If you want to stand out from the crowd and connect with your audience, you need to have a clear brand voice and tone. But what are they and why are they important for your content strategy? In this article, you'll learn the benefits of having a consistent and authentic brand voice and tone across your channels and platforms.
Brand voice is the personality and values of your brand expressed through words. It's how you communicate your message, mission, and vision to your audience. Brand tone is the mood and emotion of your brand voice in different situations. It's how you adapt your voice to fit the context, purpose, and audience of your content. For example, your brand voice might be friendly, professional, and informative, but your brand tone might vary from humorous, to empathetic, to authoritative, depending on the content type and goal.
A clear brand voice and tone in digital marketing are pivotal for immediate recognition and trust. Consistency ensures clarity, reducing misinterpretation. It distinguishes a brand in competition and forges emotional connections. A defined voice maintains uniformity across platforms, enhancing targeting. This strengthens brand identity, fostering long-term success. For example, Apple embodies simplicity and innovation with "Think Different." Nike motivates with "Just Do It." Coca-Cola spreads joy, Tesla is futuristic, Dove boosts self-esteem, and Red Bull is adventurous. A well-crafted brand voice & tone are cornerstones of digital marketing success, forging lasting connections and setting your brand apart in a crowded digital landscape.
Brand voice and tone helps your specific audience identify you. It helps the audience connect and align with you. Where to begin? Get a notepad and draw a line down the middle. In the left column, write down 10-20 emotional traits of audience you intend to reach. On the right column, write your top 5 business solutions you can offer. Get as specific as possible Circle 1 business goal that you think can help resolve the traits listed. Finally, think about how your audience might want to receive the message based on the notes you've made about the audience traits and your business goal. This is an iterative process and requires reflection. Ultimately, you'll be able to identify voice and tone through this process.
It is the path of least resistance. The goal of all marketing efforts is to not make your target audience work to figure out what you are trying to say as you identify with their needs from a problem-solution approach. This is why features like Targeted posts on LinkedIn are so crucial for bigger companies in multiple industries.
?? In summary, brand voice is the overarching personality and style of a brand's communication, while brand tone is the emotional inflection or attitude that may vary within the framework of the brand voice, depending on the situation and message. Both elements work together to create a cohesive and recognizable brand identity.
Words, letters, & symbols are a human invention. They are used by human beings to understand the world better, share ideas with each other, and collaborate. A cake means something different emotionally to you and me, but physically a similar thing. Every word, idea, place, person in our brain is thus a simulated & very general understanding. You have a version of your best friend in your head, not what they truly are. A brand is a symbol, colours, & words that trigger emotions and memories. So, to connect as a brand with a customer, you must have a unique tone & voice that distinctly resembles your brand. That’s what drives recall.
To have a clear brand voice and tone, you need to have a set of guidelines that define and document them. These guidelines are a tool that helps you and your team create consistent and coherent content that aligns with your brand identity and values. They also help you avoid confusion, inconsistency, and off-brand messages that can damage your reputation and trust. Your brand voice and tone guidelines should include your brand personality traits, your tone variations for different scenarios, and examples of dos and don'ts for your content.
The easiest way to confuse your prospects is to have many voices and POVs out there in the market. Lock on a story with 3-5 key pillars. And reiterate them again and again and again. Ensure that every voice from every employee, investor, partner and customer says the same thing about who you are, what you do and why anyone should care. Coke is it. Just do it. You get the point. If the market is confused or has to question who you are....they go elsewhere even if you are the better/best option.
?? these guidelines should be clear and easy to follow, ensuring that everyone involved in content creation, from writers to marketers, can maintain a consistent brand voice and tone in all communication efforts.
Guidelines should offer principles as well as real examples from your brand’s already published assets. Showing in-market examples drives relevance, helps with buy-in, and makes your guidelines actionable.
Get clear the following details to create your guidelines, this is just the beginning of questions to answer, but in the end you need to have an image in your mind of who you're speaking to: - Where do they live? - How old are they? - What type of activities do they participate in on their off time? - What kind of lifestyle do they have? - What are their dreams?
I find it simplest to create a statement (such as a USP) that encompasses what you do (problems you solve and the outcome), who for, and possibly how, or what you help them avoid. For example, I help <who> ADHD entrepreneurs get <what> their message right every time by <how> giving them powerful message clarity and the confidence and know-how to share it, so <what happens?> they attract their ideal clients and achieve their potential faster. This provides a litmus test to the rest of a brand voice guide. We include examples, lexicon, guidelines for different platforms and also what NOT to do (for example, if you're a property advocate, share less houses and more humans otherwise you can look like a real estate agent instead!)
