A brand tone of voice is vital in creating a memorable and relatable company. While many sees a logo as a pivotal part of branding, this is only one small part of it. How potential customers and audience members view a brand is a bigger picture. The tone of voice makes a brand seem likeable, or if done badly, may deter business or damage brand loyalty.

What is a tone of voice for a brand?

The tone of voice is the way you communicate. It creates a memorable brand personality which works to differentiate you from competitors. For some companies, this will be a light hearted, comical approach, perhaps making jokes and tapping into trending topics. Whereas others may opt to communicate in a more serious, informative tone of voice. A brand tone of voice is effectively the style in which you communicate. It should be designed to capture the attention of your target market. You need to taking their preferences into account and using feedback to adapt and perfect your approach.

Photo by Oleg Laptev on Unsplash.

Where should you implement your brand tone of voice?

A brand tone of voice should remain consistent across channels, meaning customers know what to expect and become familiar with this. With more channels than ever before, a tone of voice is used to represent any company, business or brand in the public domain. From website content, to social media channels and even the way the receptionist speaks when people call. Importantly, these should be guided by the brand’s tone, representing a consistent voice.

How do I decide on my brand’s voice?

The first stage of deciding on a brand’s voice is to research. Do market research and understand what your target market prefers, and how they respond to various types of voice.

Next, do internal research. If you have previous content, do an audit to understand its tone and how well it was received by your target market. How much consistency is there? If there isn’t consistency, is this something you can manage? Perhaps having multiple content creators has resulted in various content styles, so introducing brand guidelines could help to manage this better. Speak with your writers to discuss ideas and work out the best way to proceed.

To gain a better understanding of the tone of voice, you should use to represent your brand, ask yourself:

• Who is my target market?
• How would we like to come across?
• Are we presenting an authentic image of our brand?
• What kind of personality would we like to present?
• What brand voice have we been using previously?

You should also keep a close eye on the content your competitors are producing, and the ways their audience engages with this. Are there any styles of content you could emulate, or are there any tones of voice you would like to avoid? There are multiple methods of reaching the same market, so there is no wrong answer with this. It’s important to learn from your competitors’ mistakes to avoid you having to make the same ones.

While one company may use a comedic approach to content creation, having a more serious, trustworthy approach may work more effectively for a different company. Don’t be afraid to try something you believe may work, particularly if the tone of voice looks to be successful from your research.

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