When we think of how a brand communicates, we often focus on its visual elements—logos, colors, fonts, illustrations—everything that shapes its visual identity. While this is undeniably important and requires thoughtful planning, your brand is much more than its visual appearance, just as people are more than how they look or dress. Equally important is the voice and tone of your brand, which impacts every interaction with your audience.
What is the brand’s voice?
Your brand’s voice is simply the expression of its personality in words. It’s determined by the language you use and the messages you convey, and this choice can create two entirely different brand personas.
Take, for example, two famous sports brands:
Perhaps your voice is like Nike’s—confident and assertive. Your messaging is motivational, but it also celebrates performance and high standards.
Or maybe you’re more like Decathlon, shifting away from perfectionism and elitism in sports, focusing instead on participation and enjoyment. Your voice is warm and inviting, encouraging everyone to join the game and have fun.
Why is defining your brand voice important?
A consistent brand voice is essential for building recognition, loyalty, and distinctiveness. Ensuring your messaging is cohesive across all platforms helps avoid confusion and makes it easier for your audience to recognize and connect with your brand. This human-like consistency enhances the customer experience and builds loyalty.
Establishing voice and tone guidelines also allows you to highlight what sets your brand apart, ensuring every interaction reflects the uniqueness of your products or services.
Sounds great, right? But where do we begin?
1. Know who you are
What does your brand stand for? What differentiates you from competitors? How do you want to be perceived, and how do you want people to feel?
Start with your brand strategy. Defining your mission, vision, and core values provides a solid foundation to develop your brand’s voice.
2. Determine your goals
Why are you communicating? Is it just to sell products, or are you aiming to establish expertise, raise awareness, or build a community among your audience?
Your voice guidelines should align with your broader brand goals.
3. Know your audience
Who are they? How do they communicate? What’s their culture, and what are their interests?
Understanding your target audience helps ensure your voice is relevant. Creating personas can make this more tangible.
4. Find your voice
Now it’s time to craft your voice—or bring in strategy and copywriting experts to help. Whether it’s Oatly’s quirky style, Slack’s straightforward tone, or Volkswagen’s inspirational messaging, the options are limitless, as long as you keep in mind everything we mentioned above. The key is to document your brand voice clearly, so anyone who interacts with your audience can communicate in a consistent, branded way. Providing examples, dos and don’ts, and keeping guidelines updated as your brand evolves will ensure long-term success.
5. Apply the right tone
Just as a dentist wouldn’t use the same tone when praising your dental health versus informing you about a need for root canals, your brand should adapt its tone depending on the situation. Defining a consistent voice is essential, but so is adjusting your tone for different contexts.
A campaign for an exciting new feature launch should sound different from a response to a customer complaint.
Including specific examples for various situations, audiences, and channels within your brand guidelines will ensure global coherence across all communication touchpoints. Nothing is left to chance.
So, let’s be creatively vocal! But also thoughtful and organized, because, as with most aspects of branding, analysis, strategy, and consistency in execution are essential for achieving great results.