If your business suddenly lost its logo, how would your audience know how to identify you?
Hopefully, through your brand voice!聽聽
You might have heard that having a logo is a key part of branding your business, and that it鈥檚 important to build a visual identity around that logo. However, most business owners overlook an equally important aspect of branding: Creating and sticking to a unique voice.听
A 鈥渂rand voice鈥� is essentially how your brand鈥檚 content sounds in people鈥檚 heads. It should embody the brand personality you鈥檝e created for your business, and it鈥檚 the tone that seeps into all of your business鈥檚 communication, regardless if it鈥檚 on social media or through customer service.
The easiest way to define brand voice is to look at how well-known brands use it. Let鈥檚 take the product details of this belted shirt dress from online fashion retailer ASOS as an example:
Notice how the first thing listed is 鈥淲orth making plans for鈥�, rather than the standard 鈥渕ade from 20% cotton鈥� information that most shoppers tend to ignore?聽
This is an easy way to show how a brand can take the most ordinary (and, let鈥檚 face it, boring) content and use their brand voice – in the case of ASOS, a voice that鈥檚 clever, catchy, and exciting – to appeal to their audience.
But in addition to the entertainment factor, using a consistent brand voice can actually help you retain customers and boost your sales! In fact, studies have shown that consistently presenting a brand can increase revenue by 33%.听
That鈥檚 because the more consistent your brand is, the more likely your audience will be to remember your brand – helping them feel like they can trust you to deliver a specific, positive experience.听
Not only that, but 61% of people are more likely to buy from brands that they feel deliver unique content. You may not be able to control what you say online – after all, if you鈥檙e a real estate agent, you鈥檒l probably focus most of your online communication around real-estate-related topics – but what you can control is how you say it.听
That鈥檚 a big part of what will differentiate your brand from competitors, and again, help you stay relevant in the minds of your audience.听
Like we mentioned, your voice is a reflection of your brand鈥檚 overall personality; it鈥檚 consistent and unchanging.听
Your brand voice should be:
鈥� Distinct. Creating a brand voice shouldn鈥檛 be about becoming the next Apple or the new Facebook; it鈥檚 about becoming the first you, and bringing a new voice to the table.
鈥� Identifiable. As in, can your audience read a piece of content you wrote and automatically know it came from your brand? The answer should be a definite yes.
鈥� Complementary to the rest of your brand identity. All of the elements that make up your brand identity should be cohesive with one another, so that together, they paint an entire picture of 鈥渨ho鈥� your brand is.
鈥揅辞苍蝉颈蝉迟别苍迟. Whether you鈥檙e posting an interesting article on your Facebook page or are responding to a customer鈥檚 email, your brand voice should be at the front and center of your content.听聽
However, where your brand voice is consistent, your tone can change depending on where it鈥檚 being used. In other words, your brand voice encompasses the general things that you say, while your tone informs how you say it.听
The way you respond to a comment on social media will probably have a lighter tone than if you鈥檙e responding to an angry customer who complained via email; similarly, a product announcement would pack more excitement than a message about your opening hours.听
Now that you understand why brand voice is important and the general 鈥渞ules鈥� for using one that works, let鈥檚 dive in and create yours! You can check out this video to get started, or continue reading for 7 steps to help craft your voice:
Here鈥檚 a list of steps that will help you come up with a voice that best represents your business.听
As with determining any part of your brand identity, you鈥檒l need to keep your original mission statement in mind when creating your brand voice.
Remind yourself: Why did you start your company? What are the values sitting at the core of everything you do?
