How To Create A Brand Voice
We love pinning down a good brand voice! It’s like a puzzle to solve, or a treasure to unearth. It takes intentional exploration, a good amount of work, and if you’re going to tackle it yourself, you’ll need to learn how to create a brand voice in an actionable way. But once you get it right? Oooooh, it’s like magic!
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What Is A Brand Voice?
A brand voice is simply a set of established, intentional copywriting guidelines utilized anytime content is developed for your business. By having and using your brand voice guide, you ensure that every piece of content you put your business’s name aligns with and supports your overall marketing and brand goals.
Think of your brand voice as a custom-made filter or preset. Once you have it, you can put all your words through it, and just like that, they’re consistent, compelling, and on-brand!
Brand voice and messaging guides are essential for all businesses, but especially those who have more than one person writing for them.
A Brand Voice Can Be Anything:
- Intellectual
- Decisive
- Encouraging
- Dramatic
- Supportive
- Sassy
- Friendly
- Luxurious
- Aspirational
- Exclusive
- Bubbly
- Millennial
- …the list goes on!
It can also be (and usually is) a combination of the above descriptors. We typically use between 4 and 6 adjectives to nail down our clients’ brand voices.
You Already Have A Brand Voice
Your brand is like its own person, and that person has a voice. There’s a certain way they talk. There are things they say all the time, things they’d never say, and certain ways they say certain things.
If you’re the one writing for your brand, it probably has your voice. If you’re not, it has someone else’s.
Here’s the thing: If you don’t determine your brand’s voice yourself, it will be determined for you.
And when that happens, it will inevitably become a mix of the people who’ve written for you so far. You’ll end up with one part Shirley from marketing, one part Joe with the comms degree, and a dash of that social media intern from last summer (what was their name again?).
So, how do you define a tone of voice for your brand that feels authentic and like you, and will also connect with the types of clients you want to attract? You follow the steps below!
3 Tips For Intentionally Creating Your Brand Voice
Here are three tips for how to create a brand voice that sounds like you and speaks to your ideal clients:
1. Consider Your Target Audience
When you’re trying to nail down your brand voice, you have to keep your listeners in mind. Who are you speaking to? What resonates with them? A good brand voice is equal parts what you want to say and what they need to hear.
Ask yourself what type of messaging would resonate with your audience the most? Often, it’s the type of messaging (and wording) that they’re already using.
Do Some Digging:
Figure out what your audience needs from your brand voice by:
- Looking through Instagram comments
- Combing through testimonials and reviews
- Performing keyword research
This will help you find out what words and tone your audience uses to describe themselves and their problems, which can help you integrate their needs into your messaging.
2. Reflect On What You Want To Represent
A good brand voice is authentic and true-to-you as a company. Your real values have to come through, and any values you don’t truly hold shouldn’t be shoved in.
Take time to sit and reflect on who you are as a company, what you want to represent, and what you want to deliver to your audience.
Ask Yourself Questions Like:
- If my brand was a person, what traits would they have?
- What emotions do I want people to feel when they interact with me?
- What tone conveys my message in a way that’s true to my business and resonates with my ideal client?
3. Check Out The Competition
All those years of Facebook creeping weren’t for nothing! Time to check out your competition to see how other businesses like yours are communicating with their audiences.
Are They…
- Using fear-based messaging when you’re being supportive and empowering?
- A little boring where you spice things up?
- Are you female in a male-dominated field?
Look critically at what your competition is doing so you can identify and lean into your unique strengths.
A big note here is that the goal is never to copy them. You’re just trying to get a sense of what sets them apart and how they serve their audiences, so you can compare and contrast yourself against them.
There might be one or two things you’d do similarly to them, and if there are, you’re welcome to model your messaging after theirs in a few small ways. Just remember this is more about figuring out who you are than who they are. If you’re being genuine and intentional with this process, trust that in the end, your brand voice will be as unique as your business. There’s no way two good brand voices end up being the exact same!
You’ll Thank Yourself Later!
Unearthing, developing, and honing your brand voice will take a lot of exploration and effort, but it’s all so worth it. A clear brand voice will strengthen your brand, reinforce your values, build connections with your audience, and help you communicate who you are to the people you serve. Plus, all of your copywriting gets smoother once this little piece of the puzzle is locked in!
Brand Voice Is Our Jam
We love pinning down a good brand voice, and we’ve been honing our process for how to create a brand voice strategically for years.
If you could benefit from intentional brand messaging, clear copywriting guidelines, and what is basically an Instagram filter for every piece of content you develop going forward, get in touch and we’ll hook you up.
Get data-driven marketing insights and exclusive resources right to your inbox.
Don’t just market more. Market better. Get exclusive access to resources and insights that introduce you to the once-confusing world of data-backed marketing.