5 Tips For Developing Your Brand Voice
1. Document everything & be consistent
Just like your visual brand guide and your social strategy, your brand voice needs documentation, too. Unless you have one person managing all communications and marketing, a brand voice document will be helpful for multiple departments. It exists as a reference for anyone who writes in the brand’s voice. It keeps social media posts and marketing copy in check and consistent.
The document should begin with your company’s core values and mission statement. You should be able to pull some defining personality traits from these statements.
Other components of the document include the personality traits, common vocabulary, brand phrases and most importantly, examples. You want to write out plenty of examples that demonstrate both how to write within your intended brand personality and what types of choices fall too far outside of your defined style.
2. Audit your current voice
Need some inspiration on what your brand personality should be? Take a look at your current communications. Make sure you grab examples from all communications so you get a good overview of what the voice is like currently.
You may find that your voice is inconsistent because of different writers or uses of certain words over others. Note how your target audience interacts with you and how they speak. What voice traits do your top-performing posts and newsletter issues have in common?
From here, you’ll be able to note what your brand’s personality currently is and then begin the process of brainstorming more traits that you want to emulate.
3. Identify your audience and personas
Another way of formulating your brand voice is by seeing who your audience and marketing personas are. If your target audience is younger, you’ll want to use language that resonates with them. Using language familiar to an older generation will only serve to alienate your younger audience.
As you work through your audience and personas, list out traits and common vocabulary you want to take on as a brand.
A piece of advice: don’t stray too far away from your brand’s current operations. You want to present your voice authentically and not robotically or give the appearance of just chasing trends.
4. Know your tone
Brand voice is what you say and brand tone is how you say it. Your tone may vary between audiences, so it’s a good idea to document when to use certain tones in certain situations.
The excited way you announce a new product won’t be the same tone you take on when responding to a customer complaint. Identify common scenarios you come across as a brand and categorize them into the different tones you would take on.
5. Review & adapt
Developing a brand voice is not a one-time effort. It should be reviewed and refined at designated times, such as once a year or during major branding overhauls, and during major events that significantly alter your company’s marketing strategy. Language evolves and the words you used five years ago might not be en vogue today. Without a consistent check in on your brand voice, you risk sounding out of date or out of touch with current events.
For example, GIF usage in social media wasn’t as mainstream today as it was five years ago. But they’ve evolved into common acceptance and are now easily accessible on most of the major social media platforms.
Conclusion
Now that you’re armed with more information about brand voice, it’s time for you to go create your own. No personality is too much as long as it’s unique and fitting to your brand and audience. And remember that your company’s priorities might shift with changing times, so that brand voice document is always a work in progress.