Contrary to popular opinion, a good brand isn’t just about walking the walk. It’s also about talking the talk—and knowing how to build tone of voice into your brand development journey.
Whether you’re picking your collective in-house brains or getting an agency on board to kickstart the process, your brand voice needs to resonate with your vision (and the people buying into it).
Here are our 10 quick-fire questions to help you get something down on paper:
Which character traits does our business embody?
- Think of your business as a walking, talking entity. How would you describe it to a friend?
- Which of those traits complement our existing brand values?
- When you’ve landed on four or five personality traits, evaluate how they stand up against your core values.
- If our brand was a celebrity, who would it be?
- Are you more of a Holly Willoughby or a Maya Jama? Think about tone, humour, introversion/extraversion and their respective audiences.
- Which brands do we like the sound of?
- Which other brands, inside or outside of your own category, have campaigns or communications that resonate with you?
- If our brand went to a party, what impression would you want it to leave?
- Think about what you’d like people to say about your brand when it leaves the room.
- Which words do we like, and which ones don’t we like?
- There are often no-go words or phrases when it comes to describing your business, as well as terminology you feel speaks to who you are?
- How would we describe our biggest fans?
- If you know your audience and have gathered some key insights, you’ll have a good idea what kind of communication they respond well to. What’s proved successful (or unsuccessful) in the past?
- Can we incorporate our brand name into our writing?
- For example, we created copy lines for Printed.com that made their brand name into a verb: ‘George got his yearbooks Printed.com’.
- How does/will our tone help set us apart from our competitors?
- You might be bringing something inaccessible to the masses, or simplifying an everyday action. Whatever you sound like should be memorable and distinguished from other brands in your space.
- How do we want our tone to align with our future business objectives?
- A great tone of voice will be able to go the distance. Where do you want to be in five years, and how will your voice evolve with your offering?
Our latest tone of voice workshops were with Printed.com. Following the launch of their new brand, we created a new tone of voice guide for them to distribute across the business. We hosted interactive workshops with different departments to increase consistency across the company.
Here is some feedback we received following the session:
“The tasks were fun and engaging. It was good to have to write your own examples as this engaged you to actively use the learnings rather than just listen.”
“The sessions reaffirmed and built on how we work currently as a content and social team in regards to speaking to / reaching out to customers. It was great to align this with other members of our team.”
If you’re looking to find your voice, connect with your audience, and stand out in the brandscape, get in touch hello@lovegunn.co
In 2023, what you say, and how you say it, has never mattered more.
