14 Feb 2024
- 17 Jul 2019
- 4 Min read
5 tips for developing your brand voice
- by Emily Park
Photo by Gavin Whitner
As a business owner, you will have heard time and time again that you need to develop a distinctive brand voice. This will be used when you’re creating everything from your product packaging to social media posts. But, how can you find your voice and ensure it helps you to stand out from the crowd?
Here, we’re going to outline what brand voice is and explain how you can develop one that will help you to achieve your business goals. Read on to learn more.
What is brand voice?
The term brand voice refers to how your company communicates with your audience. It will encompass everything from the words you use in your social media posts to what kind of imagery you use in your advertising campaigns. The brand voice you settle on will also play an important role in determining how people perceive your business and whether your message cuts through the noise to leave a lasting impression on your target audience. If you would like to know more about this, make sure you also read our guide to six brands who’ve nailed their tone of voice.
Of course, the more people your brand voice resonates with, the more sales you’re likely to make. So, in order for your company to succeed, it’s vital that you put plenty of work into getting it right. We’re going to give you our top five tips for doing just that.
1. Keep your mission statement in mind
Every business should have a mission statement outlining why it needs to exist and what kind of work it’s doing. You should then create a brand voice that reflects the tone and values of your business.
For example, if your products or services are targeted at kids and their parents, you can have a lot more fun with your marketing materials than if you offer software to help freelancers do their taxes. In this scenario, it’s likely you’ll want to adopt more of a serious tone of voice. It’s all about considering your target audience, what you’re offering, and how you want people to see your business — whether it’s fun and free or smart and authoritative, this needs to come across in how you speak to prospective clients.
2. Look for consistencies in your existing content
If you’ve already been producing guides, blog posts, and social media posts without having devised your brand voice first, it’s a good idea to look at all of your existing content to see whether there are any common themes in the tone and message you’re trying to deliver. This will also give you a chance to identify any areas where your current voice hasn’t necessarily matched your values and brand purpose.
Pay particular attention to any articles, blog posts, or social media posts that have performed well, as this could help to give you an idea of what your audience is the most interested in or responsive to. Once you’ve made a list of any consistencies you spotted while auditing your content, you can decide which aspects you would like to keep, and which ones don’t reflect exactly what you’re going for.
Make sure to take note of any articles or posts you’ll want to revisit once you’ve got your brand voice locked down. We have a guide to refreshing and repurposing your content, which you might find useful at that stage.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask the audience
If you already have an engaged audience, consider creating a simple poll that will get to the root of how they see your brand and why they like it. Ask them how they would describe your brand and whether they think the tone you’re already using in your marketing materials is appropriate. If you really want to get some insight into the words, phrases, and attitude you should be using in your content, you could even ask what they think your company would sound like if it were a person.
Using a platform like Survey Monkey and sharing your poll through your social media channels is a quick and easy way to collect the information you need.
4. Once you’ve decided on your brand voice, be consistent
If you think you have a good idea of what you want your brand voice to sound like, you’ll need to use it consistently, whether you’re writing copy for your website’s category pages or responding to a Twitter DM from a customer.
Whether you personally write all of your company’s content or not, it’s a good idea to draw up some guidelines you want to stick to. This will help you to keep a running theme throughout all of your communication efforts, and you’ll also be able to pass these guidelines on to any employees who are helping you in the content department.
5. Be open to growing and adapting
You won’t know whether your new brand voice fits your company and purpose exactly until you start using it. So, while we’ve recommended putting together some guidelines that you and your staff can follow, if you find that something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to revise these guidelines and change them.
Completely rebranding time and time again won’t do you much good, but a few healthy changes here and there will help you to stay ahead of he game — plus, the public’s attitudes are always changing, and you might even take your business in a new direction. So, there will be times when adjusting the way you communicate with your audience is incredibly important.
Your brand voice will play a vital role in how people perceive and respond to your business, so it’s worth taking the time to get it right. But, if you’re struggling to develop it on your own, we can help with our bespoke digital content service. Our expert copywriters can craft with on- and off-site content that reflects your company’s purpose and values. So, if you need some help in this department, get in touch and we’ll be more than happy to discuss your requirements.
