Create consistency with your brand voice
You know that feeling when you’re dealing with something you just can’t predict? You never feel 100% confident that you know what’s coming next. I once had a friend with a dog that couldn’t decide if he loved me or hated me. It got to where I couldn’t go over there anymore because I was way too nervous around that dog.
Now imagine that people felt that way about your brand. Not ideal.
When you don’t have a guiding theme for words you use, the tone you say them with, and the personality traits you want to project, you’re being inconsistent. And people aren’t comfortable dealing with the unpredictable, so they just… don’t.
Unless you have the world’s most innovative product or service to offer, people will quickly choose another brand they feel they can trust. A brand that always treats people as they expect to be treated.
What’s brand voice, anyway?
Brand voice is your company’s personality. Think of your business as a person. What words would you use to describe them? Are they:
- Funny or serious?
- Casual or formal?
- Irreverent or respectful?
- Enthusiastic or matter-of-fact?
Think of which category your brand would fall into in each of the above, or where it lies in the spectrum. It’s okay to be neutral in a couple of them, but if you’re neutral in all of them, you won’t exactly make yourself memorable. Once you know where you lie in the four main tone categories, you can start diving into specific traits that make your brand unique.
Establishing your brand voice gives you guidance for everyday interactions with your potential customers and fans. Not just online, but in your print advertising, content marketing efforts, sales calls, and in-store, if you run a brick and mortar.
Why does brand voice matter
Branding is so much more than the perfect logo, typeface, and company colors. Your voice is one of the most important brand elements you’ll develop.
Brand voice built trust and establishes authority
I’m going to say it again: People aren’t comfortable with unpredictability. Don’t be the inconsistent brand that makes people uncomfortable. Strengthen relationships with your audience by being dependable in your interactions with them.
How? Publish content in line with your tone of voice, train your salespeople on vocabulary use, teach employees the tone and words to handle interactions from greetings to returns.
When you remain steadfast, especially in the moments that expose weakness, such as when a customer expresses that they are upset, you build trust and confidence that your customers will be treated a certain way, regardless of circumstance.
Inconsistency in your brand voice makes it look like you’re just bumbling along with no actual idea what you’re doing. It can make people feel you’re just “winging” each interaction. That wishy-washy attitude won’t help you establish authority in your industry or product/service.
Brand voice helps you stand out from the crowd
Chances are there’s an expectation of the brand voice in your industry. A lot of the competition across specific industries sounds predictably similar.
If you don’t think that’s true—there’s a good chance you don’t have a unique voice.
Don’t blend in! You didn’t get into business to be just like everyone else. You need to give people good reasons to choose you, instead of your competition. That’s a lot tougher to do if someone can’t tell you apart from others who have similar offers to yours.
For instance, if online visitors can’t easily identify whose website they’re on without checking the URL, you’ve got a problem.
Brand voice matches your personality to other marketing efforts
Have you ever found a company with a funky business name, so you stop to check them out because they seem fun? But then you click through their content and feel more and more underwhelmed because the tone doesn’t live up to what you expected of the brand? Disappointment sets in.
This is confusing and a bit irritating for your audience.
They feel let down and annoyance replaces any excitement built with your funky, eye-catching business name. So they click away, in search of—you guessed it—something more predictable.
Brand voice consistency can see you precious resources
How can consistency save you time and money? Easy!
By establishing a brand voice guide, you’ll be ready to navigate situations from sales, customer greetings, social media posts, and the occasional upset customer. You’ll also have a powerful tool in your marketing toolkit.
A brand voice guide gives you a resource to onboard new hires, without endless hours spent trying to articulate your tone each time.
Plus, anytime you hire a copywriter to write copy for your business, whether in-house or outsourced, you’re spending time (which they will charge you for) on brand voice discovery. If you’ve already established a guide, those are precious minutes, and dollars, that you don’t have to spend.
Don’t wait any longer to establish your brand voice
Brand voice isn’t something you want to wait for the last minute to create. Before you worry about your logo font, colour scheme or website theme, even your business name, take time to brainstorm and create a brand voice to guide every marketing effort that follows.
Already have an established business, but aren’t completely convinced your brand voice is on point?
Whether you’ve never given it a moment’s thought until now, or you want to overhaul your company voice (or voices if you’ve been inconsistent) talk to a copywriter or branding specialist today.
These professionals are perfectly positioned to ask the questions that will lead you through your brand voice discovery and create a guide that you can use for years to come. Not to mention—rewrite content to match your unique personality once it’s established!
2 Comments
Paul Smart
Really enjoyed this article L ??
Elle Ross
Glad you enjoyed it, Paul!
Thanks for commenting.