How can you create brand voice and tone guidelines that work for every culture?

1 Understand your audience

The first step to creating brand voice and tone guidelines that work for every culture is to understand your audience. Who are they, where are they from, what are their needs, goals, and pain points, and how do they communicate? You can use tools like surveys, interviews, analytics, and social media to gather data and insights about your audience segments. You can also use personas, scenarios, and user journeys to create realistic and empathetic representations of your audience. By understanding your audience, you can tailor your brand voice and tone to match their expectations, preferences, and emotions.

3 Define your brand tone

Your brand tone is the variation of your brand voice depending on the situation, context, and audience. It is how you adapt your voice to convey the right emotion, attitude, and intention. To define your brand tone, you need to consider the different scenarios, channels, and goals that your brand communicates in. For example, your tone might be different when you write a blog post, a social media post, an email, or a landing page. You can use a brand tone matrix to map out the different dimensions of your tone, such as formal vs informal, humorous vs serious, or enthusiastic vs calm. You can also use examples of words, phrases, or sentences that illustrate your tone in each situation.

4 Test and refine your brand voice and tone

Once you have defined your brand voice and tone, you need to test and refine them to ensure that they work for every culture. You can use tools like translation software, readability tests, and sentiment analysis to check how your voice and tone sound in different languages, contexts, and emotions. You can also use feedback from your audience, team members, or external experts to evaluate how your voice and tone resonate with different cultures. You can use a brand voice and tone checklist to review your content and identify any gaps, inconsistencies, or errors. You can also use a brand voice and tone style guide to document your guidelines and share them with your team and collaborators.

5 Respect cultural diversity

The final step to creating brand voice and tone guidelines that work for every culture is to respect cultural diversity. You need to be aware of the different values, beliefs, norms, and customs that influence how your audience perceives and responds to your brand. You need to avoid any language, images, or symbols that might be offensive, insensitive, or inappropriate for any culture. You also need to be flexible and adaptable to the changing needs, preferences, and expectations of your audience. You can use tools like cultural dimensions, cultural models, or cultural intelligence to learn more about the different aspects of culture and how they affect communication.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?