If I were to ask you what your brand voice was, what would you say? Would you even know?
Don’t worry if you don’t by the way. The truth is that many businesses haven’t given any thought to their brand voice, and have fallen into the one they have by default. But if you’re looking to rebrand, refresh your brand image or even just launch a new service, you should probably know how you want to sound. After all, your brand voice has a big impact on your audience and the success of your campaigns, so why wouldn’t you put some effort into it?
Why Create A Brand Voice?
When I start talking about brand voice, there are a fair few people who ask me why they should bother. Their business has been getting along fine without a brand voice, so they don’t see the point in developing one. But the thing is, they have had a brand voice for all that time – it just might not be something they’re aware of.
Small businesses tend to take on the voice of the founder, and keep that voice until they grow big enough to need something a bit more distinct. Something that represents their company as a whole, rather than just one person.
Personally, I see defining your brand voice as something essential to successful marketing. But when I say that, people often say that all the work seems a bit unnecessary. But the truth is that the relationships we have with brands and businesses are just that: relationships. Just like the relationships we have with our fellow humans, they’re dependent on a meaningful connection, one that can’t be fostered with a sterile, soulless corporate shell. Your brand voice is your pathway to creating a strong, emotional attachment with your dream customers. And besides being WAY more fun to interact and engage with, brands with distinct voices are more:
- Powerful
- Persuasive
- Compelling
- Captivating
- Memorable
- Meaningful
All of which means your business is likely to be more successful. So yeah, cultivating your brand voice is definitely worth the effort!
The Difference Between Personality And Voice
You could be forgiven for thinking that your brand personality and your brand voice are the same thing. But they are slightly different, and you need to have both to get a really solid idea of how to market your business. To break it down:
Brand Personality Is everything about your brand – how it speaks, looks and behaves. It’s all of the elements of your brand put together, to create the whole picture of your business.
Brand Voice is just one element of your brand personality. It’s the way your brand communicates and speaks with prospects and customers. It’s the words you use, and how you use them.
So you can have a brand voice without a brand personality, but you can’t have a brand personality without a voice. Both of them are important for creating a bond with your audience, but today we’re going to be tackling one of those: your brand voice.
The Ten Tones
While it’s true that every single voice is unique, they do all tend to fall into certain categories. In my experience, there are 10 broad tones of voice, and businesses mix and match aspects from each of them to create a brand voice that fits their business. The
Playful children: Fun loving, playful and a bit innocent. They like having fun with ideas and don’t take themselves too seriously. Imagine a 12-year-old writing your blogs.
Simplifiers: The types that take very complicated things and simplify them right down. To the point where an alien could understand them. Everything needs explaining, and nothing is overly flowery or complicated
Fool biscuits: In case you haven’t come across it, fool biscuit is another word for ‘idiot’. I picked up the term from the lovely Nick Parker when I saw him speak at a copywriters convention a few years ago, and I fell in love with it. These are the brands who like to play dumb, act the fool and make everybody laugh.
Rebels: Edgy, alternative, and don’t give a fuck what you think. The rebels don’t go with the masses, and generally try to be different and challenging in everything they do.
Ronseals: They do what they say on the tin. They are strait-laced, no bullshit, tell it how it is bloggers.
Big Friendly Giants: Big companies, who talk like your best friend. Ben and Jerry’s’ is a great example of this. They have big ideas and tackle big concepts, but in a friendly, caring way, like they’re giving you a cuddle.
Purposeful: They have a cause, a purpose, a drive, and everything is in pursuit of that purpose. They won’t use any word or tell you any fact that isn’t 100% relevant to their cause.
Energisers: The excitable ones. The ones who use too many exclamation marks and are passionate about everything. The energiser bunnies and golden retrievers of the world, who make it so easy to get swept up in their enthusiasm.
Storyteller: That one grandad who can’t answer a simple question without spiralling into a long story about that one time in Rome. The storyteller puts every message and every fact into a story for their audience – a narrative for them to follow along to the happily ever after.
Impersonators: The ones who don’t know what they want to be, so just copy someone else’s brand tone, without any real originality.
Still a bit confused? Never fear! You can download my Lost Voice of Atlantis workbook to discover your own brand voice (it’s free), or give me a call and I’ll be happy to answer any questions and give you my two cents (that’s free too)!