York Times didn't stand for sensationalism. Instead, it focused on important facts and stories that would educate its audience. It literally deemed its content all the real "news fit to print."

This helped the paper become more than just a news outlet, but a company that paved the way for creditable news. The company didn't force a tagline upon people when it first was founded, but rather, it created one in a time where it was needed most.

Source: 4th St8 Blog

18) General Electric: "Imagination at Work"

You may remember General Electric's former slogan, "We Bring Good Things to Life," which they initiated in 1979. Although this tagline was well-known and well-received, the new slogan -- "Imagination at Work" -- shows how a company's internal culture can revolutionize how they see their own brand.

"'Imagination at Work' began as an internal theme at GE," recalled Tim McCleary, GE's manager of corporate identity. When Jeff Immelt became CEO of GE in 2001, he announced that his goal was to reconnect with GE's roots as a company defined by innovation. 

This culture and theme resulted in a rebranding with the new tagline "Imagination at Work," which embodies the idea that imagination inspires the human initiative to thrive at what we do.

19) Verizon: "Can You Hear Me Now? Good."

Here's another brand that took its time coming up with something that truly resonated with its audience. This tagline was created in 2002 under the umbrella of "We never stop working for you."

While Verizon was founded in 1983, they continued to battle against various phone companies like AT&T and T-Mobile, still two of its strongest competitors. But what makes Verizon stand out? No matter where you are, you have service. You may not have the greatest texting options, or the best cellphone options, but you will always have service.

(Fun fact: The actor behind this campaign -- Paul Marcarelli -- recently began appearing in new advertisements for Sprint.)

Source: MS Lumia Blog

20) State Farm: "Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There

The insurance company State Farm has a number of slogans, including "Get to a better State" and "No one serves you better than State Farm." But its most famous one is the jingle "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there," which you're likely familiar with if you live in the United States and watch television.

These words emphasize State Farm's "community-first" value proposition -- which sets them apart from the huge, bureaucratic feel of most insurance companies. And it quickly establishes a close relationship with the consumer.

Often, customers need insurance when they least expect it -- and in those situations, State Farm is responding in friendly, neighborly language. 

Source: StateFarm

21) Maybelline: "Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline."

Can you sing this jingle in your head? Maybelline's former slogan, created in the 1990s, is one of the most famous in the world. It makes you think of glossy magazine pages featuring strong, beautiful women with long lashes staring straight down the lens. It's that confidence that Maybelline's makeup brand is all about -- specifically, the transformation into a confident woman through makeup.

Maybelline changed their slogan to "Make IT Happen" in February 2016, inspiring women to "express their beauty in their own way." Despite this change, their former slogan remains powerful and ubiquitous, especially among the many generations that grew up with it.

Source: FunnyJunk

22) The U.S. Marine Corps: "The Few. The Proud. The Marines."

The U.S. Marine Corps has had a handful of top-notch recruiting slogans over the decades, from "First to fight" starting in World War I to "We're looking for a few good men" from the 1980s. However, we'd argue that "The Few. The Proud. The Marines." is among the best organization slogans out there.

This slogan "underscores the high caliber of those who join and serve their country as Marines," said Maj. Gen. Richard T. Tryon, former commanding general of Marine Corps Recruiting Command. In 2007, it even earned a spot in Madison Avenue's Advertising Walk of Fame.

Source: Marines.com

Do you have your own tagline? What other brands' taglines do you love?

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in August 2012 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

 

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The Role of Emotions in Shareable Content: An Analysis of 100 Viral Reddit Images

These days, we’re inundated with digital noise from the moment we wake up. Once we silence the alarm on our phone, we’ll spend the next few minutes on various apps and sites, dodging unwanted ads and unappealing headlines along the way.

However, you’ll find that some posts are simply unavoidable -- who could forget "The Dress" debate of 2015? It was truly viral content at its best, and the site that sold the dress reaped the benefits: Their organic traffic increased by 420%, and sales of the dress saw a whopping 560% increase.

How can something that seems so pointless influences our behavior?

New research indicates that an emotional connection paired with more nuanced combinations of additional dimensions like arousal and dominance have a significant impact on our sharing habits.

