Article

Why Brand Voice is Essential To Your Brand Messaging Strategy

If you’re working on a brand messaging strategy for a b2b tech startup, you may get caught up in how your brand looks visually – fonts, colors, and design styles. You may be tempted to ignore brand voice, but don’t. With the growing use of social media, brand voice has gotten more important as a way to stand out from the crowd.

Wondering what brand voice is about? It’s really just how you bring your brand’s personality to life on the page (or, usually, screen). Consider the surf gear store whose posts sound totally like a surfer. Or a tech company using current industry slang and posting with a tech-bro effect. You certainly don’t have to have a distinctive brand voice, but your marketing will be more effective with one.

According to Sprout Social, consumers are more attracted to brands with clearly-defined, unique personalities. In their study, 40% of consumers listed memorable content as a factor that helps brands stand out on social media. Thirty-three percent listed distinct personality, and 32% said compelling storytelling. All of these are parts of brand voice.

Establishing an Effective Voice as Part of a Brand Messaging Strategy

How do you develop a distinctive voice? These tips can help.

  • Define Your Current Voice

Look at examples of all types of communication to get an overview of what your voice is. Is it consistent? Is it distinctive? Is it authentic? Is it engaging? How does your audience interact with you? How do they sound? Are there traits your top posts and blogs have in common?

  • Talk To Your Audience

Define your audience and personas. Use that knowledge to define the voice traits you want as a brand. For example, a brand with a West-coast audience should probably use regional slang. If the audience is younger, use language that will resonate with them.

  • Define Your Tone

If voice is your writing’s personality, tone is its mood. You’ll switch up the tone of your writing depending on the type of information you’re trying to convey. When you’re developing your brand voice document, include a description of situations in which to use a certain tone. For example, you might have style guidelines for media statements with a formal tone, versus social responses that use a casual tone.

  • Document Your Voice

Develop a brand voice document as a reference to keep copy consistent no matter what it’s for.

  • Be Consistent

Make sure you show up as the same personality in all marketing. [Changes in tone can be okay (see above) but the rest stays the same.]

 

Need to clarify your brand voice? Contact us for assistance. We’re experts in coordinating brand voice and brand messaging strategy development.