If you started a business, how would you let the world or your targeted audience know what your business is about and what you do?
Of course, marketing is the way to let them know about your business. But the way you communicate to the audience matters the most. If done right, you can transform your business into a brand.
The concept of building a specific image or reputation of your business in the market or audience is called brand building. When asked to the customers in a survey about what makes a brand stand out;
- 40% of people claimed it’s their remarkable content
- 33% of people claimed it’s their unique business personality
- 32% of people claimed it’s their compelling storytelling.
All of these aspects that make a brand stand out and create a lasting impact on its audience have a common factor called brand voice.
What is a brand voice?
A brand voice is a communication style of a business or an organization. It’s the way brands interact internally and externally. The brand voice is consistent on all platforms may it be emails, websites, or social media.
Why do you need a brand voice?
Your brand voice is how the customers will perceive your business. Here are a few reasons why it is important to have a brand voice.
- Stand out from your competitors: A brand with a distinct personality stands out from the competition. 33% of customers believe this. A unique brand voice can help you get noticed quickly.
- Connect with your customers For approximately 86% of customers, authenticity is a must in a brand. A brand voice that resonates with the company’s values and mission helps build a connection with the customers.
- Create a consistent brand identity: 90% of customers expect their brands to have been consistent. Consistency across all channels offers a better customer experience and builds trust among customers.
- Build brand recognition and loyalty: Research suggests that brand loyalty is directly linked with brand recognition. A clearly defined brand voice cultivates loyalty in customers which helps build a large and strong consumer base.
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5 ways to find your brand voice
Your brand voice is about what your brand stands for, how you develop the product, and how you engage with the audience. If customers find any of this experience unique or a little personal then they can connect well to your business. Below, we discuss the ways to find your brand voice.
1. See what inspires your audience
In a conversation how you speak depends on who you are speaking to. Similarly, your brand voice is determined by your targeted audience. So, it is important to know what audience you are talking to. What do they want from your brand?
Performing audience research would help you understand who your customers are, what their needs are, and what kind of content appeals to them the most. You can conduct a survey or just use Google Analytics to understand where your readers come from or where else they hang out. It also helps you create a buyer persona.
Once you figure out where your audience frequents more often, you can research those platforms and their content to identify their brand voice. Then you can craft a brand voice in that category like a casual or a witty brand voice.
But the ultimate test will be the audience. If they can resonate with your brand voice, then your business will be successful otherwise you have to keep experimenting until you succeed.
2. Look at your company’s mission statement and values
Your company’s goals, values, and mission can also help you craft a unique voice for your brand. When your brand voice reflects your company mission, even selling to the toughest customers becomes easy.
Analyze your goals, values, and mission statement to find a voice that suits your company’s persona. Remember, having a brand voice fitting to your business persona is well and good. But it won’t work if it doesn’t resonate or appeal to the emotions of the targeted audience.
You have to find a perfect balance between the both. Usually, a customer can understand the personality of your business by looking at your company’s tagline, mission statement, goals, and core values. So, ensure your business personality is reflected in them.
3. Do A ‘We’re This, Not That’ Exercise
You can get a better idea about your brand voice by doing an exercise where you have to simply write what your brand identifies as and what it isn’t. All you have to do is fill in the blanks in the given sentence: “We’re __________ not __________.
Doing this exercise 3-4 times can help you understand your brand accurately. Doing it more often would just create confusion in conflicting situations. And doing it less would fail you in capturing the essence of your brand. Here is an example:
- We’re innovative, not gimmicky.
- We’re casual, not unapproachable.
- We’re witty, not snarky.
- We’re confident, not arrogant.
4. Analyze your competitors’ copies
Another way to find your brand voice is by looking at your competitors. See how they interact or communicate with their customers. You have to note how they speak, what language they are using, what is their communication style, what emotions their copies generate, what’s the common themes across all your (major) competitors, and more.
Ask yourself, will implementing similar strategies work for your business as well? Additionally, you have to keep in mind that although adopting a similar style, you don’t want to copy your competitors or talk like them. Instead, you have to be a different and better communicator than them.
You have to take their brand voice style as a reference point to try and craft your own.
5. Look at your best-performing content
If you have been publishing some content regularly for years or months then I suggest you take a look at your top-performing content. Analyze what kind of content your audience likes or talks about. Note down the characteristics of top-performing content and identify its voice.
Is it casual, funny, or poetic? Do you give references to pop culture or the latest trends? Is your content detailed and well-researched or short and crisp? Do you provide study sources to back your claims?
Your content is performing well among your audience because they can resonate well with it. And that’s likely to be your brand voice. List out the number of aspects you feel you can replicate in upcoming or all your forms of content. You must also find out what kind of content works best in your industry and then craft them according to your brand voice.
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Final words
Every brand needs to clearly define a brand voice that reflects the unique personality of their business and helps build customer loyalty. Brand voice plays a crucial role in perceiving an image of your brand as extraordinary in the minds of the audience.
It is recommended that you keep your brand voice consistent across different platforms. You can be flexible with your tone depending on the platform, but ensure that it doesn’t distort your message or result in an inconsistent brand voice.
FAQs
What is a brand voice?
Brand voice is the language, and tone a company uses in all of its copies and on all platforms to interact with its audience. It’s a communication style that distinguishes the brand from others.
What are the types of brand voices?
There are different types of brand voices. It can be professional, conversational, funny, inspirational, and so on. The type of brand voice depends on the company’s missions, the targeted audience’s interests, and the nature of the industry.
What is the purpose of a brand voice?
The purpose of a brand voice is to resonate with the customers’ sentiments and differentiate the brand from its competitors. Brand voice gives a human touch to the business and builds a connection with the customers.
Kushalam 