The Beginner’s Guide to Discovering Your Brand’s Tone of Voice
Every brand has one. Every brand should have one. The strongest brands have clearly defined theirs so precisely that we don’t even realize how big of a role it plays in making them the strong brands they are today.
It all boils down to two questions:
So what about “Tone of Voice” make it so important?
The Impact of the Voice
We have narrowed the four key reasons why this element of a brand is critical to its success.
It is an expression of your brand’s values
There could be hundreds of other body spray brands out there, but why did you choose Old Spice? Why did you choose Adidas over Nike and Under Armour?
You choose a brand because each brand has its own values.
You select a brand because a part of you that you are unable to express, can be expressed subtly by buying something from a brand that speaks magnitudes about these unexpressed values of yours.
When the tone of voice of your brand is not clear, people won’t be able to fully grasp the ‘values’ that your brand is trying to express.
It won’t matter how many times you broadcast that you believe in this or that, if your audience cannot conceptualize this, no connection is made.
It serves as your brand’s North Star
When a company has crafted its own unique tone of voice, it dictates a lot of actions that the brand will take. For instance, in terms of content, a brand’s tone of voice cannot be ‘Professional’ while deploying content about “Top 10 Fails of the Week”, or “See the Extraordinary Act of Love from this Cat”.
When the tone of voice is defined, you find yourself and your team contained in a box. Every decision is now directed into creating a singular image. As you define your brand voice, you are also defining the final image of your brand. It is easy to wander off track from your brand’s true purpose. Inconsistencies in your brand voice can be easily detected making it an early warning device when you have somehow taken a wrong turn in building the kind of image you wanted to build in the first place.
It sets you apart from the rest.
There can be thousands of other brands in your industry but what people will go to you for is the kind of content you put out, and how you deliver those pieces of content to your audience. Voice plays a key role in the curation of content.
30 websites can deliver the same news, but you will most likely choose to keep coming back to one because you like the way they delivered the news.
Just think about your college days. On your first day in the university, you had the chance to say hi to lots of people. You did a lot of small talk, a lot of storytelling, and made some friends.
But think about it, on your last day in college, which friends become your best friends? Which friends do you still genuinely enjoy hanging out with? And why? What did you get every time you were with those friends?
That’s pretty much how it is with brands. Some offer the same thing. Just like friends, most offer the same thing — company. But we hate some, and we connect with others.
People want to connect with other people — not companies
Why do you think big companies pay massive sums of cash for celebrity endorsements and brand ambassadors? Simple — because these are people. It is easier for people to connect with other people, not companies.
The brand’s personality and voice humanize the brand. People have to know that just like humans, your brand too has flaws, principles, aspirations, and beliefs. You have to make it easy for people to understand what these are.
Choosing your brand’s tone of voice carefully can set you apart from the robot-like companies out there who seem to be saying the same things in the same way.
How to find your brand’s Tone of Voice
Indulge yourself in your audience’s life
I find that it helps if you’re alone as you go through this process since your mind will need a lot of space for all the reflection you’re going to need to do.
A lot of this will be focused on your audience. I suggest you create a Pinterest mood board that captures how your audience looks like, the colors they prefer, the clothes they wear, the things they enjoy, the activities they hate, their favourite sports teams, the list goes on. Fill that board up.
You can take it a step further by visiting a place where your target audience would hang out at. Maybe listen to some music they enjoy. Eat the kind of meals they would love. Fully indulging yourself makes it easier for ideas to flow later on.
Step 1: Reflection and Definition
Grab your notebook, and begin writing.
Think about the reasons why you went into business, not including sales and profits. Dig deep in order to get a meaningful answer that really resonates with your clients. Find your objective by asking yourself a few questions: What is the perception you want people to have about your brand? Do you want to change people’s perception about a product? How do you want to make people feel or react about your product?
What is your purpose?
Why did you put up this company in the first place?
What impact is this company going to have on your target audience? How is your product/service going to make people’s lives better? Will it bring it out the good in people? Will it allow them to spend more time with their loved ones? Most importantly — what impact would you want to make in people’s lives through your brand?
Simon Sinek’s Start With Why helped us a lot in discovering our own “big why”. He mentions that “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. So what is the big purpose that your company is trying to achieve?
Don’t think about the superficial. The money, the cars, the luxury goods, scrap these thoughts. Go deep. Think about why this world needed another company like yours.
What are your values?
We find that it helps if you first clearly define your own personal values since a brand is most often times an extension of the values and the purpose of the leader behind it.
Think of your brand’s values as large pillars whose structural integrity holds the entire building. These are points of reference for the kind of culture your company would need in order for it to serve its purpose.
An example of brand values are Amazon.com’s leadership principles (Here are 5 of the 12)
- Customer obsession
- Invent and simplify
- Think big
- Bias for action
- Frugality
Zappos Family Core Values happen to be our favorite (5 of 10)
- Deliver WOW through service
- Embrace and drive change
- Create fun and a little weirdness
- Pursue growth and learning
- Build open and honest relationships with communication
After you've done your research on the values and principles other brands have, its easy to be influenced by their choices and copy them for your brand as well.
This is fine as long as you find a way to say it the way you would say it. It has to ring true to you. Its not about using the most poetic and catchy words. You have to make sure that when you are talking to your employees about these brand values of yours, they have to feel that its coming from the heart. The more authentic it is, the stronger the values will be in your organization.
What are the top 5 adjectives that define your brand?
One way of making it easier for you to know which values and tone of voice your brand should have is to define your brand using adjectives.
