In 2011, Long John Silver’s rolled out a new slogan and logo. It was a rebrand for Lent, their busiest season.

Ready for their slogan? Drum roll, please...

“WE SPEAK FISH.”

Uh, okay. Confused?

I’m not being critical. It’s hard creating compelling taglines. But this one got a lot of pushback, and many called it meaningless and awkward.

Here’s the point: the goal of marketing isn’t to produce an award-winning campaign. It's to increase revenue. Period.

Always choose effective over clever. If you confuse people for a nanosecond, your impact lessens.

The confused mind always says, “No.”

So — besides sales — how do you measure effectiveness?

Ask yourself:

HOW CAN I SPEAK TO MY CUSTOMER’S PAIN POINTS?

Yes, your customer has them. We all do.

A customer’s pain point is a problem only you can solve.

I love Allan Dib’s definition of an entrepreneur: “Someone who solves people’s problems at a profit.”

Great marketing is communicating how you’ve got the medicine for a customer’s sickness.

For example, email provider MailChimp uses this tagline:

Send Better Email. Sell More Stuff.

BOOM. They address the pain point.

The tagline for Bounty paper towels is both clear AND clever:

The Quicker Picker Upper!

Effective? Check. Pain points? Yep.

How about State Farm Insurance?

Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There.

See the pattern? Identify the problem then state the solution using your brand personality.

How about you — do you need to refresh your messaging? Take a closer look at what you’re saying.

Solve problems and you win.

Just don't speak fish.