How to Write a Jingle: Free Lyric Template and 3 Examples

You know your business inside out, but putting it into a few lines someone could sing is a different job.

Here is how to write a jingle: fill in four parts, your customer's problem, your business name, one promise and the next step. Keep each line short, about 12 syllables or fewer, rhyme the line endings when it comes easily, and sing an action instead of a phone number. Then time it out loud.

Below you get a fill-in lyric template, the craft rules that make words easy to sing, and three jingles fixed from a weak first draft.

How to write a jingle in 6 steps

1. Start with the problem your customer has, in one picture they would recognize.
2. Add your business name and one promise, not a list of services.
3. Put your name on a strong beat, at the start or end of a line.
4. Keep each line to about 12 syllables or fewer, with paired lines close in length.
5. Rhyme the last words of each pair, sing the action, and show the phone number on screen.
6. Fit the word budget for your ad length, then run the five tests below.

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What are the four parts of a business jingle?

A business jingle has four parts: the problem your customer has, your business name, one promise, and the next step. Fill in those four and you have a working first draft, even if you have never written a song.

A jingle is a short song written to sell one business or product. The hook is the opening line that stops the scroll, and your name should land within the first two or three lines. The tag is the closing line that tells people what to do next.

Your name is the part people must leave with. A tune can stick for days, but if the name never comes through clearly, the next company in your trade gets the call. That is why the name has its own slot in the template, twice.

If you only take one thing from this guide on how to write a jingle, take the template. Copy it into your notes and fill in the brackets:

1. Line 1 (problem): "[The moment your customer is having a bad day]?"
2. Line 2 (problem, part two): "[What makes it worse, or how it feels]."
3. Line 3 (name and promise): "[Your Name], [one thing you promise]."
4. Line 4 (picture): "[What life looks like after you show up]."
5. Line 5 (offer): "[One offer, in plain words]."
6. Line 6 (next step and name): "[Call, tap or book], [Your Name]."

For a 15-second ad you keep lines 1, 3 and 6, plus one more if it fits. For a 30-second ad you use all six. Start with the problem, because people stop scrolling for their own bad day, not for a company name they have never heard.

A few rules for each slot:

• Problem: describe a moment, not a category. "Breaker keeps tripping" beats "electrical issues."
• Promise: pick one. Fast, friendly, careful or local. Not all four.
• Offer: one offer per jingle. If you have two, write two jingles.
• Next step: one verb. Call, book, tap, text or visit.

How do you fit your business name into a jingle?

You fit your business name into a jingle by saying it out loud, finding the syllable you naturally lean on, and placing that syllable on a strong beat at the start or end of a line. Names buried in the middle of a long line get lost.

Clap your name as you say it. Every longer word has one syllable you lean on: "electric" goes e-LEC-tric, and "roofing" goes ROOF-ing. Those leaned-on syllables are where the beat should fall. Oakgen's jingle guide gives the same advice: put the brand name on the strongest beat of the hook, where it cannot get lost mid-line.

Then deal with the awkward cases. Most owners have one of these:

How often should the name come up? Oakgen's suggested structure has the name twice in a 15-second jingle and three times in a 30-second one. Twice sung is a fair minimum for either length, and the logo on your last frame adds one more look.

Pro tip: say your name the way you answer the phone. That is the version customers already know, and it is usually the easiest one to sing.

How many syllables should a jingle line have?

A jingle line should run about 12 syllables or fewer, and the two lines in a rhyming pair should be within a syllable or two of each other. Shorter lines are easier to sing, easier to read on screen and easier to remember.

YourSongMaker's guide to jingle lyrics suggests keeping jingle lyrics short, often one line of about 6 to 12 syllables. Use that same range as a ceiling for each line of a longer jingle. Counting is simple. Say the line and tap the table once per beat of sound.

Here is a quick before and after:

• Too long (about 18 syllables): "Are you tired of spending all your weekends mowing and trimming your yard?"
• Fixed (7 syllables): "Grass up to your knees again?"

The fixed line says the same thing as a picture. It also leaves room for the music to breathe.

Speed and repetition help too. Goldsmiths, University of London reported in 2016 on a study led by Dr Kelly Jakubowski: tunes people get stuck in their heads tended to have a fast tempo, a common melodic shape, and unusual intervals or repetitions. The study asked 3,000 people about their most frequent earworms. For you, that means an upbeat style and a hook that repeats.

How do you make jingle lines rhyme without forcing it?

You make jingle lines rhyme without forcing it by putting the rhyme on the last word of each pair, using near rhymes when a perfect one is not there, and never flipping normal word order to land a rhyme. Rhyme is optional, so a clear line always beats a clever one.

