Why Your Brand Voice Matters More Than Ever
So, why does your brand voice matter more than ever, you ask?
Well, having an authentic brand ‘voice’ 🗣️ is a big deal. Words are powerful, right?
It’s not just about what you say, but how you say it. Your words reflect your brand’s personality and values and play a big role in building and nurturing strong connections with your ideal clients. Or, they can turn them off.
Quick FYI: Your brand voice is essentially your business's ‘personality’ as it comes across in your communication. It's how you use words and the tone you adopt in your messaging.
This can range from being professional and formal to friendly and conversational.
Like people, a brand's voice conveys different emotions and values.
It's how you consistently communicate with your customers across platforms, whether it's your website, social media, or emails.
Most importantly, your brand voice helps you connect with your audience on a deeper level and build stronger relationships. It's what makes your brand stand out and recognisable.
The Rise of Brand Voice and AI-Generated Text
I’ve written about verbal branding before, however, these days you can plop some text into an AI-generated app, copy and paste what comes back and voila - there’s your web copy.
But hold your horses 🐎! This approach won’t communicate the heart and soul of your brand, your unique way of speaking, your brand stories, your personality, your humour, or how you structure sentences. Yeah, this is something AI struggles with.
AI-generated text can be like speaking to everyone but at the same time, to no one. Oh and AI-generated text can be picked up on sites...!
The Power of Words
Your words are always communicating something.
Your words can have the power to create rapport and increase trust and loyalty among customers. This is called the ‘know, like, trust factor’. Or, you can turn them off.
Whether you write an email, add copy to your website, or pop a social media post out there, it’s important to speak naturally.
Your brand voice plays a crucial role in building trust.
A study by Edelman found that 81% of consumers said trust in a brand is a deal-breaker or deciding factor in their purchase decisions.
Unlearning Corporate Speak
Personally, I’ve found developing my brand voice a little challenging. It goes back to my corporate history of working for a solicitors office, stockbrokers, a worldwide pharmaceutical company and law firm in the USA, banks etc, and in the marketing industry (hello, my first taste of the Apple Mac back in 1997). It was ingrained in me to communicate in a very corporate way.
I’ve had to unlearn that.
I’m actually a very warm-hearted 😘, friendly person but the corporate ‘me’ has had to develop a more natural, authentic brand voice, and relearn how to speak to my ideal clients.
Brand Voice Starting Points
Below, are some considerations for developing your brand voice. When I work with website or strategy clients, we start with these and dive deeper. I’ve also written a blog post Create A Winning Website Plan In Just 7 Simple Steps for those who are starting on their business journey.
1. The Importance of Knowing Your Audience
Of course, you want your brand voice to speak to the hearts and minds of your audience. There’s no point crowding them out with technical jargon they won’t understand (or bore their pants off!). Take the time to consider your audience’s needs and the problem you’re solving for them.
Audience Demographics: Understand the age, gender, income level, education, and other demographic details of your target audience.
Audience Psychographics: Consider the interests, values, lifestyle, and challenges of your audience. Tailor your voice to resonate with these aspects.
Customer Feedback: Gather and analyse feedback from your existing customers/clients to understand how they perceive your brand and what tone they respond to positively.
2. Understanding Your Brand is Key
Brand Values: Identify and articulate your core values. Your brand voice should reflect these values consistently.
Brand Personality: Determine the personality traits you want your brand to convey. Is your brand serious, playful, professional, quirky, etc.?
Mission and Vision: Ensure your brand voice aligns with your overall mission and vision. This helps maintain consistency and purpose in your messaging.
3. Competitive Landscape
Competitor Analysis: Studying the brand voices of your competitors is also a good idea. Identify what works well and what gaps you can fill to differentiate your brand.
Market Positioning: Decide how to position your brand in the market. Your brand voice should support this positioning, whether you aim to be seen as a leader, an innovator, or a passionate expert.
4. Communication Channels
Platform Nuances: Adapt your brand voice to fit different communication channels (social media, website, emails, blogs, etc.) while maintaining overall consistency.
Multimedia Considerations: Ensure your voice translates well across various formats such as video, audio, and written content.
Consistency Matters
According to Lucidpress, consistent brand presentation across all platforms increases revenue by up to 23%.
