How to find your brand tone of voice
What is brand tone of voice?
You’ve got a shit-hot business, things are going well. There’s only one thing missing. Every time you see {insert name of super-awesome rival brand} on LinkedIn, Instagram and in your inbox, they sound distinctive, classy, fun and friendly. Your copy feels flat or inconsistent in comparison.
Or maybe you run a one-person business, and when it comes to chatting face to face with clients, you know how to dazzle them. But translate all that winning personality to paper/web page? Not easy.
When we think of some of the most famous brands in the world, they stand out because wherever you encounter them, they sound and feel the same. It’s like when you see your friend, no matter if they’re in the pub or the supermarket, in pjs or a prom dress, it’s the same gal. With great brands, the same is true. The reason for this is a clear and consistent brand tone of voice.
It’s effective because it feels like you ‘know’ this brand and like they know you. They’re reliable, authentic and different from the others. So why wouldn’t you choose their smoothie/current account/trainers?
And the good news is, you can get all that juicy brand tone of voice goodness for your business. No matter what you sell or how many people you employ. All you need is a brand voice.
How do I find my brand tone of voice?
A brand’s voice or personality is usually made up of a few words that describe their core characteristics. Livestreaming service Twitch is mischievous, purposeful, iterative and revolutionary. 1% for the Planet aims to be empowering, welcoming, urgent, plainspoken, accessible and mobilising. Makeup brand NYX goes all out listing their characteristics as youthful, clean, joyful, contemporary, expressive, sophisticated, daring, human and beautiful. Phew.
So, how the hell do you know what your brand personality is?
Here are some ways to begin to figure it out:
Chat to your customers – what do they love about your brand? If they rave about your friendly customer service or on-point delivery, could that inspire an element of your tone of voice?
Look at your competitors – how can you stand out? If you’ve already got three ‘quirky and offbeat’ brands in your category, could you go for ‘smart and sassy’ instead?
Talk to your team. (Or, if you’re a company of one, talk to yourself.) What are the key personality traits that emerge? I recently worked with a one-woman business and one of the words that came up for her was ‘youthful’. It transformed her copy and helped her stand out in her category.
Is there anything in your brand’s heritage, story or products that could inspire your personality? If you’re selling high-ticket holidays in grand country estates, you might not want to sound zany. If your business started out of mum’s garage, you might not want to sound clinical.
Write the first paragraph of your website copy three or four times. Try dialling up the different personality traits and see which one feels the most ‘you’.
Get the thesaurus out. Maybe you want your brand to sound confident, but the word ‘confident’ feels too brash. What about assured, optimistic, intrepid?
Sounds great. How do I use my brand tone of voice consistently?
Once you’ve figured out your voice, you’ll need to get clear on how that voice shapes your brand’s communications. Then you’ll need to find that consistency we talked about earlier.
The secret is brand voice guidelines (sometimes called tone of voice guidelines or a style guide). This is a document that establishes and communicates your brand personality. Your guidelines will first explain your personality in detail, why it makes sense for your brand and your customer, and what it means in practice.
No matter whether only one person or twenty write for your brand, tone of voice guidelines make sure everyone is on the same page, that every word your brand ‘says’ in public is written according to these rules and guidelines.
If it sounds super restrictive, it’s not. Guidelines help you make tricky writing decisions with confidence and purpose. Do you want to start your email with “Hey, folks” or “Wotcher, peeps”? Your brand guidelines have the answer.
Just like a list of ingredients is used to make your favourite soup, your guidelines will detail the little linguistic details that come together to create your brand’s personality. It might be shorter sentences, the degree to which you use slang, the kinds of words you use. Anything to convey that mood to your customer using words.
If you’d like to chat about uncovering your brand tone of voice or writing your tone of voice guidelines, send me an email, I’ll be happy to help.