Your brand voice is your brand’s distinctive identity, the personality and values you convey through every message—speaking directly to your audience and shaping their perception of your business. A consistent voice will build recognition, setting you apart from your competitors, while inconsistency instead builds uncertainty and a lack of trust.
If you haven’t fleshed out your brand voice yet, why not make today the day you start?
Understanding Your Audience
Immanuel Kant once wrote to “know thyself”! However, in the world of marketing, it’s just as important to know thy audience. But how exactly is one supposed to do this when your audience is a bunch of usernames on the internet?
Start by researching demographics, such as age, gender, and location. This will give you a great initial picture, and can all be done via your website and email marketing platforms such as Klaviyo. You’ll also be able to get some of this information from social media channels such as Facebook. If you want to go further (and we recommend you do), take a deep dive into comments, conversations, and other feedback. Try sending out a survey to get to know more about your customer’s preferences!
The internet allows you to be a fly on the wall, so be sure to use that to your advantage. And remember—this is a continuous process. Your audience will change and grow over time, and you need to do the same.
Understanding Your Competitors
While defining your brand voice is a very personal practice, it's also important to know what others are doing. In some cases, a company will know exactly what their voice is right from the get-go; especially if they have a “personality” founder. But if you’re not sure where to start, start by analyzing your competitors' messaging, visuals, and tone. See how they engage with their audience. Sign up for their newsletters! Inspiration is everywhere, so why not look at the best in your biz?
That being said, while it can be tempting to copy your competitors' tone, it's better to stand out. Find your unique voice that sets you apart while learning from their successes. Continue to keep an eye on your competitors' moves, adapt where necessary… but always stay true to your brand. This way you’ll continue to be a step ahead in the game!
We’ve talked about your audience and your competitors so by now you know the basic research to complete before really getting into the details of your own voice. But now that you’re at that point, what exactly are the steps to defining your brand personality?
Your brand personality encompasses traits like tone, style, and values, which shape how you communicate with your audience. To determine your brand's personality traits, you can use frameworks like brand archetypes and hold brainstorming sessions with your team. These methods help identify characteristics that everyone recognizes as defining your brand.
Let's look at some examples of brands with distinct personalities and how their voice reflects these traits:
Think of your brand as a person. What are their likes? Dislikes? Passions? Their values are what will primarily come through in branding. TOMS thinks it’s important to make charitable contributions, while Apple thinks it’s important to take our society to the next level through technological innovation.
To clarify your brand values, reflect on your company's purpose and what you stand for. For example, if sustainability is a core value, your voice should reflect environmental consciousness and responsibility in your messaging. By aligning your brand personality with your values and consistently reflecting them in your communication, you’ll have made a great start to really cementing your brand’s voice.
Once you’ve defined your voice, you need to create clear guidelines to maintain a consistent and recognizable identity across all of your communication channels. These guidelines are especially important if you have a number of staff communicating on your behalf. They need to know tone, language, style, and messaging principles so you can stay on-voice at all times.
Examples of effective voice guidelines can be found in brands like Starbucks, known for its friendly and effective tone, and Airbnb, which balances warmth with professionalism in its communication.
Implementing these guidelines across all channels requires educating your team members on the brand voice principles and providing them with practical examples and training. Regular communication and feedback sessions can help ensure that everyone understands and embodies the brand voice consistently.
Remember, clear guidelines not only maintain brand consistency but also contribute to building trust and credibility with your audience!
You may think that once you’ve defined your brand voice, aside from some staff training, your job is complete. However, that’s not the case. Now, you must monitor and adjust, taking steps to remain relevant.
Here are some tips:
By actively engaging in testing, refining, and ongoing monitoring of your brand voice, you can maintain its effectiveness and be sure it continues to connect with your audience for years to come. Just remember: make sure when you make changes they are calculated and gradual. Audiences do not like surprises when it comes to brands they’re loyal to!
As you set out to define and refine your brand voice, remember that you're shaping the core of your brand identity. It's an opportunity to connect deeply with your audience and stand out from the crowd. Approach this process with enthusiasm and creativity, knowing that each step brings you closer to crafting a voice that authentically represents your brand!
It may be daunting to start, but it should also be fun; providing many opportunities for further inspiration you may not even expect. Stay open to learning and adapting, trusting in your ability to create a voice reflecting your brand's essence. Your efforts today will lay the foundation for meaningful connections and lasting impact in the future.