The Ultimate Guide To Defining Your Brand Voice
What is a Brand Voice?
A Brand Voice is how a brand communicates through written and spoken language. It’s a powerful way to create engaging content and build a trusting relationship with clients. Your voice gives clients an insight into who you are and what they can expect from your services.
This includes website copy, emails and social media posts, as well as the conversations you have with clients. As you can see it’s an important part of your identity and really sets the tone for the rest of your brand.
Defining your Brand Voice
Your brand influences how people think and feel about what you do. That’s why your Brand Voice is so important. The words you use and how you choose to articulate sends a message to the receiver. It gives them a sense of what they can expect from your business. Not only in terms of the services you provide but also the experience of working with you.
1) Start with your mission statement
Part of your Brand Voice is deciding what you want to say. Writing your mission will highlight the key characteristics of your voice. You want to stay true to the purpose of your brand and show potential clients who you are, how you can help and what you stand for.
It’s important that everything you communicate is concise and relevant to the purpose of your brand. This will help you stand out to the right people.
2) Analyse your ideal client
It’s important to consider who you’re talking to. Instead of writing to a group of people, think about what you would say to a specific person - this being your ideal client. They are the people you want to connect with.
You might think using complex sentences and industry jargon is a good way to demonstrate your expertise. This isn’t always the case. You need to speak the language of your ideal client. Make it easy for them to understand. They’re looking for help from an expert. Confusing them might put them off. Be approachable and express the best of what you do. It starts by understanding the people you want stand out to.
Top tip: Have a look at any content you’ve published. Note down the best performing posts. It’s likely this is due to your Brand Voice. Analyse these posts so you can get an idea of how you can replicate this.
Write down key characteristics of the Brand Voice used in these posts
Take note of what was being communicated
3) Define what you want your Brand Voice to be like
How does your choice of words sound? Is it serious and traditional or playful and chatty? Consider how your Brand Voice looks and sounds from an outside perspective. Think about who you are talking. What is appropriate and relevant to the message you want to communicate?
Top tip: It’s easy to define your Brand Voice based on what you don’t want it to be like.
You might write:
Our brand voice is not too serious
Our brand voice is not too chatty
This will help you find the right approach for your Brand Voice.
4) Identify 3-5 core Brand Voice characteristics
This step is important so you can create a consistent Brand Voice. Your brand personality works alongside your Brand Voice. How you describe the personality you want to convey or the traits you want to associate with should also describe your Brand Voice. You might at some point work with a Copywriter, so it’s important to give them an idea of what your brand should sound like.
Top tips: Read your text out loud. Does the tone reflect these characteristics?
Final Note
Your Brand Voice is a great way to inject some personality into your brand. It’s how you can show your human side to solving problems and let your personality shine through. You won’t always be there to start the initial conversation with clients. The words you write might be the reason they book that enquiry call or start following your socials. Logos, colour palettes, and fonts are all important aspects of branding but captivating copy doesn’t exist without a strong voice.