Tone of voice
For many people the word ‘brand’ means a logo, snappy strapline and visual content. But what is just as important (and sometimes overlooked) is a brand’s tone of voice.
Why is it important?
Your tone of voice represents your brand’s personality and values, who you are and what you believe in. You need a clear and concise tone of voice to make sure you’re making a real connection with your audience - you don’t just want consumers, you want people who are going to champion your brand, spread the word and keep coming back.
Tone of voice is particularly important in today's landscape of 24/7 social media, the volume of brands vying for the attention of the same customer base is increasing and that means it’s harder than ever to cut-through the noise and stand out.
Your brand needs a host of things to stand out - a fluid customer experience, impactful visual content, a strong product offering, the list goes on…your written content needs the same level of consistency and attention to detail, it’s in many ways the glue that binds your product together before it’s presented to your audience.
In the 2020 Sprout Social Index, consumers were asked why certain brands stood out to them more than others. 40% said memorable content made them stand out, 33% said distinct personality and 32% said compelling storytelling. Memorable content, a distinct personality and a compelling story all make up the pillars of a brand’s tone of voice.
Speak to your audience the wrong way and at best you may end up with a muted silence, at worst you could suffer a social media backlash that could tarnish all the hard work you’ve put in creating your brand's identity and tone of voice.
It’s also important to look at where your brand might go in the future. Look at a brand like Innocent Drinks - their quirky, informal, down to earth tone works really well for their range of healthy smoothies and juices - but wouldn’t be the best springboard for a business venture into the financial sector - tone of voice here might instead learn towards being more reassuring and professional. Consumers can also get tired if they see the same messaging all the time, sometimes less can be more and it’s a delicate balance to strike - not everyone needs a bag of lettuce to be their best friend...
Getting the balance right
Everyone knows Nike, their tone of voice is inspiring, positive, and powerful, it’s urgent, motivational, and encouraging. But Nike, despite being a top global sports brand and investing huge sums of money into the sport, has never been able to crack the surfing market. Nike’s tone of voice in many ways is ideal for an extreme sport like surfing but surfing with its laidback counter culture means Nikes urgent and mainstream tone of voice has struggled to translate.
It’s a delicate balance getting tone of voice right but crack it and you are a long way to making better connections with your audience.