In today’s competitive marketplace where everyone is vying for attention, it’s not enough for a business to just produce useful products and services. No matter how compelling of a solution a company has, it’s not enough on its own to stand out. Brands need to find their own distinct voice that will cut through the noise and resonate with the consumer audience they are trying to attract. This is where brand voice and identity are essential.
What Is a Brand Voice?
A brand voice is the unique way in which a company communicates information about their product, services and identity to the public. Brands identify the characteristics of their voice then ensure it is maintained across all their marketing and communication channels to ensure consistency. It’s helpful to think of a brand voice as someone’s personality. Just as you might assess your friend’s emotions and tone in conversation, consumers do the same with companies.
For example, an enterprise software company is about to launch a new tool that is set to transform how their prospective clients would run their business. It’s an innovative idea that would require consumers to reshape how they view their own business. The company may choose a confident, forward-thinking tone. They want to reassure prospective customers that they are confident in the value this new tool will provide and that it aligns with the future needs of their type of business and what their customers need.
When there is a clear and consistent brand voice, it helps customers to better relate to your business. It helps to humanize your efforts and make it feel like they are receiving advice from a friend rather than just digesting corporate messaging that has no meaning behind it.
What Is Brand Identity?
While brand voice focuses on how a company communicates something, brand identity covers the physical aspects of the brand. This includes the logo, color schemes, typography, and all the other design elements on your marketing materials. It’s a combination of visual cues that help communicate offerings and be more easily recognizable because more people are exposed to the brand.
A brand’s identity and voice go hand in hand as they work together as an outward expression of a brand’s personality. The voice will set the tone while the visual elements of your identity will help to reinforce what a brand is trying to communicate. If a real estate company, for example, wants to communicate that they are highly professional, they may choose for a more clean and minimalist design. A younger brand targeting Gen Z might choose bright and bold colors with playful fonts.
Align Brand Voice and Identity
While brand voice and identity are their own distinct elements, the strongest of companies know that these two need to be aligned to help make their messaging feel more authentic. Imagine how distracting it would be to read serious messaging with a formal tone that uses bright colors and crazy fonts. The disconnect is confusing to consumers and may hurt the brand.
Creating your brand voice, however, comes before identity. First establish what needs to be said and how best to say it to attract and retain the type of customers specifically targeted. Taking the time to strengthen brand voice before considering design elements is key to creating an irresistible brand in today’s hypercompetitive market.
Tips to Boost Your Brand Voice Through Quality Content Writing
Once there is an understanding of what a brand voice is and the value it can provide, it’s time to start the development process. This can be achieved through quality content writing. Here are some of the most effective strategies that can help get closer to establishing the type of brand voice that customers may take notice to.
Tip 1: Define Your Audience with Clarity
Before starting to write content and produce it through marketing channels, there is a need to better understand the audience for which the writing is intended. There should be an understanding of basic demographics such as age, career, and socioeconomic status. This can help lead to a better understanding of what common pain points a target demographic deals with regularly and find ways in which your brand can help alleviate these challenges.
For example, imagine a company that sells eco-friendly products for babies. This immediately narrows the bulk of their target audience to people who are of age to have children. Based on this, the company might choose to focus on millennial parents in their 30s. Assuming the company invested in market research that suggests this demographic is extremely environmentally conscious.
Based on these details, the company could create and test messages such as:
- Our biodegradable baby wipes will keep your baby and the planet safe at the same time.
- Our diapers are formulated with natural ingredients that are free from harmful chemicals.
These two examples show how combining the value of a product with the interest and pain points of the target demographic can help communicate in a way that touches on their lifestyle while simultaneously establishing a brand as the solution to their needs.
Tip 2: Be Consistent Across All Platforms
While it’s important to develop a voice that works for the brand, it can only be as effective as the number of people it reaches. This is why it’s important to prioritize communicating the brand’s voice consistently across as many platforms as possible. Whether writing a social media caption or responding to a customer’s email, voice should never stray from the criteria set up early on.
The reason why it’s important to prioritize consistency is because it helps to build familiarity and trust with the target audience. The more customers can recognize the distinct voice in a sea of other brands, the more likely they are to think of that specific brand and engage when they have a need in the future.
Tip 3: Reflect Your Brand’s Personality and Values
A brand’s voice should help illuminate the personality and core values of the organization. For example, if a software company is trying to modernize outdated, paper-based processes, the copy should sound bold and visionary. Inspire the target audience to partner with the brand and take a journey into the future.
When brainstorming on a brand’s personality, asking how that brand may want the audience to feel when they interact with the brand’s content and messaging. Messaging could leave them feeling inspired, seen, and cared for. It could also leave them excited, contemplative, and a variety of other connected emotions. Once this connection is established, start writing and reviewing the content to make sure it can achieve the anticipated reaction.
Tip 4: Develop a Brand Voice Style Guide
To ensure the brand voice will remain consistent across communication channels, develop a brand style guide. This is especially useful for larger organizations who will have multiple people from different departments writing and producing content on behalf of the organization.
In this document, consider including:
- The brand’s tone
- Preferred vocabulary
- Terms to avoid
- Examples of approved communications to mimic
A well-crafted style guide that incorporates these elements can serve as an essential roadmap for a brand’s communication strategy. It will prevent anyone from having to guesswork and ensure that every piece of content created, no matter by who, is aligned with the marketing and brand goals of the organization. It’s the one key item that can help make a brand voice more cohesive, even when there are multiple people involved in creating content.
Tip 5: Test and Evolve The Brand Voice
It’s important to remember that, like anything in business, the brand voice is also not a static element. It should evolve when necessary as quickly as the industry it serves does. To ensure that the necessary adjustments are made, regularly test the messaging and see how the target audience responds to it. Different metrics from social media accounts, websites, or traditional verbal feedback can all help you gauge if it’s time for a change.
For example, when a business stalls, developing a new strategy might start targeting a new demographic. The voice will need to adapt to ensure it strikes a chord with the new targets. Shifting from targeting millennials to Gen Z, for example, might involve tweaking the tone to make the brand feel more relevant to their lifestyle as well.
Boost Branding with Quality Content Writing
By now it’s clear that brand voice can be one of the most powerful investments an organization can make. It will not only help earn more exposure in the market, but also help to attract and keep a large list of loyal customers to stick around for years to come.
If you believe it’s time to take your brand voice to the next level, the team at Better Content Matters has your back. We know how to create engaging content that resonates with the people you are trying to reach. Our team can help build your brand’s voice and develop a strategic content strategy to help you stand out in today’s competitive market. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help.
Further Reading Suggestions
https://bettercontentmatters.com/writing-style-guide-for-brands/
https://bettercontentmatters.com/3-ways-to-make-each-word-of-your-content-writing-count/