Intrigued? Let's dive into the research ...

Why Certain Emotional Combinations Make People Share

My team at Fractl recently used the Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance (PAD) model to analyze the emotional responses to 100 of the top images from Reddit’s r/pics community to determine the ideal emotional combinations for viral images.

We began by asking 400 respondents one simple question: How does this image make you feel?

The results revealed the top 10 emotions for viral images as shown below:

An obvious trend? The top viral emotions tend to be extremely positive, which echoes previous research. However, although negative emotions like hate, reproach, and resentment were reported far less than positive emotions, our data indicates that they can still generate a viral hit -- you just have to strike the right combinations of arousal and dominance.

Researchers Jacopo Staiano of Sorbonne University and Marco Guerini of Trento Rise studied the roles that valence, arousal, and dominance play in generating viral content -- three dimensions that help shape individual emotions.

Consider their individual contributions below:

• Valence is the positivity or negativity of an emotion. Happiness has a positive valence; fear has a negative valence.
• Arousal ranges from excitement to relaxation. Anger is a high-arousal emotion; sadness is low-arousal.
• Dominance ranges from submission to feeling in control. Fear is low-dominance; an emotion someone has more choice over, such as admiration, is high-dominance.

When we looked at how these levels varied among viral images, our analysis revealed that there are three ideal combinations of arousal and dominance that accompany highly viral emotions. Take a look at the list below:

What Does This Mean for Marketers?

Additional research indicates that emotional responses to content are actually more influential on purchasing decisions than the content itself, so brands need to make sure they hit the ideal levels of arousal and dominance and include the right emotional elements if the want to drive conversions.

For example, we know that the top viral emotions are incredibly positive (e.g., happiness and admiration). When paired with an element of surprise, the resulting high levels of both arousal and dominance can generate massive shares.

A great example is Dove’s highly successful “Real Beauty Sketches” campaign. The video features a forensic artist who draws a series of women from behind a curtain, completing the sketches based on each woman's verbal description of her own appearance. These were compared to drawings he also completed based on strangers' accounts of the same women.

In most cases, the sketches based on the strangers' perspectives resulted in more accurate and flattering portraits than those based on the women's own somewhat self-deprecating descriptions. The success of this highly emotional clip speaks for itself: To date, the video has more than 66 million views on YouTube.

As far as success with negative emotions, remember that everyone loves a happy ending, so success relies on pairing feelings like sadness with something more joyful like admiration.

In “Fireman Saves Kitten,” GoPro obtained footage of a firefighter who rescued an unconscious kitten while wearing GoPro's HD Hero3. GoPro reused the video and released it on its YouTube channel, and it’s earned more than 31 millions views since it went live.

Again, it’s a very emotionally-charged clip, but the combo of low-arousal and low-dominance emotions like fear and sadness is what helped this campaign succeed.

The good news? Your next viral hit doesn't require your marketing team to win a coin toss. Research continues to prove that virality isn’t a matter of chance -- it’s actually the result of a powerful emotional experience.

When outlining your next campaign, take a look back at the top 10 viral emotions and figure out the ideal combination of arousal and dominance that will help your content not just get read but shared.

What is your favorite example of viral content done right? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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26 WordPress Plugins for Social Media Marketers

Do you want to improve your WordPress blog? Have you considered customizing WordPress with plugins? One of the biggest advantages of WordPress is the sheer number of easy-to-use plugins that help marketers add functions with little hassle. In this article, you’ll discover 26 WordPress plugins for marketers. #1: Social Profile Integration Plugins Social Login Plenty [...]

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How Your Agency Can Survive a Client’s New CMO

When an agency hears a client has a new CMO, their first thought is most likely, “Will we retain the business?” The new CMO will understandably want to make an impact in their new position. They’ll want to surround themselves with people they know and trust -- and the agency they know and trust may not be the incumbent -- you.

At Hallway Talk, we often work with proven agencies who find themselves in this tough situation. With a lot of uncertainty in the air, a client's leadership change is certainly a stressful time for agency leaders and their entire team.

