An effective logo/tagline combination can be one of the best ways to successfully brand your business. But you don't have to take my word for it.

Do any of the phrases below ring a bell?

See if you can identify which companies each of the following taglines belongs to. You'll find the answers at the end of the article. But before you read ahead to get the answers, take a few minutes to test the power of taglines yourself by naming the brand each of these top-ranked taglines belong to.

1) Have it your way

2) Is it in you?

3) The quicker picker-upper

4) Just do it

5) It's everywhere you want to be

6) Drivers wanted

7) When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight

8) Finger lickin-good

9) Because I'm worth it

10)Let your fingers do the walking

So what exactly is a tagline?

When it comes to marketing, one of the most powerful tools you can use to build your brand is a tagline or slogan. The two terms are pretty much interchangeable. I tend to use the word tagline. Following are definitions for both terms:

Tagline: an often repeated phrase associated with an individual, organization, or commercial product.

Slogan: a phrase expressing the aims or nature of an enterprise or organization.

The two most important parts from each of these definitions are:

1) an often repeated phrase

2) expressing the aims or nature of an enterprise

The power of a great tagline

Think about the taglines you know and remember. They communicate something unique, valuable and memorable about the brand they represent. And they are always included in any communication about that brand. You see the logo and there's the tagline right there with it. They are often catchy. Easy to remember. Descriptive. Clever. Fun. Short and sweet.

Best of all, they help you remember a brand and the ONE thing that company wants you to remember about that brand. And that is the power of a great tagline.

Taglines make you top-of-mind

Your goal as a marketer should be to achieve what we call in the marketing world "top of mind awareness." Simply put, this means you want your product or service to the be the FIRST one thought of by your prospects when they are considering a purchase in your product or service category. Because odds are, if they think of you first, they'll buy from you.

The logo/tagline power combo

I love logos and taglines, especially for small business marketers because when you combine a great logo with a great tagline, you have a powerful marketing combo that can communicate a lot in very few words in a very small space.

And, because you can use them on every piece of communication about your business you have the opportunity to imprint them into your prospects' minds by repeated exposure that doesn't have to cost a lot of money.

Great taglines are possible on a small budget. Granted we think of big-name advertisers when we think of memorable slogans, but you don't have to spend big bucks to get a great tagline.

The first step is to create a strong, strategic marketing foundation for your product or service. You must also truly understand what is unique and valuable about your product or service. And, you must have a very clear picture of what you want to communicate about your product or service to your prospects. With this information and some creative brainstorming you too can have a memorable tagline.

Once you have one, USE it everywhere!

Include your tagline with your logo on every piece of communication or marketing you put out and you too will be able to create top of mind awareness among your prospects and customers.

Here are the answers to the Tagline Test:

1) Burger King

2) Gatorade

3) Bounty Paper Towels

4) Nike

5) Visa

6) Volkswagen

7) Federal Express

8) KFC

9) L'Oreal

10)Yellow Pages

How'd you do? Pretty amazing how many of these you knew, isn't it?

For more top-ranked ad slogans, visit www.adslogans.com. It's a great way to see what a good slogan is so you can model yours after success. After all, one of the quickest, easiest ways to succeed is to model those who already have.

© 2006Debbie LaChusa

20-year marketing veteran, consultant, author, teacher and coach Debbie LaChusa has developed The 10stepmarketing System to help small business owners successfully market their business, themselves. To learn more about this simple, step-by-step program and to sign up for her FREE audio class and FREE weekly ezine featuring how-to articles, tips and advice, visit http://www.10stepmarketing.com