Let鈥檚 take a look at the as an example of what this means:
Their mission is to 鈥渆nd Alzheimer鈥檚 and all other dementia – by accelerating global research, driving risk reduction and early detection, and maximising quality care and support.鈥� Behind this mission lies integrity, inclusiveness, diversity, commitment to excellence, etc.听
Your brand voice is going to constantly emphasize and reinforce specific traits about your business in the minds of your audience, so you鈥檒l want to make sure to be proactive about which traits these are. In other words, the way you speak to your audience should be easily connected back to your core values, which all stem from your mission statement.听聽
To come up with these traits for your own business, you can go through the exercises on this template:
You should be able to have an idea of what your brand voice should sound like by the end.听
Now, how do you start putting your brand voice into action?聽
f you鈥檝e already created content for your brand 鈥� whether that鈥檚 a single ad banner, a slew of posts on social media, or an entire blog 鈥� then this is the time to evaluate what you鈥檝e put out into the world. (And, if you鈥檝e just launched but haven鈥檛 yet created any content, don鈥檛 worry! You can go ahead and skip this step.)聽
Make sure to look at your:聽
Are there common themes in the language, or certain words you notice that keep appearing across posts? Or, do some posts read as serious and heavy, where others seem silly and light? Note where there are similarities and what the discrepancies are.听聽
Here鈥檚 a, the clothing brand, inviting customers to refer their friends and get a discount:聽
Notice how the first thing they say is 鈥淪hare the love鈥�? That playful, excited energy is echoed in their Instagram posts (鈥淲hat do long weekends and Spanx denim have in common? Everyone loves them!鈥�):聽
Once you go through your existing content, analyze its language and tone in relationship to its performance. Consider a piece of content as performing 鈥渨ell鈥� if it met your goals for that content at the time you posted it, whether those goals were shares, clicks, likes, comments, or plain old views.听
(If you didn鈥檛 have goals for creating content before, once again – don鈥檛 worry! This is a great time to start thinking about your content as a branding tool that does work for you.)聽
Evaluate which of your posts had the best engagement, and which left a lot to be desired. As you鈥檙e wading through content, try to see if there are commonalities between the posts that have resonated with your audience, and vice versa for posts they didn鈥檛 receive well.
How do your competitors talk to their (your) audience? What鈥檚 their tone of voice; do they even have one? If you read through their blog content and/or social media posts and start to feel like you can 鈥渆nvision鈥� who the brand is after 10 minutes, chances are that they are using some sort of defined brand voice.听
Now, ask yourself if their brand voice(s) matches your industry. Should you take a similar approach to talking with your audience, or is it an inappropriate match to your own brand mission? You can scope out the comments on their social media pages to get an idea of whether their voice is landing with their audience or falling flat.听
Ideally, you won鈥檛 be creating a brand voice that鈥檚 identical to your competitors鈥�, as this will neither set your brand apart from theirs nor give your brand a unique edge. However, it鈥檚 important to get a sense of what鈥檚 out there – both your competitors鈥� failures and certainly their successes – so you can think about new ways to address your audience (and if nothing else, then for plain old inspiration).
Who is your target audience – are they young? Married? Preoccupied with social issues, or worried about their finances?聽
Or, if you鈥檝e already gone live with your business and have an audience that knows you, this would be a good time to get an idea of what they think of you. Like you did in your content audit, it鈥檚 important to evaluate the parts of your brand they connect with and the parts of your brand personality they could do without.
The best way to find out? Ask them!
Create a poll on social media, send one out to your email list, or check for comments on your blog. Try to ask things like:聽
鈥� Describe our brand in three words.
鈥� If our brand were a person, who would it be?
鈥� Do you think our tone fits with our product/service?
You can turn this into a contest, or offer a discount on a product of yours for the first 50 people to respond.听
Once you get responses, note how much of what they鈥檝e said about your brand overlaps with what you鈥檝e said about yourself. If you鈥檙e both in the same ballpark, then you know your brand voice is already on the right track!聽
Note that your 补耻诲颈别苍肠别鈥檚 ideal brand voice might not be the voice you would expect them to want to hear.听
A game company that created a product full of sass and snark, prides themselves on being offensive. But, rather than alienating their customer base, their chutzpah is exactly what attracts people to their brand. People know that they can rely on the brand to consistently toe the line (frequently crossing into the realm of the politically incorrect), promising a good joke in the process.听聽
What鈥檚 important to note is that CAH commits to their voice, no matter if they鈥檙e running a holiday campaign or putting out a new product. They even played on their brand personality to stage their own form of political protest, rallying people to join their cause through sarcasm and satire.
As mentioned above, your brand voice is an important component of your overall brand personality.听
Describe your brand鈥檚 personality, using concrete adjectives and fleshed-out details. What does your brand sound like when it speaks? What vibe does its design give off?
You may want to talk this out with another person, or write everything down on paper without thinking too much about it. Include details like what your brand would be like at a party, and what it would never, ever do in public.