But it’s not a time to stand by and wait for the hammer to fall. RFPs are historically stacked against the incumbent agency. Agency leadership needs to take action by putting together a plan to win the business with your client’s new CMO and demonstrating a better outcome before your agency is put up for review. 

The 7-Step Process for Retaining a Client During a CMO Change 

Step 1: Put yourself in the mindset of the new CMO.

During our interviews with agency clients and CMOs, we’ve discussed why new CMOs may choose to replace an incumbent agency with one they’ve worked with in the past. Here are six key reasons why a CMO may bring their former agency partner to their new company:

1) Trust

“I’m sticking with the agency I know. More than anything, I trust them.”

2) Confidence

“In my new job, there’s a ton to tackle. I have confidence in the people I’ve worked with at my past agency and know they have the skill set to get things done.”

3) Mutual Respect

“We’ve been in the trenches together. They like my thinking, and I like theirs.”

4) Work Style

“My agency gets me. It works. I don’t want to have to train someone on how I like to work.”

5) Track Record of Success

“Why wouldn’t I take them with me? Together we made history.”

6) Perceived Value

“I’m comfortable with what I get from my old agency -- what it costs, what I get billed for, what I don’t get billed for -- I don’t want to do that dance again.”

Step 2: Help the new CMO get to know your agency.

While you may not have a history with the new brand leader, you can increase your chances of retention (and preempt an RFP or agency change) by consciously and proactively addressing the six reasons for change early on in the relationship.  

Step 3: Validate the current relationship of trust, confidence, and respect. 

While these must be earned over time with the new management, one way to objectively verify that your agency has these important intangibles is to leverage client satisfaction studies completed by a third party. Done well, these studies can validate the strong feelings of trust, confidence, and respect that the CMO’s new team has for their current agency. This relationship audit will allow the incumbent agency to proactively address any issues that may threaten the relationship.  

 

Step 4: Demonstrate sensitivity to work style.  

Don’t guess. Ask the new CMO about their preferred work style. How often do they want to be included in conversations, and which discussions are the most important? How often would they like to meet? Ask questions that help you familarize your team with the new CMO's communication preferences. 

Step 5: Strut your stuff.  

Assume that the CMO is assessing all possibilities and may have an agency change in mind. Request an introductory meeting that highlights your contributions to the business's success, your agency’s thoughts on worthy opportunities, your adaptable work style, and the results of your third-party client-agency studies. Demonstrate how your agency is eager to team up with the CMO’s new thinking to take the business to a new level.

Step 6: Do your homework. 

Research the CMO, their past positions, and their accomplishments. The more you understand about this new person, the better you can anticipate their needs. Research their past agency relationships. What was the value proposition of past agency partners, and are you a similar fit? How are your services a better fit than the CMO’s old agency?  

Step 7: Enlist champions for your agency. 

If your relationship is strong and successful, and the new CMO’s team believes your agency is the best for their business, encourage them to speak up. Help them navigate the politics of management change. Their support will help instill confidence in your agency among the new management.

A Riskier Choice

If your agency has really performed well for the client, changing agencies could actually be a riskier move for the new CMO. Working with a well-performing agency can be invaluable. First, there is history with the business -- something that can’t be undervalued. Trust, confidence, and chemistry have already been established between the client and agency teams. There is no lost time in the onboarding of a new agency. And most importantly, if the CMO were to bring in a new agency, the agency would likely have to staff up, putting new (and unproven) agency team members on their projects. 

Bottom line: Your client relationships are important to you, and client retention is key to agency growth. Manage all relationships on an ongoing basis, but especially keep an eye out for client management changes. Being proactive about CMO changes can enable you to preempt an account review, RFP, or worse yet -- an agency replacement.

Understand why a CMO may want to bring their old agency to your client's account, and prevent any action with preemptive efforts to retain the business. Optimize your client-agency relationships through open communication, do your homework to understand the new management, demonstrate your commitment to the new manager’s success, and showcase your agency’s value.

The goal is to earn the trust and confidence of new management, making the CMO’s "old" agency the riskier choice. 

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Using Noindex, Nofollow HTML Metatags: How to Tell Google Not to Index a Page in Search

Indexing as many pages on your website as possible can be very tempting for marketers who are trying to boost their search engine authority.