5. Tone and Style
Formality Level: Decide on the level of formality that resonates with your brand. This can range from very formal to extremely casual, depending on your audience and industry.
Humour and Wit: Determine if and how humour fits into your brand voice. Ensure it aligns with your brand personality and audience preferences.
Language and Vocabulary: Choose language and vocabulary that your audience can relate to. Avoid jargon unless it’s well-understood by your target market.
6. Consistency and Flexibility
Voice Guidelines: Create a brand voice guide with specific do’s and don’ts to ensure consistency across all content and communication.
Team Training: Train your team on the brand voice guidelines to maintain uniformity in all customer interactions.
Adaptability: Be prepared to evolve your brand voice as your business grows and market dynamics change. Stay flexible and open to adjustments based on feedback and results.
7. Authenticity and Relatability
Authenticity: Ensure your brand voice is authentic and true to your brand’s essence. Authenticity fosters trust and loyalty.
Relatability: Make your brand voice relatable to your target audience by reflecting their values, challenges, and aspirations.
8. Practical Considerations
Content Volume: Consider the volume and type of content you will produce. A complex, highly stylised voice might be hard to maintain across large volumes of content.
Resource Availability: Assess the resources you have for content creation. Ensure your chosen brand voice is something you can realistically sustain with your available resources.
9. Examples of Strong Brand Voices
Nike: Known for its motivational and empowering tone.
Mailchimp: Friendly, approachable, and a bit quirky.
Apple: Simple, elegant, and innovative.
A Brand That Masters Its Voice: Who Gives a Crap
Who Gives a Crap is a stellar example of a brand that has mastered its voice. They are a toilet paper supplier that donates 50% of its profits to ensure everyone has access to clean water and a toilet within their lifetime. They were horrified to learn that roughly 40% of the global population doesn’t have access to a toilet. (Plus, it’s really great toilet paper - personal experience ;).
Brand Voice: Humorous, light-hearted, and playful - well, toilet humour is funny, right?
Tone: Conversational and relatable. They are socially conscious, so this is woven into their messaging, reinforcing their brand values and attracting like-minded customers.
They are transparent and honest, upfront about their mission, product sourcing, and impact, which builds trust and credibility. Their honesty is a crucial part of their brand voice.
They frequently engage with their audience via social media and encourage customer participation with feedback and a sense of community.
Who Gives a Crap - Brand Voice in Action
Product Descriptions: Often filled with puns, humour, and playful language.
For example: their toilet paper is ‘soft on your bum and good for your conscience’.
Social Media Posts: A mix of humorous content, sustainability tips, and updates on their charitable work, all delivered in a friendly and engaging manner.
Packaging: Even their packaging carries their brand voice, with fun and quirky designs and messages that reflect their playful yet purposeful identity.
Who Gives a Crap does a great job with its brand voice across all touchpoints that resonates deeply with its audience.
This consistency helps to build a loyal customer base that feels connected to the brand’s values and mission.
Tips for Developing Your Brand Voice
Read your words out loud: Do they sound like you?
Imagine speaking to a client or customer: What would you say, not say?
Consider the feedback carefully: Don’t necessarily go by a friend’s feedback. They know and love you in a different setting. Instead, think about the clients you’ve loved working with. Would they ‘get you’?
Use words your ideal clients use: How do they describe the problem they want to solve?
Evaluate and refine your brand voice regularly: Once you’re clear on the problem you’re solving, who needs your help, and how you can solve their problem in your unique way, look at how you’re communicating.
According to a study by Sprout Social, 64% of consumers want brands to connect with them. When brands express themselves in unique and creative ways, it can help build this connection and make the business more relatable and human to its audience. Your brand voice can also set you apart from competitors.
The Takeaway: Having an authentic brand voice is essential for small biz owners.
It not only helps you stand out but also builds stronger relationships with your audience.
What To Do Now?
If you’d like to start refining your brand voice and see the difference it makes in connecting your ideal clients, why not book a 90-Minute Call and let’s chat and strategise, through this together.
Hi there! I'm Jane 🙋♀️ a Brand Strategist & Web Design Guru who creates compelling Squarespace websites for purposeful small businesses worldwide
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