What Exactly is a Brand Voice?
It’s common to hear the phrase “brand voice” when talking about developing a brand’s identity to better connect with potential customers. But what does the term even mean, and how can your company develop a unique and memorable voice that your audience can relate to and recognize?
A good grasp of the fundamentals is key to developing a strong, bold, and memorable brand voice that carries across multiple platforms and mediums — a powerful attribute in a world saturated with cookie-cutter brands, distracted customers, and fierce competition.
What is your brand voice, and why’s it so important?
Your brand voice describes the style of your brand’s communication with your customers. It’s not limited to any specific medium — your brand voice is present on Twitter, in emails, in video ads, and beyond.
Some companies have strong and distinctive brand voices, helping people to recognize them almost anywhere in an instant. This has multiple benefits, such as:
Driving recognition. If your customers can recognize your content anywhere, it becomes much easier to forge a connection with them. They’ll link your various content together across multiple platforms and quickly come to associate you with value and authority in an area that matters to them.
Developing brand loyalty. When your followers can recognize you anywhere, they get to know you quicker. This not only makes them more likely to follow you, it makes it easier for them to become loyal fans of your brand.
Consistency across platforms and channels. A weak brand voice changes between channels, making it tough for you to establish yourself as a strong and valuable presence in your customers’ lives. A strong brand voice unifies your communication strategy and targets your customers from all angles.
Association of your brand with certain feelings and emotions. If you’ve done your research, you should be able to forge a brand voice that taps into your follower’s emotions and reflects their personal challenges, creating a meaningful bond with them.
Building trust. People trust what they know, and they’re generally good at sniffing out dishonesty and insincerity. 81 percent of consumers said that they need to be able to trust a brand in order to buy from them, so it’s crucial that you use your brand voice to build this trust.
Proving you’re authentic. 86 percent of consumers say that authenticity is a key factor when deciding which brands they’ll like and support. Maintaining an honest, consistent brand voice in line with your genuine values is the surest approach.
How to establish a strong brand voice
Know your customers. Ultimately, your brand voice should connect with your customers and speak directly to them, solving their problems, and using language they understand and relate to. The only way to achieve this is by getting to know your customers intimately.
Speak (and listen!) to them on social media, in real life, and via email. Ask them to comment on your blogs and videos. Ask your sales staff what common pain points they notice. Then pull all the information you’ve collected together and use it to refine your brand voice.
Work out what you stand for. It may seem obvious, but many brands are unsure about what they champion and what they want to achieve — or at least they appear this way, due to inconsistent brand voice.
Take some time to define a mission statement. If you already have one, revisit it and make sure it’s up-to-date and in line with your values and your customers’ needs. Brainstorm your brand’s values, narrow the options down to a core list, and focus on communicating these through all your content.
Create a tone of voice: If your voice is what you say and stand for, your tone is how you say it. Work out what your brand personality is to develop a unique tone for your brand. Your options may feel endless, but making the right decision is critical. Test a few options that reflect your brand personality, your industry, and your audience: explore clever, funny, serious, unexpected, and confident angles. Be creative and keep an eye on your competitors, making sure you stand out.
Deploy high-quality content across multiple channels. Your content is the megaphone for your brand voice. Videos, blog posts, social media posts, guest articles on other sites, emails, and podcasts are just a few examples of the formats you can use to communicate your values and establish your voice.
Just be sure that all of your content solves real problems for your readers and delivers consistent, concrete value!
Be consistent. As we mentioned earlier, your brand voice needs to stay consistent to make an impression. Being clear on your values and your customers’ key needs will help you achieve this, but it’s also important to formalize things with style guides and standard operating procedures (SOP).
Reference documents clearly outline how your brand should come across, what your customers expect, and give clear instructions on capturing and replicating the right voice. Share this information with all your content writers, copywriters, and anyone involved in nurturing your brand voice.
Adapt your brand voice over time. While your voice should always stay consistent and true to your core values, it can’t stay exactly the same forever.
Your brand voice should gradually shift as your messaging evolves, your customer base changes, and competitors emerge. Determine what’s essential and make small adjustments over extended periods of time. Always measure your audience’s response and pay close attention to what your followers do after changes you make.
Examples of brands with a powerful voice
Ben and Jerry’s
The famous ice cream company’s voice is defined by a playful tone, combined with a strong sense of responsibility. They’re constantly taking stands that reflect their values — like buying environmentally-friendly freezers and supporting fair trade. They’re bold, unapologetic, and authentic.
Target
Target does an excellent job of maintaining a distinctive and unique brand voice. It’s all about freshness, youth, and fun — clearly communicating their value proposition (good quality for low cost) without ever taking themselves too seriously. They’re a perfect example of a brand that knows its audience and speaks directly to them.
Coca-cola
Coca-cola is a great example of a brand that’s always nailed the visual element of brand voice. Their red and white color scheme is bold, instantly recognizable, and evokes all the emotions of happiness and refreshment that we associate with a cold glass of coke. It’s a reminder that brand voice goes beyond just words and encompasses imagery, too.
At Timelapse, we’ll guide you through the process of developing an authentic, unique, consistent brand voice that shouts your values from the rooftops and connects with your audience across a multitude of channels. Feel free to review the brand guidelines we’ve created for inspiration!
To start developing your brand’s iconic voice, get in touch.
Timelapse is a strategic creative agency with offices in San Francisco and Denver. See our work at teamtimelapse.com
