How to Nail Your Brand Tone of Voice

Explore your brand personality

You can’t establish your brand’s tone of voice without first defining your brand personality. The easiest way to determine your brand’s personality is to think about how you would describe your brand if it were a person. If you’ve never thought about this before, you’ve probably already assigned your brand a set of characteristics subconsciously, like what the vibe is and how your brand speaks. The trick is to make it consistent across every channel. When you are seeking inspiration, it’s totally fine to look at brands you love and how they communicate with their audience. It’s not about copying others, rather it will help you brainstorm personality traits that feel right for your brand.

To help you determine your brand personality, think about how you would use it to describe your brand. Here’s a few to get you started:

• Straight talking
• Cheeky
• Geeky
• Bold
• Sarcastic
• Humble
• Ethical

Who is your target market?

Don’t forget to consider your target market when defining your brand personality to ensure that who you are and who you want to attract connect. After all, your brand voice is no good if it doesn’t resonate with your audience. Think about who you are targeting, what they value and how they speak.

What is your brand purpose?

Your brand purpose defines what you do and why you do it. Think about what pain points you are addressing for your customers and how you can clearly communicate that to your target market. While we’re on the topic of your brand’s purpose, you should also have a thorough understanding of what your brand stands for and the messaging you want to get across to your audience. Your brand’s purpose, values and messaging act as your compass and help you make many decisions beyond your tone of voice.

So, how can you show your personality through your tone of voice?

Once you’ve defined your brand’s personality, you need to dig into the details to work out how best to reflect it in your written content and connect with your target audience.

• • Be more conversational – think about how you connect with your clients in real life or over the phone. For many brands, language that is too formal and stuffy will be off-putting for potential clients.

• • Use humour – humour is a wonderful way of expressing your personality and building trust and loyalty with your audience as well as making your brand likeable and familiar. The golden rule? If you wouldn’t say it to your clients or customers, don’t use it in your comms!

• • ‘I’ vs ‘we’ – pick one and stick with it! There is no wrong answer here, but it is essential to your brand voice and credibility that you are consistent.