But, while it’s true that publishing more pages that are relevant for a particular keyword (assuming they’re also high quality) will improve your ranking for that keyword, sometimes there’s actually more value in keeping certain pages on your website out of a search engine’s index.

... Say what?! 

Stay with us, folks. This post will walk you through why you might want to remove certain webpages from the SERPS (search engine results pages), and exactly how to go about doing it. 

Why You'd Want to Exclude Certain Web Pages From Search Results

There are a number of occasions where you may want to exclude a webpage -- or a portion of a webpage -- from search engine crawling and indexing.

For marketers, one common reason is to prevent duplicate content (when there is more than one version of a page indexed by the search engines, as in a printer-friendly version of your content) from being indexed.

Another good example? A thank-you page (i.e., the page a visitor lands on after converting on one of your landing pages). This is usually where the visitor gets access to whatever offer that landing page promised, such as a link to an ebook PDF.

Here's what the thank-you page for our SEO tips ebook looks like, for example:

You want anyone who lands on your thank-you pages to get there because they've already filled out a form on a landing page -- not because they found your thank-you page in search.

Why not? Because anyone who finds your thank-you page in search can access your lead-generating offers directly -- without having to provide you with their information to pass through your lead-capture form. Any marketer who understands the value of landing pages understands how important it is to capture those visitors as leads first, before they can access your offers.

Bottom line: If your thank-you pages are easily discoverable through a simple Google search, you may be leaving valuable leads on the table.

What's worse, you may even find that some of your highest ranking pages for some of your long-tail keywords might be your thank-you pages -- which means you could be inviting hundreds of potential leads to bypass your lead-capture forms. That's a pretty compelling reason why you'd want to remove some of your web pages from SERPs.

So, how do you go about "de-indexing" certain pages from search engines? Here are two ways to do it.

2 Ways to De-Index a Webpage From Search Engines

Option #1: Add a Robots.txt file to your site.

Use if: You want more control over what you de-index, and you have the necessary technical resources.

One way to remove a page from search engine results is by adding a robots.txt file to your site. The advantage of using this method is that you can get more control over what you are allowing bots to index. The result? You can proactively keep unwanted content out of the search results.

Within a robots.txt file, you can specify whether you’d like to block bots from a single page, a whole directory, or even just a single image or file. There’s also an option to prevent your site from being crawled while still enabling Google AdSense ads to work, if you have them.

That being said, of the two options available to you, this one requires the most technical kung fu. To learn about how to create a robots.txt file, you'll want to read through this article from Google Webmaster Tools.

HubSpot customers: You can learn how to install a robots.txt file on your website here, and learn how to customize the contents of the Robots.txt file here.

If you don’t need all the control of a robots.txt file and are looking for an easier, less technical solution, then this second option is for you.

Option #2: Add a "noindex" metatag and/or a "nofollow" metatag.

Use if: You want an easier solution to de-indexing an entire webpage, and/or de-indexing the links on an entire webpage.

Using a metatag to prevent a page from appearing in SERPs -- and/or the links on a page -- is both easy and effective. It requires only a tiny bit of technical know-how -- in fact, it's really just a copy/paste job if you’re using the right content management system.

The tags that let you do these things are called "noindex" and "nofollow." Before I get into how to add these tags, let's take a moment to define and distinguish between the two. They are, after all, two completely different directives -- and they can be used either on their own, or alongside one another.

What's a "noindex" tag?

When you add a "noindex" metatag to a webpage, it tells a search engine that even though it can crawl the page, it cannot add the page into its search index.

So any page with the "noindex" directive on it will not go into the search engine's search index, and can therefore not be shown in search engine results pages.

What's a "nofollow" tag?

When you add a "nofollow" metatag to a webpage, it disallows search engines from crawling the links on that page. This also means that any ranking authority the page has on SERPs will not be passed on to pages it links to.

So any page with a "nofollow" directive on it will have all its links ignored by Google and other search engines.

When would you use "noindex" and "nofollow" separately vs. together?

