6 essential ingredients for a powerful brand voice 💬
Want to create copy that sounds like you and resonates with your audience? 👀
It starts with establishing a powerful brand voice.
Brand voice infuses every single piece of copy with your unique mix of personality, values and expertise.
Because even with hundreds of competitors out there in the online world, there's only one person who can do what you do, the way YOU do it.
Brand voice makes you stand out to your audience as an individual instead of another shout in the crowd.
So how do you create a brand voice?
You need 6 essential ingredients 👇
1. Audience- who are you speaking to?
Pretty much anything you do with your brand starts with your audience. And that’s no different when it comes to your brand voice. To resonate with your target audience, you need to get to know them. You need to understand their personality, needs, fears, wants, and wishes. What keeps them up at night? What are their goals? What other brands might they interact with? Where do they hang out? What kind of language do they use? Once you understand your audience, you can create a brand voice that speaks directly to them.
2. Character- what is your brand’s personality type?
Understanding who you are as a brand can be a daunting task. To help, I often recommend thinking of your brand as a character in a movie/tv show/book. What would they look like? How would they dress? Who are they friends with? What words would you use to describe their personality? How would they speak? Jot down as much detail as you can (there is no right or wrong here) and you’ll start to build a brand character.
3. Emotion- what emotions can you evoke?
When we write copy, our main goal is to evoke emotion in the reader. Think about some of the best advertisements you’ve ever seen. How did they make you feel? Excitement? Happiness? Curiosity? Consider how you want your audience to feel when they read your content. What emotion do you want them to associate with your brand? What emotion will inspire them to take action?
4. Tone- how do you want to sound?
One of the biggest factors that make a brand's voice stand out is its tone. The official definition of tone is the “sound you hear in a musical note, or in a person's voice live or in writing”. And that’s exactly it, your brand’s tone of voice is how you sound to your reader? Are you a cheerful & upbeat brand? Are you informal or formal? Are you straight-talking & to-the-point? Are you a little sassy or sarcastic? Are you humorous? Start with a list of 15-20 words that describe your brand’s tone & then aim to narrow it down to five. These five words will inform your brand’s tone of voice throughout all written copy.
5. Language- what phrases/terminology will you use?
Okay, so you know your audience, your brand’s character, the emotions you want to convey & your unique tone of voice, but what about the actual words? When writing copy for your brand, you want to speak your audience’s language. To do this, I like to create a mini playbook of words & phrases that a brand will use throughout its copy. I also like to create a list of words & phrases that they would never use. Like all the other ingredients, this will link back to your audience & your brand values. Would your brand use slang? Or colloquialisms? Would your brand swear or use puns?
6. Purpose- what's your brand's "ride or die"?
Arguably one of the most important ingredients — your brand purpose is your “why”. Why do you do what you do? What is your brand’s mission or vision? Who do you want to help & why? When you truly understand your brand “why” your voice comes naturally and you can craft your messaging & voice around it.
Are you clear on your brand’s tone of voice? Which of the above prompts leaves you feeling a little stuck? Drop it in the comments below & I’ll jump in to provide some support/ inspiration!
