What's In A Tagline

We recently went through the process of creating a new tagline for Link as part of a renewed branding effort. Like any good tagline, we wanted a short statement that would quickly and memorably describe the unique qualities of Link and serve as a unifying consistent theme – connecting all of our marketing and branding tools (stories; press releases; brochures; websites; presentations; etc.) But, we wrestled with the questions, “What makes Link distinctive?” and “Why do our customers do business with Link?”

The first step we took was to survey our Link employees and a number of our OE and Aftermarket customers to see how people viewed us. The responses were varied but there were some recurring themes… our people care about the customer; we take great care of the customer; we’re highly dependable; and we’re very capable.

What Makes Link Distinctive?

I had expected we’d get more comments about our products. Customers perceive our products to be very good, but we get our highest marks for our service and our people. Hmmm. The more I thought about this, the less surprised I became. Over the years, we’ve gotten great feedback about our people and our treatment of people. While the people on our team have a variety of backgrounds, interests, ideas, etc., the one common denominator throughout our entire organization is our focus on taking care of the customer. In fact, we’re darned-near fanatic about it. And, we believe this so strongly that we expanded our definition of customer to include employees, vendors, and others who depend on us. This focus has served us well.

So we started thinking about how to state our commitment in a meaningful and memorable way. We could just say that we strive to exceed our customer’s expectations - which we really do. But the phrasing “exceeding expectations” is over-used. So how else do we communicate our willingness to go the extra mile for the customer? The word “confidence” came to mind. We want the customer to be confident in our products and the people behind the products. Maybe our tag line should be… “Your confidence is our focus.” I kind of like that. But, there was an even better way to express this sentiment.

“Your Trust…Our Passion!”

The word Trust portrays a strong emotion, and it combines a number of attributes that describe Link and our products…confidence, reliability and integrity. Recently I heard a speaker use the phrase “Emotions Before Economics.” His point was that to gain a sale, the customer must have a good feeling about the planned purchase. And to build a brand around these attributes is not simply a matter of communicating information. It is also the ability to deliver in a way that is consistently meaningful for our customers.

We want our customers to believe that we’ll do the job for them throughout the entire design, development, sales, order processing, production, delivery, and after-sale process. We want them to be confident that the product will work (fit, function and perform) as they expect it to and that it will be delivered when they want it… consistently. We also want them to know that we’ll treat them right… we’ll listen; we’ll provide great service; we’ll communicate timely and honestly; and we’ll stand by our products. We commit to serving our customers as well as we can… as well as anybody can. This combination of capability and commitment builds trust, and separates us from our competition.