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How to Write a Jingle for Your Business: What Fits in 30 Seconds

What fits in a 30-second business jingle, what to leave out, and a simple way to draft one yourself, with example lines.

By Explainer Music Videos · October 17, 2026 · 3 min read

Thirty seconds feels like plenty of time until you try to fill it. Most owners start with a list of everything their business does, and end up with a jingle that sounds like someone reading a menu.

The trick is to decide what to leave out. Here is what actually fits in 30 seconds, and how to draft one yourself.

What 30 seconds can hold

Sung words go by slower than spoken ones. A 30-second jingle has room for a short verse and a chorus, maybe a few lines more. That is enough for four things:

• Your name. At least twice, ideally at the start and the end.
• What you do, in plain words. "Roofing." "Tax returns." "Feed and seed."
• How to reach you. A phone number or a simple web address. Pick one, not both.
• One reason to pick you. Not five. One.

Everything else, your hours, your full list of services, your years in business, your awards, belongs on your website, your Facebook page or the side of your truck.

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Choose the one reason

This is the hardest part and the most important. Ask yourself what your most loyal customers say about you when they recommend you to a neighbor. That's usually your reason.

Some examples of the kind of line that works:

• "We show up when we say we will."
• "Family owned, right here on Main Street."
• "We'll tell you straight, even if it means you don't need us."
• "Open Saturdays, because that's when things break."

Avoid anything every competitor could say. "Quality service at a fair price" could be on any sign in America. If it doesn't sound like you specifically, cut it.

A simple way to draft it

You don't need to read music to write the words. Try this:

• Write one sentence that says who you are, what you do and why to call. For a made-up roofer, that might be: "[Your name] Roofing fixes roofs in Linn County and cleans up every nail."
• Break it into short lines, each one something you could sing in one breath.
• Find a rhyme or two. Not every line needs one. The last line before the phone number helps most.
• Put the name and number where they land hardest: at the start, and at the very end.
• Read it out loud with a clap on every beat. Anything you trip over, cut or shorten.

Here is a short example written fresh for this post, for that same made-up roofer:

• When the wind takes a shingle and the rain finds a way,
• call [Your name] Roofing, we'll be up there today.
• We sweep every nail before we head home,
• [Your name] Roofing, five-five-five, oh-one-seven-oh.

It's not perfect, and it doesn't need to be. It has the name twice, what they do, a reason (the nails) and a number.

Mistakes that sink a jingle

A few things to watch for:

• Too many words. If it sounds rushed when you read it aloud, it will sound worse sung.
• A number nobody can catch. Sing it slowly, the same way each time, and show it on screen.
• Borrowed tunes. Putting new words to a famous song is not yours to do without permission from the owner of that song. Keep your tune original.
• Inside jokes. A pun that makes sense to your staff may confuse everyone else.
• Trying to be clever instead of clear. Clear wins. People should know what you do after one listen.

A 30-second song travels well. You can put it on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, use it as on-hold music, run it as a radio spot, play it at your booth at the county fair, or put it at the top of your website. The more places people hear the same tune, the more it starts to feel familiar.

Where a song fits

If you'd rather not write it yourself, that's what we do. Our Jingle package is a 30-second song written new for your business, with your name, what you do and your phone number, plus a vertical video with captions, a thumbnail and the song as an MP3. It's $750, paid once, in the genre you pick, from country to polka to classic rock. You hear the song and okay every word before the video is made, and you don't pay until you've seen the result.

The short video on this page shows what an explainer music video is. If you have questions, ask us to call you.