A perfect rhyme is two words that end in the same sound, like "way" and "today." A near rhyme is two words that share a vowel sound but not the ending, like "week" and "neat." Near rhymes sound fine when sung, and they open up far more words.

The most common mistake is a backward line. "To your house we will come" rhymes with "some," but nobody talks like that. If you would not say the line to a customer at the counter, rewrite it.

Trade words are often hard to rhyme. "Electrician," "chiropractic" and "bookkeeping" have almost no rhyme partners. Put them early in the line and end on a simple word instead.

These line endings rhyme easily and suit most businesses:

Pro tip: write the second line of each pair first. Pick an easy ending word like "today," then write the line before it to set it up.

Should you sing your phone number in a jingle?

You should not sing a full phone number in a jingle for a social ad. Sing a short action like "call today" or "tap to book," and put the number, web address and button on screen, where people can read it and tap.

A full phone number can eat several seconds of a 15-second ad, and a number heard once while scrolling is easy to forget. On-screen words do the job better.

In an older Meta for Business article on video ads, Meta said one study found 41% of Facebook video ads made little sense with the sound off. Meta now says Reels play with sound on by default, so on-screen words are for the people who still scroll muted.

So write your lyrics to be read as well as heard. Every sung word should also show up as on-screen text. If you are still deciding between singing and talking, our guide to jingle vs voiceover ads compares the two.

There are two exceptions:

• A short web address that spells the way it sounds can be sung once at the end.
• A vanity number built from a word customers can spell can work, if you already use it everywhere else.

The offer line has its own rules. Name one offer in plain words, like "first visit free" or "half-price first cut." Leave out dates if you plan to run the ad for months, so the words do not go stale.

How many words fit in a 15-second or 30-second jingle?

A 15-second jingle fits about 15 to 20 sung words, and a 30-second jingle fits about 30 to 45, as a rule of thumb and our starting estimate. The count is lower than a spoken script because singing stretches every word and the music needs a moment at the start and end.

The math starts with speech. Killerspots' radio script timer puts conversational English, read by a pro, at about 2.5 words per second, so a 30-second spoken spot fits about 75 words. Singing holds notes longer than talking, so a safe starting point is about half the spoken count. Then read it aloud and adjust.

Plan the seconds the same way. The hook goes in the first 3 seconds, the name lands before the halfway point, and the last few seconds belong to your logo, offer and button.

If you will run both lengths, write the 30-second version first. The 15-second cut is then lines 1, 3 and 6 of the template, so the hook stays the same in both and people hear one tune. For timing a whole sung ad second by second, see how to make a TikTok ad with a song.

Hear the song ads we have made → Click any video to watch with sound.

What do good jingle lyrics look like for an electrician, lawn care or bookkeeper?

Good jingle lyrics for an electrician, a lawn care company or a bookkeeper open on a customer problem, sing the business name twice, and end on one clear action. Below is the template at work for all three trades, each with a weak first draft, what is wrong with it, and a fixed version. Swap in your own name. Every line is original and written for this article.

Electrician

First draft: "[Your Name] Electric provides licensed and insured residential and commercial electrical services throughout the metro area."

That draft has no problem, no picture and no next step. It runs past 30 syllables of brochure, and nobody can sing "residential and commercial" with a straight face.

Fixed, 30 seconds:

Lights that flicker, breaker blown?
Don't go fixing it alone.
[Your Name] Electric, safe and sound,
fast, clean work all over town.
Book your safety check today,
[Your Name] Electric, on the way.

Syllables per line: 7, 7, about 7, 7, 7, about 7 (depending on your name).

15-second cut: lines 1, 3 and 6, with "tap to book" on screen. The flicker line does the hook, the name lands twice, and the last line is the next step.

Lawn care

First draft: "We offer complete lawn maintenance including mowing, edging, fertilizing, aeration and seasonal cleanups."

That draft lists five services and never says the name. Five services is a menu, not a song.

Fixed, 30 seconds:

Grass up to your knees again?
Get your Saturdays back, my friend.
[Your Name] Lawn Care, every week,
mowed and edged and looking neat.
Your first cut is half price this spring,
[Your Name] Lawn Care, give us a ring.

Syllables per line: 7, 8, about 6, 7, 8, about 7.

"Again" and "friend" are a near rhyme, and so are "week" and "neat." Both sound natural when sung. "Spring" and "ring" are a perfect rhyme, which suits the closing line.

15-second cut: lines 1, 3, 4 and 6. Swap "this spring" for no date at all if the ad will run into summer.

Bookkeeper

First draft: "Are you a small business owner who struggles with accounting? [Your Name] Bookkeeping Services LLC offers certified, accurate solutions."

That draft uses a long legal name, two jargon words and no picture of the problem. "Solutions" is not something anyone hums.