Sporty. Athletic. Luxurious.
Simple. Calm. Natural.
Dark. Honourable. Resilient.
Tip! If you’re struggling to find words to describe what your brand is, try describing what your brand is not.
Step 2: Funnelling
It’s one thing to define the deep truths about your brand, trying to mix them all up in fitting them all into one person is another. This step is about how to properly funnel all those values, purpose, and qualities into a vessel that will help you communicate these accurately to your audience.
Use Archetypes
Archetypes are like characters with different personalities, different passions, different goals. Each of us have these characters, some of them stronger than others. Each of us have dominant archetypes within us, sometimes dominating and overshadowing the rest depending on which ones we nurture.
Ever feel like you want to save the world after watching Superman or The Dark Knight Rises? That’s just your Hero archetype being awakened. Or maybe feel like cleaning up the house so that you can donate a bunch of your unused stuff after watching a Pencils of Promise video? Caregiver archetype inside you got triggered. Or maybe that one time (insert Rebel example). Archetypes are also triggered during different stages in our life. That’s where we get the stereotype of the rebellious teenager and the philanthropic 70 year old man.
There are 12 archetypes that you can use. Some brands use several, but have one dominant archetype that they are best known for.
- The Hero
- The Outlaw
- The Magician
- The Innocent
- The Explorer
- The Sage
- The Everyman
- The Lover
- The Jester
- The Caregiver
- The Creator
- The Ruler
Check out a more detailed explanation about the Archetypes in a previous post I wrote.
Finding out which archetype to use
Selecting which archetype to use has to be based on the type of audience you have, the archetype that your competitors are not using, and the archetype that could best achieve your purpose and align with your values.
What is the persona of your audience?
Brands use archetypes as a vessel of communicating certain values to their audience. These trigger the audience’s own archetypes within them resulting to deeper relationships therefore it is essential that you know your audience well.
Remember that pumped-up feeling you get every time you see a Nike commercial? That’s the Hero archetype being triggered. Same thing happens when you feel a little bit more generous after reading the story of TOMS shoes.
So pick one person from your audience. Pretend you’re playing a video game where you get to modify your character by changing their hairstyle, strengths, weapons, clothes, etc. Go right down to the essential details:
How old is he/she?
What does he/she look like?
How does he/she dress?
What does he/she love and care about?
What does he/she hate?
How does he/she spend his/her free time?
What does he/she need or have a problem with, that your brand can solve or provide for?
Only when you are able to clearly understand your audience can you effectively select which archetype to use to communicate to them.
What archetypes are your competitors embodying?
Archetypes are best used when they are different from every one else in your industry. If one big player is using the Outlaw, and another is using the Caregiver, maybe it is best if you use the Explorer.
Get to know your competitors. What do they say, and how do they say it? Basing on what they say, what archetype did those make you perceive? Did they make you think of the Outlaw? Do they sound like someone who’s up for an adventure and self discovery?
Find out which archetype they are using, and as much as possible, use the one that is opposite to it. This will make you stand out, and will make you resonate with a new group of followers rather than biting pieces off your competitor’s audience.
Find the sweet spot
Now use the information you have to find the archetype that would resonate best with your audience, and at the same time the archetype most different from the ones your competitors are embodying.
Your purpose and values will guide you on what to say, and your audience and archetype will guide you on how to say it.
Step 3: Implementation
At this point, you should have defined your purpose, values, audience, and archetype. This step is all about making sure you stick with these consistently. Tone of voice that seems like it’s all over the place is as good as not having one. So make sure do stick with it.
Create a Tone of Voice Guide
It will be difficult to be consistent if your team is unaware of what to be consistent about. You should not ever assume that your team completely understands what you mean therefore it is best to create some sort of guidebook that they can use as reference as to the standards of your brand’s tone of voice.
This guidebook should include sample statements in different scenarios that your team might encounter along the way. It is essential that you include a statement should be said, and how a statement should never be said. Be sure to include examples that are specific to your brand.
How should they say hello? How should they never say hello? Should they include the name of who they are saying hello to? Should they greet in a very formal manner?
How should they write copy for a Facebook post? Should it be lengthy and full of facts? Or should it be short and catchy?
Should they use emojis when engaging with your audience? Can they use “Dude” when talking to a guy who’s following you on Twitter?
In this way, you are able to standardize every area of communication that is used by your entire team when interacting with your audience.
Consistently tell stories
Stories are the best way to solidify your brand’s tone of voice. Tell a story as often as you can. Tell your audience the story of why the company was put up. Tell them the ‘cause’ you most care about. Tell them your struggles. Tell them about the journey. Tell them what your purpose is, and why it is important to you. Tell them a story about the people behind the brand.
People love stories. Most importantly, the right people will love how you tell these stories.
Tone of voice will sort out the best of your audience from the worst. These people will stay. These people will listen.
Just always remember to be consistent because consistency is memorable.
Conclusion
Surely this process will take a lot of thinking, reflecting, communicating, and testing. But the beauty about this is that when you get it right, it would seem as if your brand gets a dose of steroids. Decisions become easier because you now have something that guides you. You begin attracting an audience that resonates with you.
And finally, your brand begins to grow into one that not only talks with consistency, but also a brand worth consistently talking about.
Podcast: Brand Origins
Thanks for reading! By the way, we have a podcast: Brand Origins. We talk about Brand Disaster stories as well as the origin stories of brands. Find us on any podcast app.
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Twitter : @brandoriginsfm
