How to establish the right tone-of-voice for your business
Any business will know the importance of portraying the right ‘image’ to suit their brand. This covers everything from how your staff interact with customers, to what colour your logo is, what your packaging says about you, right down to your in-store experience and whether your shop windows correctly convey the type or quality of products/services you sell.
Just as crucial to manage, but something often overlooked, is your brand’s tone-of-voice. This neglect is most frequently apparent within social media channels and could be costing you customers, as the language you use and how you communicate your brand messages to the world give people a better insight into what your business is about and what it might be like to interact with you.
Your tone-of-voice, through social media channels or other written material, can make your brand more relatable (especially if you’re trying to target a set demographic) and at the end of the day, it’ll be easier and more fun to read, which in turn will lead to better customer service, return visits and, ultimately, sales.
Some things to think about when distinguishing your brand’s tone of voice:
1. Use what you already know
Your tone of voice should take it’s guidelines from any brand definition work that has already taken place. What does your brand or business stand for? What are your company values? These can form the foundation for creating your tone and content - for instance, values such as honesty, fun or innovation can be transferred easily into your day-to-day language.
2. Make sure the voice fits with your brand
Be authentic. There’s no use trying to sound like someone else or even worse, one of your competitors. Create a voice that is distinctly yours but one which also genuinely fits with your brand. An interesting exercise is to think how you would WANT customers to describe your business with 3-5 adjectives. This can help shape the direction you go. However, while you’ve been thinking about adjectives that describe what your brand should be (for example, sophisticated, witty, authoritative), it can also be just as important to determine the things you shouldn’t be (for example, colloquial, condescending, gossipy).
Another way to think about this: Imagine you went to a dinner party and met a host of strangers. Who would make the biggest impression on you? Would it be the person who looks and dresses like everyone else, doesn’t express any opinions or tell any interesting stories? Or someone who dresses and presents themselves in a stylish way, keeps everyone riveted with tales and jokes and projects their own unique confidence? The latter will likely make a bigger impression (whether bad or good!) but the important thing is they’re memorable and you got a taste for what they stand for. And the same goes for a brand and their voice.
3. Think about who you are communicating to
Defining a tone-of-voice helps the customer to relate to and create an emotional bond with your brand and will set you apart from your competitors. Think about your target audience and what they would like to read. Who are you writing for? Will you make the desired impression?
4. Have a purpose
It’s all good having a voice, but what’s the purpose of your written communication channels? To educate? Entertain? Motivate? Are there different purposes across different channels? Your voice and content should be flexible enough to change for different platforms and to suit various purposes, but should also be consistent enough for readers to get a feeling of synergy across all platforms.
5. Get everyone involved!
The more people who are informed about how and why they should be using this particular language, the more comfortable and willing they will be to use it. Run training sessions, encourage people to try it out and make everyone clear how it will benefit all aspects of the business and you will be surprised at how quickly people get on board.
6. When you’ve decided on your tone, commit to it.
Nothing will confuse an audience more than a schizophrenic brand personality! Keep it on track by getting key people to take ownership of it - they should check it regularly and give feedback to people where they might be going wrong. Have regular refresher training sessions where people can ask questions or get clarification on anything that may be troubling them and most importantly, continue to build their confidence.
Wow! Great thniking! JK