7 common tone of voice mistakes (and how to fix them)
For every example of excellent brand tone of voice out there, there are just as many examples of brand voice gone wrong. Luckily those mistakes are easily made but just as easily fixed. Discover seven common mistakes businesses make with their brand voice and how to fix them.
1. Too generic
If your brand persona consists of nothing but the words ‘human’, ‘friendly’, ‘professional’ or variations on this theme, you might need to go back to the drawing board. Most brands want to embody these traits, so you might struggle to stand out.
Tip: One option is to come up with a fourth trait that will help you stand out. Think about what makes you special. Why are you different from the next business? Alternatively, you could find difference by getting specific. What type of ‘friendly’ are you? Are you ‘seeing your neighbour at the supermarket’ friendly or ‘sinking a bottle of pinot and dancing on the bar’ friendly?
2. All about you
Especially when you’re a company of one, it’s easy to fall into the trap of turning your business into the person you wish you were. But is that really what your ideal customer needs?
Tip: Try exercise 2 in my brand voice workshop to refocus on your customer. Picture your customer before they find out about your brand. What do they think and feel? Now picture them after they’ve interacted with you. What personality traits do you need to show to take them on that journey?
3. Too try-hard
This one is hard to pinpoint, but if you go hard for funny or sassy or weird, there’s a chance you might miss the mark and come off rude, annoying or awkward. Most importantly, never sacrifice message for an all-singing, all-dancing, jazz-hands personality.
Tip: Test your messaging with your target audience. Your funny might be someone else’s cringefest, and you need to find out before you go big on splashing that joke all over the internet.
4. Too dry
This one is so common in B2B organisations that want to secure their professional reputation. In a bid to sound knowledgeable and wise they end up coming across as stiff, impersonal and just plain boring.
Tip: Imagine your customer is in the room with you – how would you speak to them? How can you emulate that tone in your copy? Often, throwing in some contractions (‘don’t’ instead of ‘do not’) and speaking directly to the reader using the word ‘you’ can really help.
5. You haven’t read the room
Remember, just like real-life you is slightly different at lunch with your in-laws compared to games night at your best mate’s, your business needs to be ‘you’ in your Ts&Cs as well as on your Insta Stories. Put it this way: you wouldn’t make a fart joke at a funeral.
Tip: Make sure the persona you choose has some light and shade, and a broad enough scope to be a version of you wherever your customers might encounter you. Think of a few different scenarios where you might flex your tone according to the situation to give your customer the best experience.
6. Too similar to your competitors
It can be tempting as the new kid on the block to emulate what’s already working. But the best brands are the ones that do something remarkable, who stand out for all the right reasons.
Tip: Find that point of difference. Yes, your customer’s problem is the same, but just like when you go to your group of friends with a problem and they all have a different response, you can take a different approach to meeting your customer’s needs.
7. It doesn’t excite you
The most important thing about your brand voice is that it should feel true to you. It should inspire and excite you and those who write for you. It should feel spacious enough to let creativity run without being so broad that writers feel lost in it.
Tip: Get buy-in from those who will be using your brand voice every day. Does it resonate with their experience of your brand whilst also feeling like it moves your brand forward and keeps it fresh?
Want to get your brand’s tone of voice firing on all cylinders? I offer a range of packages suited to different business sizes and goals. Get in touch and let’s chat.