Brand voice is a unique communication style of the brand that conveys the atmosphere, character, and unique attitude towards consumers. It should be aligned with the company’s core values and consistent across all channels. Building a brand voice helps to organize communication in a unified style, build trust, and stand out among competitors.
Defining Brand Voice: Tone, Style, and Personality
- Brand tone of voice — formal or informal, enthusiastic, bold, friendly.
- Speech style — choice of words, sentence length, use of technical jargon or simple language, and even punctuation.
- Personality — friendliness or authority, nostalgia or rebellion.
Why a Consistent Brand Voice is Key to Online Success
- Customers can identify the content even without seeing the logo.
- Consistent brand messaging makes the interaction more predictable and comfortable.
- A well-built brand personality can justify premium prices.
Examples of Strong Brand Voices in Different Industries
- Nike: motivating and direct, short imperative phrases that inspire action.
- Apple: minimalist and clear, simple language, clean sentences.
- Red Bull: active and adventurous, dynamic language in a friendly style.
Steps to Developing Your Unique Brand Voice
Take enough time for developing a brand voice, as it requires analysis, reflection, experimentation, and exploration.
Understand Your Audience and Their Preferences
- Create detailed buyer personas, describe their values, and study how your customers communicate.
- Conversations with support teams provide insights into the language your audience prefers.
- Identify which content generates the most interest to understand which tones and styles resonate best.
Identify Your Brand’s Core Values and Personality
- Hold workshops with your team: involve employees from different departments to collectively define the brand’s personality.
- Try to imagine the brand as a person — how would it communicate?
- Evaluate the company’s history: the brand’s origin and evolution can influence its current voice.
Analyze Competitors and Differentiate Your Voice
- Create a voice map of key competitors, identifying their tones, styles, and personalities.
- Identify unoccupied communication spaces and look for opportunities to differentiate yourself.
- Define distinctive elements and unique characteristics that will make you stand out from the crowd.
Choose the Right Tone for Your Brand
- Align the tone with your positioning: a premium brand may require a more sophisticated tone, while a younger brand might opt for a casual style.
- Consider the cultural context: make sure the chosen tone is appropriate for the different markets you operate in.
- Define a range of tones for various situations: create variations of the main tone for different contexts (festive, informative, supportive, etc.).
Crafting Brand Guidelines for Consistency
A well-structured brand voice guide will become the primary resource for everyone communicating on behalf of the company across any platform.
Documenting Your Brand’s Messaging Style
- List commonly used words, phrases, and terms that reflect the brand personality.
- Specify preferences regarding punctuation, capitalization, and abbreviations.
- Provide detailed guidance on how to adapt tone and style for different communication contexts.
Providing Examples of Do’s and Don’ts
- Include typical sentences and paragraphs to illustrate brand voice examples.
- For each negative example, provide an improved version that aligns with the guidelines.
- Show how the voice fits into different scenarios (responding to a complaint, announcing news, etc.).
Training Your Team to Communicate Consistently
- Organize interactive sessions to present and discuss the brand voice.
- Establish processes for reviewing brand style compliance before publication.
- Keep the team informed about the development and refinement of the voice.
Adapting Your Brand Voice for Different Platforms
Effective brand voice strategy takes into account that each channel has its own style and communication format, so it is important to maintain your identity and adapt to the specific constraints.
Maintaining Your Voice Across Social Media
- Adapt the length and format of social media brand voice: Twitter requires conciseness, while LinkedIn allows for deeper content.
- Respond consistently: make sure that interactions in comments reflect the same voice as in main posts.
- Ensure that images, GIFs, and videos reflect the same personality as the text messages.
Adjusting for Email Marketing and Newsletters
- Consider the context of communication: a newsletter may have a slightly different tone than a promotional campaign.
- Structure the content for easy reading, adapt the style to be effective in an email format.
- Maintain consistency from the subject to the signature, all emails should reflect the same voice.
Incorporating Your Voice into Video and Audio Content
- Create guidelines for how the brand voice transforms into dialogues and stories.
- Adjust the tone, rhythm, describe the desired accents and intonations.
- Choose people who naturally embody the brand’s spirit..
Measuring the Impact of Your Brand Voice
Why brand voice matters? Because it directly impacts the success of the business, so you need to learn how to control this effectiveness.
Monitoring Engagement Metrics
- Analyze open rates, clicks, shares, and comments.
- Evaluate whether the voice positively influences purchasing behavior.
- Compare the metrics before and after changing or implementing the brand voice.
Collecting Feedback from Your Audience
- Track comments on social media, pay attention to spontaneous reactions to your content.
- Organize focus groups, deepen perception through guided discussions.
- Collect feedback from sales and support departments, as these employees have direct contact with customers and can report on the reaction to the brand voice.
Testing and Iterating for Continuous Improvement
- Use A/B testing to test any changes.
- Gradually change the voice to avoid confusing the audience.
- Record which changes work and which don’t, using them as examples for future work.
How to create a brand voice that will be truly unique?
Keep in mind:
- An authentic voice is always more effective than a artificially created one.
- Uniqueness comes from aligning internal values and external communication.
- The voice should organically evolve along with the brand and the market.
Hetman offers consulting services on online brand identity, from analytics to building a new strategy and implementation. Our experts know how to create a brand voice — personal, consistent, and expressive, conveying the message with the right tone to the desired audience. Contact us today to receive a personalized free consultation for your company.