One of the benefits of having a clear brand voice and tone is that it helps you increase your brand recognition and awareness. By using a distinctive and memorable voice and tone, you can create a unique identity and impression for your brand that sets you apart from your competitors. You can also reinforce your brand message and value proposition through your content, and make it easier for your audience to recognize and recall your brand.
?? Remember that building brand recognition and awareness is an ongoing process. Be patient and persistent in your efforts, and adapt your strategies based on what works best for your specific audience and industry.
B2B buyers often can't tell products apart or vendors apart. Want to know what happens when they can't tell them apart. 90% of the time they simply go with a vendor they already knew before the buyer's journey began (i.e., they bought the brand and not the product). If you're not already a leader (i.e., a vendor they already knew), having a distinctive brand may be your best way to compete.
As your branding and brand voice grow, consistency and professionalism become even more crucial, people will start noticing it even more. Here is an example of what one of my show listeners wrote: "Daria has managed to pull off 60 episodes of empathetic, clear-headed, humanistic interviews with truly accomplished women across the Berlin ecosystem. And she’s done this in style — with total consistency and grace. Her curiosity is contagious and her reliance on first-class graphics and an elegant color palette make for memorable logos, stickers, and postcards that follow through onto the podcast’s Instagram and Linkedin channels like all great brands know to do."
Sadly without a clear brand voice and tone you are generic and average at best in a sea of competition. Implementing a brand messaging guide means you are more memorable, and can repeat your core messages in multiple ways in you content to continue to reinforce how outstanding you are as the supplier of choice. The brand voice and tone implemented continuously gives you a competitive advantage!
Another benefit of having a clear brand voice and tone is that it helps you build trust and loyalty with your audience. By using a consistent and authentic voice and tone, you can show your audience that you are reliable, credible, and transparent. You can also establish a rapport and connection with your audience by using a voice and tone that resonates with them, reflects their needs and preferences, and appeals to their emotions. By doing so, you can foster a sense of community and belonging, and encourage your audience to engage with your brand.
?? Building trust and loyalty is an ongoing effort that requires time and dedication. It's essential to demonstrate your commitment to your audience's well-being and satisfaction continually.
Keeping your brand voice and tone consistent can help you connect with your audience and build a long-term relationship with them. This increases a customer's lifetime value (CLV). For example, Spotify's funny and direct brand voice goes a long way in converting users into paying customers (with their consistent ads). Their tone is always relevant to the latest trends and appeals to the youth, giving them one of the highest CLVs today.
Just like visual branding (the logo) the brand voice, tag lines and the rest of your messaging, also builds ongoing trust and brand loyalty. People start to know what you stand for, what you wholeheartedly believe is possible for them and their business or life. If you're brand voice and tone has been built around the human you are trying to influence and help with your business then you will attract more of them with empathy, authority and personality
A final benefit of having a clear brand voice and tone is that it helps you improve your content quality and performance. By using a clear and coherent voice and tone, you can enhance your content readability, clarity, and relevance. You can also optimize your content for your goals, whether they are to inform, persuade, entertain, or inspire your audience. By doing so, you can increase your content effectiveness, reach, and impact.
What's the point of creating content if it's not going to attract the right clients and help you achieve your goals? (answer, no point...) If you have your brand tone and voice in a a clear guide for you and your team, it will be relevant to your ideal clients, and accelerate your visibility because there's no or little guesswork and self doubt about the content. You can take your core branding messages from your guide and create multiple pieces of content that entertain, educate, inspire and convert faster, and with a great sense of confidence. Naturally you will improve as you go, as you can't improve something if you're not posting anything. Getting your message out there immediately starts the continuous improvement cycle!
What is quality? This is a big question in content creation and there isn't is a black and white answer to this. A clear brand voice helps build connection to the audience you're intending to reach. However, this isn't the only factor. My personal barometer of quality is - is it engaging? Consider the following: - Did you spend some time to thoughtful craft what you want to say? - Are you consistent with your message?* This one is huge. Think about your most trusted brands and professionals - would you go back to them if they kept changing their goals they are communicating to you? By addressing these questions, you'll be closer to identifying what makes your content quality.
?? content improvement is an ongoing process. Regularly assess and adapt your content strategy to stay relevant and meet the evolving needs of your audience.
Remember that a brand is a promise that you must confirm with specific actions. Ensure consistency in every touchpoint and interaction. For instance, if innovation is an attribute of your brand, consider how you can validate it. In the realm of communication, you might explore latest content formats, test them, and share your experiences from these experiments. In doing so, you're building not just a brand but also a reputation.