When you have this all written down, you鈥檙e ready to come up with 3 adjectives that describe your brand. Choose words that encompass all of the main traits you think are important to convey your personality. For example: 鈥淜ayla鈥檚 Closet is trendy, bold, and always full of sass.鈥�
Don鈥檛 force it; try to choose traits that are in line with what your brand offers and reinforce your mission statement. Having an authentic brand voice is one of the main ways to grip your audience, so don鈥檛 worry if you end up with traits that are slightly different than you expected.听
Then, you鈥檒l want to 鈥渦npack鈥� each trait. Include a description of the trait, and specific do鈥檚 and don鈥檛 statements for how you鈥檒l use it. (We鈥檒l talk more about this in the sections to come.) You can use this template to help you come up with these descriptions:
You鈥檝e got your adjectives down; now, try your brand voice on for size – on the internet.听
Write a sample blog post using your new tone, and ask a friend, partner, or someone who knows your business well what they think. If you get the green light, try sending out an email to a group of beta readers (i.e. friends and family) to see if they like what you鈥檙e putting out or if they immediately tell you to turn the bus around.
Also, evaluate how your brand voice works with other elements of your brand. Is your tone consistent with the rest of your visual identity? What kind of message do your logo and colors send together with your voice? Make sure you鈥檙e getting 鈥渃onsistent鈥� rather than 鈥渃onflicting;鈥澛� you want your brand to work harmoniously together, not to put people off or confuse them with what you鈥檙e trying to say.
When you feel like you鈥檝e got it down, start posting on your social media channels to see how your audience reacts. You may find that, down the line, your audience ends up being different than you initially thought, and they might respond better to an adapted version of your voice.听
Razor company Gillette took a stab at this in the past couple of years, rebranding through a coming-out video aimed at fighting against toxic masculinity.听
They played off of their own tagline, 鈥淭he Best a Man Can Get鈥� 鈥� which had been their mantra for the last 30 years 鈥� and challenged their audience to instead strive for 鈥淭he Best a Man Can Be.鈥澛�
To emphasize their commitment to social issues, Gillete created a website and social media channels that all incorporate their new-and-improved, sincere, compassionate and morally-concerned language.听
The response to this rebrand was controversial, which just goes to show that it鈥檚 important to gear your voice to be in line with your ideal audience, whether that means adapting with the times when they do or sticking to your guns if you know it鈥檚 what they want.
Consistency is your brand鈥檚 number one key to success – in all aspects of branding, but especially when it comes to your brand voice. Any content that you publish from here on out needs to be in line with your brand voice, so that your audience can come to get to know it, love it, and learn to rely on your brand to deliver what they expect.
Dollar Shave Club – another razor brand – is a great example of a brand that does just this. The CEO had a hunch that razors could be entertaining, and he used humor to create a launch video meant to be as funny as it was advertorial. Not only did this video go viral (with millions of views in the first three months), but it also set the tone for the Dollar Shave Club brand forever on.
Video is a great way to connect with your audience, and Dollar Shave used the language they knew their audience 鈥� young, regular men in need of a shave 鈥� could relate to. And, since then, all of the shareable digital content the brand creates has remained in that same relatable, funny voice. Look no further than their entire Instagram feed if you want a laugh:
To ensure this consistency – whether you鈥檙e sitting in the solo car on the entrepreneurial train or you鈥檙e conducting a whole crew聽 -it鈥檚 important to set guidelines that explain how your brand voice is allowed to sound in different contexts.
Outline what your voice is and what it isn鈥檛, but be much more specific than you were in Step 4. Use concrete examples, such as 鈥淲e love dad jokes, but we never make puns,鈥� so that any content creators you may bring on board don鈥檛 have to wonder what kind of 鈥渇unny鈥� is acceptable. (Again, let鈥檚 circle back to Cards Against Humanity; their version of humor is a far cry from the tame jokes of any other brand in comparison.)
Write out a few example sentences that are appropriate for your brand to say, and examples of what not to say; the more specific you can be, the better. In the long run, these guidelines will help your brand stay on-message regardless of the context or the platform through which you鈥檙e communicating.听
There are a hundred ways to tell a good story, but choosing and developing your brand voice means you鈥檝e picked the best way for your audience! Once you craft the right voice for your business, you鈥檒l find it easier to create content that resonates with your audience and keeps them coming back for more.
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