Can customers recognize your voice in a noisy room? How to Define Your Brand Voice

What is your brand voice? Can customers hear it in a noisy room? Does it fit your product? If you haven’t answered, or even pondered, these questions, keep reading.

If you own a small business, your brand voice may echo your personal voice and values. Is your company’s image serious or light hearted, conservative or free spirited? Are you a discount business or premium provider? Is your business involved in community projects or social causes? The list of questions could go on. All of these traits percolate into your voice.

Now, think of your ideal customer. What tone would attract them to your product? For example, if are selling luxury perfume, an overly casual tone would cause confusion. Conversely, if you sell children’s toys, a stuffy and formal tone (cue the Grey Poupon guy) would prompt a hearty laugh. While staying true to your values, adjusting the tone of your messages to your product is a good idea.

Listen to the differing tones of these sentences:

“Clean your pet’s water dish regularly to avoid bacterial growth and prevent illness.”

“Gross stuff like bacteria can make your dog sick, so wash Fido’s dish to keep him healthy and feeling frisky.”

“We recommend pet owners thoroughly wash water dispensers to discourage bacterial growth and maintain pet wellness.”

Huge difference, right? When you picture the three authors, what do you see? Personally, I see a stuffy guy in a lab coat on the last one. Of course, I wrote each of them…and I’m anything but stuffy…I simply adopted three varied writing voices.

Fortunately, your personal voice and brand voice needn’t be vastly different. If you built a company that reflects your personality and values, chances are they are closely aligned. Don’t be afraid to embrace your personality and values in your brand voice too. You built it.

FOUR STEPS TO DEFINING YOUR BRAND VOICE

STEP 1: BRAINSTORM
Here is an exercise to help you define a voice that fits your brand.

List three words that describe your brand’s personality:

Example -

• Friendly
• Helpful
• Quirky
• Well-Heeled

Next, further define each word with more description:

Example -

• Friendly – Relaxed, casual, kind
• Helpful – Knowledgeable, informed
• Quirky – Weird, eclectic, kooky
• Genteel – Formal, well spoken, tasteful

The list will shift some over time as your business, and you, grow.

STEP 2: ASK
Often we have a different impression of our business and ourselves than others do. To make sure you are on the right track, ask people close to your business how they would describe its personality. If you’ve been in business awhile, look back over testimonials for clues. Additionally, reach out to top clients and ask. Most people would love to help. Incorporate their feedback into the initial list you created if it feels right to you.

One of my consulting clients discovered that what her clients valued most about her wasn’t even on her list. They represented her ideal clients and she was their ideal veterinarian. With a small adjustment to her marketing message and voice, she will likely attract more of the same great pet owners. Similarly, your unique voice can attract your ideal client or repel others who are a poor fit. Either is good in my opinion.

STEP 3: AUDIENCE
While your overall brand voice may be constant, a wide customer demographic range might require you to adjust a little product by product. For example, if you sell products to both adults and children you will need to fit the audience. A large florist I worked with sold both funeral and wedding arrangements. Their tone had to shift depending on the product while their personality remained consistent. What remained constant was their knowledgeable and kind tone.

STEP 4: CONSISTENCY
Once you have a feel for your brand personality and voice, draft clear guidelines and examples to use when writing ads, web content, and other messaging. This could be as simple as the word list you created in the exercise, plus example sentences. Also identify any off limits words, phrases, or topics, such as foul, sexist, or discriminatory language. This is especially important as you hire people to write for you.

Follow these tips and over time clients will recognize your voice from across the room.

Do you have more tips for defining brand voice? Please leave a comment with your suggestions!

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Erika Wiggins is the founder of Active Explorer Media, which provides practical training and consulting services to small and medium-sized business and their executive teams. She has been published in Huffington Post, Business Insider, Forbes Travel, and Nikon’s Image Chaser. She is working on a new book in which she shares her proven social media marketing strategies.

You can follow Erika on Twitter @Active_Explorer.