What is Brand Voice?

Would you say that your brand has a voice?

If not, you are seriously missing a trick.

With the ability to build a strong emotional connection between your business and your customers and create long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationships, establishing a successful brand voice should be seen as a necessity rather than an added bonus.

For your brand voice to truly resonate with both your existing customers and potential new ones, it needs to be consistent across all your communication and marketing efforts, from your emails and your press releases to your website copy and your social media posts.

Still not entirely sure what a brand voice is and how you can develop one that will benefit your business?

Within the below blog, you will discover:

• What is brand voice?
• Why does brand voice development matter?
• Brand voice vs. brand tone
• Best examples of brand voice and tone
• How to create a brand voice for your business

What is brand voice?

In its simplest terms, brand voice is how a business conveys its unique personality. It involves injecting emotion into every single one of your business’s methods of communication with its customers. It embodies everything, from your principles and your attitudes to your beliefs and your aspirations.

There are many different types of brand voices, and no one is better than another. The key to promoting a strong brand voice is in choosing one that directly correlates with your business and its core values.

Fail to create a strong brand voice and your business will struggle to connect and engage with its customers, resulting in short and unlucrative relationships.

What is the importance of brand voice?

If you are thinking, “I’ve got such a great product, why do I need to concern myself with my brand tone of voice?” then you may want to think about your direct competition.

Is your product or service so superior that it can overcome a direct and deep emotional response to your competitors’ latest advertising campaign?

Or, to look at it another way, is your brand recognition that strong that it can compete with a consistent and highly repetitive message that resonates with its target audience?

Having a brand voice is crucial if you want to stay at the forefront of your customers’ minds. It makes them feel safe. It makes them understand what you are about, and, most importantly, it helps them engage with your brand.

What is the difference between a brand voice and tone?

This is a good question and one that business owners and marketers alike often struggle to answer.

Voice refers to your brand’s personality. It is consistent and does not change.

Tone refers to the emotional inflection of your voice and can be adjusted to reflect your specific message.

Both brand voice and tone are important for connecting with your audience, and each one needs to be created and used correctly.

Brand voice examples

Some of the biggest brands in the United States use brand voice and tone to enhance their overall marketing strategy and improve individual campaigns.

Below are some of the expert voice brands that you will recognize only too well:

Coca-Cola

Arguably the master of brand voice, nearly everyone in the world knows what type of brand Coca-Cola wants to be seen as. Always consistent, Coca-Cola prides itself on being friendly, positive, and down to earth. All their marketing efforts evoke positive emotions and feelings and are specifically designed to leave you feeling uplifted and warm inside.

Starbucks

Starbucks has very clear brand voice guidelines that they resolutely stick to. Their communication is either functional (for ordering purposes) or expressive (when they want to tell their story).

Both of these types of brand voice lend themselves well to Starbucks as a brand and make it clear to their customers what they are about.

Dove

Dove, which specializes in personal care items, is all about being inspirational. This brand consistently uses affirmative language to make its target audience feel better about themselves. This, in turn, develops an empowering relationship between brand and consumer that is hard to beat.

Harley Davidson

Very unique in its brand voice, Harley Davidson uses slightly aggressive language and tone to actively challenge its audience. This type of brand voice resonates perfectly with their ideal customer, who is inclined to be rough and rugged.

Uber

You may struggle to think what is the brand voice of Uber but their voice and tone are actually very clever. It’s clear, concise, simple, and bold, which is exactly what you want from a multinational brand that needs to appeal to many different cultures.

How to create a strong brand voice for your business

If you are not sure where to begin when it comes to creating a brand voice for your business, the below simple steps are what you need.

1.   Analyze your current brand voice

The best place to start when creating your brand voice is to look at your current communications.

Is your brand voice consistent? Does it reflect your core values as a brand? What do your all top-performing posts and campaigns have in common?

2.   Sum up your brand in 3 words

Gather up your team and have a brainstorming session to determine what your brand is really about. Review the best examples of your brand voice and discuss what it is that you want to embody as a brand.

Make sure you can sum up your brand in only three words. Any more and you will end up with conflicting ideologies.

3.   Identify your target audience

When choosing language and tone to use in your brand messaging, it is crucial that you look at who are your audience. Once you have established who your audience is, start listing out traits and common vocabulary that directly appeal to them.

4.   Set different tones

As briefly explained earlier, brand voice is constant, whereas brand tone can be changed. For example, you would not use the same tone of voice to announce a competition winner on Facebook as you would to respond to a customer complaint.

Setting out brand tone guidelines for all your employees is just as crucial as determining a brand voice.

5.   Don’t become complacent

Although your overall brand voice needs to remain consistent, as your business evolves, so may your brand messaging. Therefore, it is always a good idea to refresh your brand voice when necessary and to keep on top of what works and what doesn’t.

If you need help determining your brand voice or you feel that your current brand voice and tone needs a refresh, get in touch with our team here today.