What’s a Brand Voice?
What it is, why you need it and 7 steps to a great brand voice that gets customers coming back!
If writing isn’t your strong suit, you may not enjoy hearing that effective marketing is not just about what you say, but how you say it.
Customers love when companies have unique characteristics. And actually, even if they don’t “love” the character of your brand, strong branding will — at least — make them remember you.
That’s why companies big and small establish an official brand voice guide to use across every communication platform: TV ads, social media, website, email marketing and texts.
In this post, we’ll go over brand voice guidelines — complete with a brand voice chart to inspire you.
What Is Brand Voice?
Brand voice is the mixture of words, phrases and tone you use in all areas of business.
It makes you stand out and adds a touch of personality to your company. (And yes, even Mark’s Heating & Cooling can benefit from brand voice.)
How’s having more customers remember your motto?
How’s getting more clients laughing at your TV ads?
How’s getting more sales simply because they like your company more than someone else?
Brand Voice Examples
There are all sorts of ways to say it, but say it with style — your brand’s style to be exact!
Say you want to email a “happy birthday” gift to subscribers born in March. Let’s look at all the ways you could say it:
Serious but witty: It’s your birthday. We forgot the cake, but got you this.
Casual and friendly: Happy Birthday! Here’s something to make it even better.
Seductive and flirty: Happy Birthday, cutie. We’ve got quite the gift for you.
Masculine and chummy: Dude, happy birthday! This one’s on us.
Quaint: Just for your birthday, we wanted to give you something special.
Inspiring: Another year around the sun. Here’s something to make this year the best one yet.
Unamused: Hey you. Apparently it’s your birthday. So… here.
How else could you say happy birthday to a customer?
How Does Brand Voice Boost Business?
Brand voice sets you up for success. In fact, a copywriter can help create a brand voice guide for your business.
Read this: What to Look for in a Great Copywriter
Brand Voice is a Key to Driving Sales
There are 4 ways brand voice can play a big role in customer perception of your brand and their likelihood of purchasing from you.
#1 - More Effective Marketing
Customers recognize your brand, making you stand out from competitors.
If you’re trying to compete in a sea of real estate syndication services, why sound stuffy like the older, more established brand? Branch out with a fresh and spunky brand voice to grab the attention of younger investors!
#2 - Brand Loyalty
Why do you love certain brands? Brand voice plays a huge role in creating a character that you care about. Check out brand voice in these commercials:
Pure Michigan - Sounds like a calming outdoorsman.
Ford - Tough and masculine.
Skittles - Playful, wild and maybe a little odd…
Old Spice - Comically seductive.
Slack - Fun, witty and simple.
#3 - Better Conversions
Just imagine a customer seeing your marketing emails and looking forward to more. Or, maybe they laugh about how sexy you make landscaping sound. Gaining attention means setting yourself up for more sales and leads.
#4 - More Customer Interaction
People love people (and things) they can relate to. Once they stop seeing your business as a “brand” and more as a “person,” they’ll love interacting with you.
So, How Do You Implement Brand Voice into Marketing?
Use it — literally — everywhere. If your brand is “talking” to consumers, you say it in your brand voice (more on that below).
Brain Dump on Where to Use Brand Voice:
Social media posts
Social media ads
Contests and giveaways
Lead magnets and freebies
Print ads
Digital ads
Press releases
Landing pages
Sales funnel
Email campaigns
Sales pages
Packaging
Purchase pages
Video scripts
If your brand voice is not consistent in all these areas, customers notice. Distinct brand voice makes you look more professional (and awesome).
Brand Voice Guidelines: How to Build Your Brand Voice
Here’s the fun part! If you’re a shiny new startup, you get to start from scratch. If you’re already an established company looking to rebrand, you can still have some fun too.
The rules to creating your own brand voice are pretty simple: make it distinct and make it uniform across all media.
It can resemble your own personal voice or it can be your alter ego. My brand voice is a little more edgy than I’d be on a professional call with a client…
#1 - Look at Other Brands for Inspiration
You probably run into brands all the time. Which ones do you like? Which ones do you not like?
Finding a brand that’s already using a voice you like will make it way easier to pull from. However, even if you can’t find a brand voice to follow, there’s still hope.
You might also want to look at your competitors to see if they have a distinct brand voice. By making yourself even more different and distinct, you’ll be better remembered by customers.
For example, I worked with a client who sold real estate syndication software. The other syndication software companies were old, plain and had poor UX within the software. I helped my client establish a totally fresh and witty vibe to stand out in the industry.
If you think you’ve found a brand voice you want to mimic, do the following:
Poke around their website. Look at headlines, calls-to-action, contact page — everywhere!
Sign up for their emails. See what subject lines they use (and then actually read the emails before trashing them).
Read their blog. Explore what topics they cover and how they bring value to the customer.
Follow them on social media. Look at posts to see which ones get lots of engagement and which don’t. If you can see their social media ads, that’s great too.
Read their print ads or go to their building. Look at the signage all around.
#2 - Ask These Questions About Your Brand
Whether or not you have #BrandVoiceGoals from a real company, here are some questions to help you define what kind of brand voice you want:
If your brand was a person, how would you describe them?
Do they have a name?
Do they resemble someone you know (Brad Pitt, Tina Fey)?
What words would this person use?
What words would they not use?
What words describe your brand?
What words don’t describe your brand?
#3 - Classify Your Brand Voice
Just like a great tagline, if you can clearly define your brand voice in the simplest way possible, you’ll be able to hammer down every marketing campaign.
Get a grasp of the “essence” of your brand voice. Can you classify it into any of these below?
Like a #boss
Like a friend
Like Grandma
Like a professional
Like a jock
Like a teenager
Like a bookworm
Like that guy who drinks Miller Lite at the end of the bar (Talk about memorable!)
#4 - Pick the Top 3-5 Traits
Now that you’re starting to visualize who your brand is, let’s hone in on descriptors or traits that your brand will have.
Brand characteristics are honestly… endless. But here’s a list of common traits to get the juices flowing:
#5 - Define Your Top Traits
So you’ve got your traits, but… there are things your brand would for sure say, and things your brand would never want to say.
Here’s a chart below that shows you how to hash out more details about your brand traits. State the trait and describe how it fits with your brand.
Then, go a step further to determine what the copy will try to do and what it would never do.
#6 - Add It to Your Marketing Plan
Now that you have a distinct brand tone, it’s time to start implementing it. “Talk the talk,” if you will.
Ideally, you’d add this information into your marketing plan — along with your customer persona guide. That way, you’ll know who you’re “talking” to and how you want to talk to them.
#7 - Write Your Marketing Copy (or Hire a Copywriter)!
Here’s the application to showing off your brand voice. A copywriting tip: Blend your unique brand voice with messaging that resonates with your target audience.
Now, there are many reasons why you need a marketing writer on your team, but making sure every piece of copy is written in your brand voice, is one of them.
If you need a copywriter to help you define your brand voice and/or write in it, let me know.
