How do you create and maintain a consistent tone and voice across different internal communication channels?
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Your tone and voice are the expressions of your organization's personality, values, and culture. They reflect how you want to communicate with your employees and how you want them to perceive you. To define your tone and voice, you need to consider your mission, vision, goals, and audience. What are the key messages you want to convey? What are the emotions you want to evoke? What are the expectations and preferences of your employees? Based on these factors, you can create a tone and voice guide that outlines the style, tone, and language you will use in your internal communication.
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Create a simple toolkit: - When and where do you need to be formal - How do you use data and resources to back up statements - When can you be more informal and how - What language do you never use - What topics do you never reference - What inspires, reassures, concerns, excites your core audience - What 5 words sum up your tone, values and ambitions - Do you have a secret formula that you consistently use - show, tell, add value, create intrigue for example.
While your tone and voice should be consistent, they should also be flexible enough to suit the channel and context of your communication. Different channels have different purposes, formats, and audiences, and you need to adjust your tone and voice accordingly. For example, an email newsletter might have a more formal and informative tone than a Slack message, which might have a more casual and conversational tone. Similarly, a crisis communication might have a more serious and empathetic tone than a celebratory announcement, which might have a more upbeat and enthusiastic tone. The key is to match your tone and voice to the channel and context, while still staying true to your brand identity and values.
One of the most important aspects of effective internal communication is clarity. You want your employees to understand your messages easily and quickly, without any confusion or ambiguity. To achieve this, you need to use clear and simple language that avoids jargon, acronyms, slang, and technical terms. If you have to use any of these, make sure to explain them or provide a glossary. You also need to use short and simple sentences and paragraphs, and organize your information logically and coherently. Use headings, subheadings, bullet points, and visuals to break up your text and highlight the main points.
Consistency and authenticity are essential for building trust and credibility with your employees. You want your tone and voice to be consistent across all your internal communication channels and platforms, as well as across different departments and teams. This means that you need to follow your tone and voice guide and ensure that everyone who communicates internally adheres to it. You also need to train and educate your employees on how to use your tone and voice effectively and appropriately. Moreover, you want your tone and voice to be authentic and genuine, reflecting your organization's culture and values. You need to avoid sounding robotic, scripted, or insincere, and instead use a human and personal touch.
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It's important not to let this emphasis on tone and voice interfere with the authenticity of the communication. Too much attention on tone could make the communication sound stilted.
Creating and maintaining a consistent tone and voice is not a one-time task, but an ongoing process. You need to constantly monitor, measure, and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of your internal communication. You need to seek feedback from your employees, using surveys, polls, focus groups, or other methods, to find out how they perceive and respond to your tone and voice. You need to analyze the data and insights you gather, and identify the strengths and weaknesses of your communication. You need to use this information to improve your tone and voice, and make any necessary changes or adjustments.
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No matter how good your copy reads, or how consistent your voice is, your communication means nothing unless your messages are aligned with your organization's mission, vision, and values. All effective communications start with an understanding of how everything ties back to this, the core of the organization.
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Consider how the communication will be viewed and interpreted if it becomes public outside organization? What are the possibilities for the communication to be mis-interpreted by those who are not briefed fully on the situation addressed in the communication? Are there facts cited in the communication that could be disputed? Is there additional information to back up the facts in the communication?
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