Like I said before, you can put add a "noindex" directive either on its own, or together with a "nofollow" directive. You can also add a "nofollow" directive on its own, too.

Add only a "noindex" tag: when you don't want a search engine to index your web page in search, but you do want it to follow the links on that page -- thereby giving ranking authority to the other pages your page links to.

Paid landing pages are a great example of this. You don't want search engines to index landing pages in search that people are supposed to pay to see, but you might want the pages it links to benefit from its authority.

Add only a "nofollow" tag: when you do want a search engine to index your web page in search, but you don't want it to follow the links on that page.

There aren't too many examples of when you'd add a "nofollow" tag to a whole page without also adding a "noindex" tag. When you're figuring out what to do on a given page, it's more a question of whether to add your "noindex" tag with or without a "nofollow" tag.

Add both a "noindex" and "nofollow" tag: when you don't want search engines to index a webpage in search, and you don't want it to follow the links on that page.

Thank-you pages are a great example of this type of situation. You don't want search engines to index your thank-you page, nor do you want them to follow the link to your offer and start indexing the content of that offer, either. 

How to Add a "noindex" and/or a "nofollow" metatag

Step 1: Copy one of the following tags.

For "noindex":

<META NAME="robots" CONTENT="noindex">

For "nofollow":

<META NAME="robots" CONTENT="nofollow">

For both "noindex" and "nofollow":

<META NAME="robots" CONTENT="noindex,nofollow">

Step 2: Add the tag to the <head> section of your page's HTML, a.k.a. the page's header.

If you're a HubSpot customer, this is super easy -- click here or scroll down for those instructions specific to HubSpot users.

If you're not a HubSpot customer, then you'll have to paste this tag into the code on your webpage manually. Don't worry -- it's pretty simple. Here's how you do it.

First, open the source code of the web page you're trying to de-index. Then, paste the full tag into a new line within the <head> section of your page’s HTML, known as the page’s header. The screenshots below will walk you through it.

The <head> tag signifies the beginning of your header: 

Here's the metatag for both "noindex" and "nofollow" pasted within the header:

And the </head> tag this signifies the end of the header:

Boom! That’s it. This tag tells a search engine to turn around and go away, leaving the page out of any search results.

HubSpot customers: Adding the "noindex" and "nofollow" metatags is even easier. All you have to do is open the HubSpot tool to the page you want to add these tags to, and choose the "Settings" tab.

Next, scroll down to Advanced Options and click "Edit Head HTML." In the window that appears, paste the appropriate code snippet. In the example below, I've added both a "noindex" and a "nofollow" tag since it's a thank-you page.

Press "Save," and you're golden.

Ta Da!

You’ve just magically erased your page from search engine results. Now, you can start capturing more of those lost leads again.

Now, keep in mind that you won't see results instantaneously. Your changes won't kick in until the next time a search engine crawls your page. Depending how often you typically publish new pages to your website, it actually could take a few weeks. The more frequently you publish content, the more often search engines will crawl your site. The best way to keep track of how frequently Google visits your website, is to examine your crawl stats in Google Webmaster Tools.

Bottom line: If you notice that your page is still appearing in Google's search results even with the "noindex" tag, it's probably because Google hasn't crawled your site since you added the tag. You can request that Google recrawl your page using the Fetch as Google tool.

Also, note that some search engines' web crawlers might interpret these directives differently than Google does, so it's possible that your page might still appear in results from other search engines. But for Google, it'll work just fine -- once it does get around to crawling your website.

Regardless, you'll be able to sleep a little easier knowing you’ve ultimately made your website a better place for your marketing.

What other tips do you have for de-indexing webpages, and when doing so would be useful for marketers? Share your thoughts in the comments.

 

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Are Ads Worth the Investment? [Free ROI Calculator]

Marketers considering ads always ask me the same thing: “How much should I spend?”

It’s a good question -- an important question -- but it’s the wrong question. The right question is: “For every dollar I spend on ads, how much will I get back?”

If you know the answer to that question, or at least have an educated guess, it matters less how much or little you can spend. To help you figure this out, we’re launching a free tool called the HubSpot Advertising ROI Calculator.

