AstitvaStart free

Tagline ideas · Marketplace

How to write a tagline for a marketplace startup

Furniture with a maker's name.
Haat, our sample marketplace brand
Find my positioning freeSee the formulas

Three formulas, three lines

Every tagline below was written for Haat, which makes buyers and makers of handmade furniture. Try all three formulas for your own startup, then keep the strongest.

Formula 1 · The outcome
Furniture with a maker's name.

What the customer gets, in a few words.

5 words

Formula 2 · The contrast
Straight from the workshop to your home.

What you do that the usual option does not.

7 words

Formula 3 · The promise
Fair to the hands that made it.

A short commitment you keep every time.

7 words

The competitor swap test

Put a competitor's name in front of your line. If it still makes sense, it is not yours yet.

Fails the test
“Your trusted marketplace”

Any marketplace company could say this.

Brand A: Your trusted marketplaceYour rival: Your trusted marketplaceAny startup: Your trusted marketplace

Also weak: “Buy and sell with ease”

Passes the test
“Furniture with a maker's name.”

Specific to what Haat does, so a competitor could not borrow it without changing their product.

See it with the logo

A tagline lives under or beside the logo, never inside it. Here is Haat's line on light, dark and on the listing page.

HaatFurniture with a maker's name.
ON THE LISTING PAGEFurniture with a maker's name.Haat
HaatFurniture with a maker's name.
HaatFurniture with a maker's name.

Check it before you print it

3 to 7words, short enough for one line under the logo
0buzzwords like innovative, seamless or next-gen
5customers should say back what you do after reading it
1line for years. Do not change it every campaign.
Tip

Big marketplaces own their colours hard. Matching one makes you look like a clone. Your tagline is where you say the opposite out loud.

Questions

What makes a good tagline for a marketplace startup?

It says something only you can say, in three to seven words. For example: "Furniture with a maker's name."

What is the competitor swap test?

Put a competitor's name in front of your tagline. If it still works, your tagline is too generic.

Should a tagline go in my logo?

Keep it as a separate line under or beside the logo, so the logo still works on its own at small sizes.

Can Astitva write my tagline?

Astitva writes your positioning and tone of voice from a short brief, so the tagline, logo and deck all say the same thing. New accounts get 50 free credits.

Start with positioning, the tagline follows

Astitva writes your positioning and tone of voice from a short brief, so your tagline, logo and pitch deck all say the same thing.

Start free with 50 credits