This was from a short conversation I had a few weeks ago, and I thought it was worth sharing. What’s the difference between a “tagline” and a “headline”?

Here’s how I see it.

Taglines define your company. Nike is “Just Do It”. Apple used “Think Different” for years. Our is “Building a Brighter Web”.

They’re ways to describe your overall mission, but they are intentionally a bit open to interpretation and they’re usually referenced alongside your logo (in theory, if not in practice).

Headlines are where you want users to focus first, and are more specific and meant to begin to draw visitors into your story. Nike and Apple both change their Headlines frequently, usually around specific products. At the time of this writing:

• Nike: “Nike Indy Bra: Feel Sculpted”
• Apple: “Apple Vision Pro: You’ve never seen anything like this before”
• In our case, it’s “Building websites and strategies that grow your business”.

For all three, the headline is more descriptive and more likely to change, whereas the tagline often remains the same for years to come. Both are very important to get right.

That’s how I see the two. Do you agree, or do you see them differently?