Fixed, 30 seconds:

Receipts in the truck and bills on the chair?
Month end comes and you pull your hair.
[Your Name] Books will sort it out,
clean, clear numbers, no more doubt.
Free first call, just tap below,
[Your Name] Books, so you'll always know.

Syllables per line: 10, 8, about 6, 7, 7, about 7.

A dry office service can still get a small smile. The truck and the chair make the problem something you can see.

15-second cut: lines 1, 3 and 6. If your customers are not tradespeople, swap "truck" for wherever their receipts really end up.

December ads follow the same shape in our Christmas jingle lyric starters.

How do you test jingle lyrics before anyone sings them?

You can test jingle lyrics in about ten minutes, before you pay anyone to sing them. Run these five checks in order and rewrite any line that fails. Testing is the part of how to write a jingle that most owners skip.

Step 1: Time it against the ad length

Say the lyrics at a normal talking pace while your phone's stopwatch runs. A 15-second jingle should take about 10 seconds to say, which leaves room for the singer to stretch words and for your end frame.

Step 2: Clap every line

Tap one beat per syllable and count each line. Paired lines should land within a syllable or two of each other, and your name should fall on a clap you lean into.

Step 3: Read it as captions only

Write the lyrics out as they would appear on screen and read them with no tune at all. Every line should still make sense, and the next step should be clear without sound.

Step 4: Run a next-day memory test

Read the jingle once to a friend or family member. The next day, ask them what the business was called and what they were supposed to do. If they cannot say, your name or your next step needs a stronger spot.

Step 5: Check that every line is your own

Make sure no line or tune borrows from a famous jingle or song. A borrowed tune points people back to the original brand, and it can bring a copyright claim.

Familiarity is still worth chasing, just with your own tune. A 2024 Durham University article describes a study where products paired with a familiar tune were more likely to be chosen, while music people disliked put them off. Pick a style your customers enjoy and keep using it. Our look at whether jingles still work covers more of the research.

Who should sing the words once they are written?

Once your words are written, you have four main ways to get them sung: sing them yourself, use an AI song tool, pay a studio, or order a done-for-you song ad. The right pick depends on your budget and whether you also need a video.

Each route has a catch. AI tools and studios hand you a sound file, and you still need a video with every word on screen. A studio with session singers gives you a human voice and more polish, but the video is extra. For more detail, see how much a jingle costs and our comparison of AI jingle generators and jingle writers.

Song ads from 30 Second Productions are the last row. A song ad is a short video ad where your message is sung. You can send us the lyrics you wrote with this template, or let us write them. A pro-sounding AI singer sings them in the style you pick, and we turn it into a 3D cartoon music video with every word on screen and your logo, offer and button on the last frame.

It is ready in 72 hours, with 1 round of remakes and a money-back guarantee, and you own the ad. We make the ad, but we do not run your ads for you.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to know music to write a jingle?

You do not need to know music to write jingle lyrics. Writing the words is a writing job: a clear problem, your name, one promise and a next step. The singer, tool or studio sets the tune, and many writers finish the words before any music exists.

Can I put new words to a famous jingle tune?

You should not put new words to a famous jingle or song tune for an ad. The tune is usually still protected by copyright, and it reminds people of the original brand instead of yours. Ask for an original melody in a style you like, such as upbeat country or warm acoustic.

What makes a jingle catchy?

A jingle is catchy when it is upbeat, short and repeats one hook that carries the business name. The 2016 Goldsmiths study found that tunes people get stuck in their heads tended to have a fast tempo and some repetition. Plain words that are easy to sing back help too.

Can I turn my slogan into a jingle?

Yes, an existing slogan often makes the best hook, because customers may already know it. Check that it fits in 6 to 12 syllables and says your name, or pair it with a line that does. Then build the problem and next-step lines around it.

How many versions of the lyrics should I write?

Write at least three versions of each line, then pick the best with the clap test and the next-day memory test. Your first line is rarely your best. If you plan to test ads, keep two strong hooks so you can run them against each other.

The short version

Now you know how to write a jingle that a stranger could sing back. Fill in the four parts: problem, name, promise and next step. Keep lines to about 6 to 12 syllables, land your name on a strong beat, and rhyme only when it sounds like normal speech.

Sing the action and show the phone number. Budget about 15 to 20 sung words for a 15-second ad and 30 to 45 for a 30-second one. Then run the five-step test before anyone records a note.

A jingle will not fix a weak offer or a slow phone. It gives people a short, friendly way to remember your name, and that is a fair job for six lines. If you would like those lines sung, animated and ready to post, that is what our song ads are for.

Ready for an ad people remember? Get your song ad for $97, written, sung and animated for you in 72 hours, with a money-back guarantee.

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