Why does tone of voice matter?

Let’s look at the business case for tone of voice. Why does it matter? Why is this something that companies spend so much time and effort getting right? 

“Language is the fastest, smartest, cheapest marketing tool.”

– Chris West

Simply put, tone of voice helps marketers and brand managers represent your brand in the best possible light. Here’s how. 

1. Stand out

In a crowded industry, tone of voice is an easy way to stand out from the noise and do something different. In a world of Häagen Dazs and Magnum, Ben & Jerry’s have a light and uplifting tone that is a breath of fresh air.

When you’re working on your tone of voice, make sure you understand your market and who you’re up against. There might be an opportunity to corner a niche simply in the way you speak.

2. Be more memorable/trustworthy/likeable

This one’s about building that relationship with your customer. Without tone of voice, your brand is forgettable. But a quirky or interesting tone of voice instantly elevates your brand towards memorable. A strong tone of voice can help your customers trust a brand.

Imagine your bank using lots of swear words and slang in their copy. Would you trust them with your hard-earned savings? Then again, if they were too cold, too clinical, perhaps you’d worry that they don’t care enough about your hopes and dreams. 

This is where customer research is so important to understand what matters to your customers and what they really need from your brand. 

An important element here is consistency, which nobody does better than Innocent. Yes, it’s a brand that comes up in most conversations I have about tone of voice. But it’s with good reason in my opinion. Everywhere you see their copy, whether on the bus, on the bottle or on social media, they feel and sound the same. You feel like you know them. It builds trust. It makes them the go-to brand for what they do. And it makes them someone you’re happy to spend your time (and therefore your money) with. 

3. Write copy easier

Let’s leave the customer-facing part of the brand for a moment and head into the brand’s head office. Let’s visit the marketing team and particularly the copywriters. Imagine a team of copywriters trying to nail a creative brief with no guidelines, no benchmark. It’s likely going to be slow, painful and involve plenty of rewrites and edits while the team blindly searches for what their manager had in mind. 

Tone of voice cuts that time and effort in half. Teams have clear guidelines and creativity-boosting restrictions. Managers have the words and means with which to deliver clear creative briefs. The results are always better. 

This campaign is from the National Trust. There’s no way they could have come up with such a strong and effective campaign without having a clear and considered tone of voice. Read more about the National Trust tone of voice guidelines here.  

4. Achieve a goal

Maybe you have a specific goal in mind for your business. Maybe you want a new customer base, or you want to expand into a new market. Maybe you want to become the go-to brand for your particular product or service. Tone of voice is a useful tool to get you there. 

The fast-food brand KFC did some market research a few years ago and discovered the customer perception of their brand was miles away from where they wanted it to be. It was seen as the ‘fading old man’ of the fast-food sector. Now they’ve done an impressive 180 and have a newer, cooler, image. In no small part down to an updated tone of voice.

They ditched the ‘Finger lickin’ good’ line during the pandemic, when everyone was extra worried about personal hygiene. Their more recent ad, released in response to running out of chicken, is smart, irreverent and miles away from being the ‘fading old man’ of the industry. It won them brand of the year in 2021. 

5. Reinforce your brand values

And finally, tone of voice can reinforce and strengthen your brand values. Strong brand values help you attract more customers. According to a study by the Retail Times, 90% of Brits are loyal to brands who share their values.

They can also help you hire and retain better talent and work more efficiently as a team. And tone of voice is a helpful way to reinforce, perpetuate and represent brand values through every aspect of the business. 

Let’s say you make vegan convenience food, like gobble box. They list just two values on their page: ‘Taste good, do good’ and ‘Convenience, not compromise’. They live their values by making ready meals that taste good and are plant-based. They embody their values in their voice with their tone of voice: short, light, positive copy that doesn’t labour the point.

So that’s why brands spend a lot of time and effort thinking about tone of voice. Want to know how brands write consistently across teams of writers? They have a tone of voice guide. 

If you’d like to chat more about developing a new tone of voice for your business or embedding an existing one, I’d love to hear from you.