How can you define and communicate your brand voice across channels?

I like to think of brand voice differently from product marketing. Unlike the latter, crafting the brand voice is a much larger and macro effort. Think of it as a person. And a person is slightly different with different sets of people he interacts with. Similarly the brand voice should clearly showcase the brand values and ethos rather than product features. I believe customers buy the brand first and then the product. Apple is a classic case in point here. A brand must communicate clearly what it stands for and must tweak the messaging according to the channels or media. So communication on a LinkedIn channel must be very different from Snapchat content. The message must be tailored to suit the audience!

Defining and communicating your brand voice across channels is crucial for a consistent and compelling brand presence. It starts with understanding your core values and target audience. Then, craft a messaging framework that resonates with your brand's personality. Finally, ensure every touchpoint, from social media to customer support, reflects this voice. Consistency is key!

Start with audience research to understand their preferences and needs. Define your brand voice characteristics like tone and personality. Create brand guidelines for messaging and visuals, ensuring consistency. Develop content accordingly, maintaining consistency. Engage with and listen to your audience, adapting your messaging. However, while being aware of audience preferences, avoid being overly influenced by trends. It's important to stay true to your brand's unique voice and identity. Following trends too closely can lead to the loss of your own distinct voice and dilute your brand's authenticity. Strike a balance between staying relevant and maintaining your brand's authenticity.

These all the tool like customer personas, surveys, interviews, and analytics mostly tells you how you could resonate with your customers and similarities between you and your competing brands. The real art is to find the grounds which your competition has not tapped yey. How can you be different, new, and fresh with your own brand voice, brand play ground yet hook your TA to your brand.

A few things are sacrosanct when we aim to define a brand's voice; Firstly, your brand voice should not overlap completely with your competitors. In a bid to mimic and outshine a lot of brands tend to lose their voice and this causes a blend in the consumer's mind. Secondly, To remedy this, the voice should stem from and stay true to the brand's core value proposition, i.e., customer/product centricity. Lastly, Stick to your basics and when in doubt, personify, it always helps if you do a little mental exercise and imagine your brand saying things out loud. This certainly helps bring a lot of things into perspective and whether certain dot are being circled the way it was intended.

Creating a brand persona can make a brand voice more distinct and interesting and it helps a group adapt it over channels. It’s easy to land a brand voice in a bland place so having a persona helps make it more interesting.

Defining your brand voice attributes using brand edges is a simple yet powerful strategy. Start by identifying your brand's unique qualities or "edges" that set it apart. For each edge, define voice attributes—descriptive words or phrases that capture the intended tone and personality. Create a matrix aligning edges with their respective attributes. Assign specific attributes to each edge. For instance, a sustainable fashion brand with an "Eco-Friendly" edge might choose attributes like "Caring," "Informative," and "Passionate." This approach ensures consistent and memorable brand communication, reinforcing your brand identity.

Understand your ?why“ helps also find the right attributes. Knowing and understanding why the company exists, why employees working here and why customers buying is essential. It‘s basically the heart to the voice.

Control is key to establishing a strong tone of voice. Have a process in place so you can constantly monitor, evaluate, review and adapt your tone of voice. As a sole trader it’s tough to stay consistent but as soon as you have multiple team members all communicating on behalf of the brand - it can be a huge challenge! It’s a great idea to appoint a Guardian of your tone of voice so that staff know this is the person who has the bigger picture and that they have brand’s interests at heart when giving feedback. Guidelines are obviously a key tool and regular tone of voice workshops can help remind everyone and keep them engaged and motivated to achieve the right voice with their own writing. Make it fun, not a chore and bring people along.

Including sample language can be helpful for voice charts to illustrate the nuances. To continue this example of a Friendly brand voice: Say this: "Hey! We're Company. Welcome to our website. Feel free to ask us anything." Not this: "Hiiii besties! our name is Company and we are #slaying these product shoots right?!"

Once you have a handle on the consistent voice, you can incorporate "brand tones"—this is how you adapt depending on the audience you want to reach and what message you're conveying. A LinkedIn post may take a more professional tone, while a TikTok posted by the same brand will be far more conversational—but both can have the same friendly brand voice.

You want to make sure that the content you’re delivering is what is being requested. If someone goes to your website they are probably looking for more robust information about your services and what you offer. If someone goes to your instagram page they are probably looking for nuggets of information or insight about the importance of what you offer, tools to help them, or quick informational tips. Know your audience and cater to them.

Adapting to different channels doesn’t mean completely changing it and that’s why this point of the article is important. In my roles as a marketer, my main job has been writing content for all of our channels, not just social media or email or blogs. What I’ve done and could work for you is write out the base content. Think blogs, landing pages etc. and personalize for each channel from there. No need to recreate the wheel!

A rigid brand voice that blindly pastes it's messaging across all social media platforms. While this may sound simplistic in its approach , A brand's voice is usually lost in translation or diluted by monotony. To truly resonate, a brand must adapt its voice thoughtfully. Social media demands a more casual and interactive tone, allowing brands to engage directly with their audience. On the other hand, the website and email communications often require a more formal and informative approach to establish credibility. By recognizing these differences and tailoring the message accordingly, a brand can create a consistent yet adaptable voice.

Don't adapt to much though! You yourself might also speak different when you talk to your partner, your family or your colleagues. But your voice is still the same, your accent stays the same. That also applies to a brand voice. Be appropriate to a channel but don't change your voice completely. There should be a red thread ging through all channels. It could be little things, that are unique to your tone of voice and let the costumer recognize you through all channels.

Defining and communicating your brand voice isn't just about being heard; it's about being recognized, felt, and remembered across channels. It begins with a deep dive into the core of your brand's identity - its values, mission, and the emotions you want to evoke in your audience. Think of your brand voice as a trusted character in your customer's daily narrative, one who speaks the same language keeps the promises, and always wears the same familiar "outfit" of tone, style, and values, no matter the setting. As you weave this voice into every communication, your brand voice becomes a dinamic story that unfolds across all platforms, inviting customers into a journey that feels both expansive and intimately personal.

The strongest brand voices have attributes that are specific and can't just be boiled down to "positive." For example, everyone wants to be clear—no one wants an UNclear brand voice. Consider where your voice might fall on different spectrums, like straightforward vs. interpretive or irreverent vs. considerate.

The fundamentals of communication are two-way communication. What you have communicated, how people are responding and reacting to your touch, and how you are taking the feedback and implementing it in your messaging complete the cycle of healthy communication in the ecosystem. Therefore, it is one of the crucial steps to follow while making the best practices for aligning your messaging.

In my experience, consistency is very crucial when it comes to branding. Consistency in your tone of voice and visual design across different channels will go long in helping you to define and communicate clearly your brand voice.