After hearing the same advertising phrases a million times, their meaning can become monotonous and lose its effect.

Slogans need to be clear and to the point. Too often, advertisers will try a witty line that screams “Look, I did something different!” but their wording does nothing to show what their product’s benefits. When designing your signage, here are some overused advertising phrases that need to be avoided. 1. Buy X, for X: It’s great that you want to relate to those you’re marketing to, but this phrase has been used over and over again. “By advertisers, for advertisers” shows that you are like your target audience, but how are you going to solve their issues? What aspect of their profession are you relating to? It creates more questions than it solves. 2. We’ve been around since XXXX: Having strong roots is important to other business owners; it shows that you’ve withstood the test of time. However, using this as a huge selling point will not do much for the consumer. Many great businesses are less than 10 years old. Instead of advertising how long you’ve been in business, use this advertising space to inform potential customers what you’ve accomplished, or what your best product is. 3. Do more with less: No matter how you write it, this phrase is uncomfortably vague. Less what? More what? Even if you want to portray how your product will give customers simplicity, it doesn’t create a call to action or offer any value to your sign. This phrase simply takes up space and doesn’t give any information about your product. Instead, focus on how your product will make the customer’s life simpler. 4. Best in class/award-winning: If this is your company’s go-to slogan, it’s time to retire it. While there’s a lot of honor in winning awards for your products or services, there are hundreds of unqualified businesses claiming to be a world class product now. The phrase has lost its luster. Instead, try to focus on what your product achieved to get those awards, and advertise that. 5. We go the extra mile: When you use advertising phrases like this, your customers are thinking: “Wait, you weren’t already going to do that?” Going out of your way to make a customer’s experience great is how you (by default) acquire and keep good business. If you’ve ever seen a cheese manufacturer advertising “real cheese” as a selling point on their packaging, it makes you curious if anyone would expect you to settle for less. Instead of offering something your customers are already expecting, tell your audience exactly what puts you aside from your competitors. It’s obvious by now that the key part of any slogan is to explain how your business functions better than the competition. The English language offers thousands of words- you have unlimited opportunities, use them! Once you select the perfect slogan, pick a sign you can use to advertise with- vinyl banners, sidewalk signs, and car signs are all excellent starting points.