What is a brand voice and why should you care? Well, allow me to explain! In marketing, your brand is represented by the brand voice, and it’s what helps you find the right customers for your business. In this post, I’ll tell you a little bit about what a brand voice is, how to decide which brand voice is right for you, and how to build your brand voice and implement it into your marketing strategy. Let’s get started!
What is a brand voice?
Your brand voice can be summed up as your brand’s personality. But what does this mean? Depending on your business, your brand personality may be synonymous with your own. However, while many people have a brand that is of themselves, it may not represent all parts of themselves, and the brand voice should personify the brand specifically. Think of it this way: Who do you want your brand to be?
Who you want your brand to be will also depend on your target audience. You have a choice here to be very general, but research shows that branding toward a specific demographic will raise traffic more consistently than generalized marketing. If your business is child care, your brand voice may be cheerful, but also sensible. On the other hand, if your business is in the entertainment industry, you may want your brand voice to feel exciting and urgent to your consumers.
Brand voice is different from brand tone for the simple fact that the brand tone changes according to circumstance, but brand voice stays constant. If you are celebrating a milestone, your brand tone may grow more excited, but your brand voice should still be apparent. The same goes for any unfortunate announcements or situations where you may need to use a more calm, consoling tone, your brand voice should be what lets the readers/viewers know that it is your brand speaking.
How do I know which style of brand voice is best for my business?
Let’s take what we’ve learned about brand voice and apply it to your business! The most valuable thing you can do when establishing a brand voice is to be authentic. This makes it a lot easier to build a sustainable customer base that keeps coming back for a service or product that they believe in.
If you think you haven’t yet developed a brand voice for your company, think again! If you have already been in operation, or you have a vision for your company, your brand voice is in there somewhere. The first step in establishing your brand voice would be to look at all parts of your business from your social media presence, to your website, to all of the customer-facing aspects that may be involved. What comes to mind? Look for feelings that come to mind when you review your business such as reliable, friendly, sassy, straightforward, whimsical, or no-nonsense. Pick 3-5 things, and those together are the start of your brand voice.
The other thing to consider is… who are you talking to? Your target audience should play another huge role in how you establish your brand voice. If your customers would respond positively to a joke or two, then humor should absolutely play a part in your overall brand voice. Alternatively, if your audience is looking to your brand for facts and information, you may want to leave the jokes out of it. Is this starting to make sense? I hope so!
How do I build a brand voice?
Now that you have established what you want your brand voice to sound like, how do you implement it into your brand across the board? It’s important to be consistent across all areas of your business because consistency builds trust and trust, my friends, converts to sales. Making sure your brand voice is consistent should be easy if you stick to the previously-mentioned authenticity, and now your business has its own personality!
The brand voice is the centerpiece of your marketing strategy, and everything else will be built around this. You will want to make sure that your brand voice is constant through all social media posts, emails, flyers, promotions, and website pages. Once the copy is in line with your brand voice, you may want to make sure that your brand colors are consistent with your brand voice as well. Colors play a big role in marketing strategy and picking colors that complement your brand voice is essential.
If you have a brand catchphrase or slogan, this should go hand-in-hand with your overall brand voice. The same is true for your business logo and your brand colors should be applied across the board. One tip for consistent branding is to wear your brand colors in any photos that you plan to use on social media or on your site, it makes everything so much more cohesive and visually appealing. In the marketing world, all of these parts come together to form your brand style guide.
Overall, your brand voice, aka the personality of your business, should be a voice that attracts your perfect clients and is easy for you to keep up with!