This simple calculator allows you to explore how different metrics will impact the profit and ROI you can expect from ads. It will help you get the math right, so whether you have $100 to spend or $100,000, you won’t have to guess at the outcome.  

Ready to give it a try? Click here to check out the HubSpot Advertising ROI Calculator.

How to Plan for Ad Spend Success

Too many marketers tell me about getting burnt by ads. They build an AdWords campaign to rank for important search terms, it drives clicks, traffic, and leads, but ultimately their ad spend outweighs the impact of the ads.

These marketers end up learning a really expensive lesson -- one that could be easily prevented by following these simple steps ... 

1) Do the math.

Ads aren’t right for everyone. Some industries have extremely high competition with astronomical CPCs. Some products have too low of an average sales price for the economics to work.

To determine if ads are worth your time, run the numbers specific to your business through our calculator. With the tool you can explore how a change in numbers, a lower CPC or higher close rate for example, will impact a campaign. This will give you a better idea of what it will take to create an ads campaign that makes you money.

2) Never set it and forget it.

Try not to look at ads as a shortcut. It’s possible to get to a place with ads where they become a recurring source of profit ... but typically that’s not how things start.

Don’t be surprised when a week after your campaign launches your ads aren’t generating tons of profit. Examine the data and make improvements to your ads targeting, creative, and landing pages.

Incremental improvements in clickthrough rates and conversion rates can have a huge impact on profit. Use the ads calculator to explore the impact these changes could have. Watch your ads like a hawk for the first month and you’ll avoid big mistakes.

3) Don't place your ads in a vacuum.

Ads act like a megaphone to amplify your marketing campaigns and content. The more complete and well developed your campaigns are, the better your ads will perform.

Think about it: Which ads do you think perform better? Those promoting your homepage or those promoting a remarkable piece of content that helps someone?

Bingo. Those promoting awesome content.

Campaigns that use ads should be treated like other campaigns. Establish your goals first, build great content, focus your message and optimize your landing pages, then figure out how ads can help amplify your message. Taking this combined approach and only using ads as a strategic component of your marketing campaigns will pay off.

So how much should you actually spend on ads?

Assuming you’ve run the numbers and now know what you can expect in terms of profit and ROI, it’s time to launch a campaign. To do this you’ll have to make two budget decisions, regardless of where you are advertising:

• Total campaign budget or duration: How much do you plan to spend in total? How long will the ads run for? Be aware that if you don’t set a limit there will be no maximum or end date.
• Daily budget: How much do you want to spend a day?

There are two ways I see most marketers use ads, short-term and long-term. Let's take a look a both ...

Short-term ads. Budget = at least a few hundred dollars over a month.

When marketers use ads for a short-term goal, it’s usually to jump start a campaign or boost content that needs a bump. These ad spends are generally smaller and shorter, but can be large.

If you have a few hundred dollars to spend, spend it this way. Create a social post that promotes a piece of content and then use your ads to boost the post. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all have good solutions for this. Make sure you use the social network that gives you the best targeting for your persona and returns the most valuable leads. Measure this by assessing the quality of the leads generated after the campaign.

Long-term ads. Budget = at least a few thousand dollars over a quarter.

Ads can be a great solution in a pinch but if you really want to use ads strategically build them into your overall marketing strategy. This means more consistent, quarterly ad spends.

Consider how potential customers make purchase decisions and use ads to influence them. This may mean always relying on search ads or retargeting to make sure prospects find you when they are ready to buy. You’re more likely to accumulate better data taking this approach, which will allow you to get more sophisticated in how you optimize your ad spend.

Whatever budget you choose and whichever approach you take, make sure to ask a lot of questions about your ad spend. Even with the right approach, it’s easy to burn through money fast. Safeguard yourself by knowing what to expect and having clear expectations.

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4 Ways to Use Facebook and Twitter Analytics to Improve Your Marketing

Are you overwhelmed by the amount of analytic data found on social media platforms? Want to know which metrics to follow? Knowing what to measure and how to apply the data makes it easier to modify your marketing for better reach, engagement, and visibility. In this article, you’ll discover four ways social media insights can [...]

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- Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle

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