Finding your brand's voice

Anyone in the world of marketing will be familiar with the phrase ‘tone of voice’, but what does it mean?

Tone of voice isn’t what we say, it’s how we say it. It is the language we use, the way we construct sentences, the sound of our words and the personality that we communicate to our customers or target audience. The words in your written content are basically the equivalent to the logo, colours and fonts in your in branding.

Creating and sticking to a well-defined and specific writing style helps you maintain consistency in your brand. Where your customers are concerned, it helps them feel like they are talking to the same person every time they engage with your business.

Multi-national companies including Google, Microsoft and O2 have all employed specific tone of voice consultants in the past, who were solely responsible for looking at their messaging and developing a solid brand tone. 

We’ve highlighted some of the key reasons your business needs a tone of voice…

It makes your business more ‘human’
If you think about yourself as a consumer, you love brands with a bit of personality, right? Consumers like dealing with brands they have a connection with and your tone of voice is what develops that connection. A consistent tone of voice will make your customers feel like they are always dealing with the same familiar person however they communicate with you.

You’ll be a cut above the rest
Content marketing is on the increase and substantial volumes of text are being generated which often lack a clear, recognisable voice. You can really connect with your customers by developing a distinctive tone and be recognised even when your logo is not visible. This is very powerful on both across your website, social media channels and other marketing material.

It helps your brand stand out from the crowd
What is your brand’s unique selling point (USP)? How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors? By following clear tone of voice guidelines, you can transform your use of language and open up enormous opportunities for your business.

It will build trust
With fewer opportunities to talk face-to-face, your written communications need to work harder and smarter than ever. The majority of buyers are most of the way through their decision-making process before they have ever spoken with a company, so it’s important that the foundations of a good working relationship can be built through your marketing material and website. If you can think of tone of voice examples that help to subtly build trust and familiarity with your brand, you are on to a good thing.

It makes you focus
Thinking about your tone of voice is a positive discipline as it encourages you to reflect on your company identity and arrive at some clear and concise brand guidelines. By drilling down to the core of your brand, you can cut through the clutter and set your strategic direction more clearly. This is a great technique for getting a clear understanding of your business and how you wish to be portrayed.

 It builds authority
If you think of the great communicators that you’ve seen presenting or performing, they all fill their audience with passion in some way. They might be lively, funny, charismatic, stirring or have many other traits, but they will all be memorable for their unique style of delivery. Personality comes through when you have confidence in what you are saying. This additional authority is precisely how brands with a strong tone of voice will benefit.

Everyone you meet has a different way of expressing themselves, think of that as their tone of voice. Your company needs a way of expressing itself too, as if it were a person with its own individual personality and style. Think about it like a personality, so “what’s your brand personality?”

If we can help you develop a tone of voice or fine tune your current one, get in touch.