“THE TONE OF YOUR BRAND’S VOICE — HOW YOU SAY IT AND HOW YOU WANT TO MAKE IT SOUND FOR OTHERS”

Why are you talking to the wall? — this is one of the hard questions you most probably address to yourself oftentimes, right?

 And the list goes on…..

 Why don’t you get the responses or reactions you expect from your Customers, Clients and Targets?

 We live in a huge information ecosystem where Customers and Clients are distracted by tons of marketing messages and various branded content. In this battleground capturing and keeping their attention is getting harder and harder. That’s why using the right tone of voice is a deal-breaker! 

Now let’s have a look at what is the role of using the proper tone of voice in terms of creating an emotional attachment with your audience.

But before we start…

WHAT DO WE EXACTLY MEAN BY THE TONE OF VOICE?

First and foremost, let’s clarify one important thing: the tone of your brand’s voice does not equal your actual message! It is HOW YOU SAY IT, and a guideline on HOW YOU WANT TO MAKE IT SOUND FOR OTHERS.

More importantly, the brand’s tone of voice has a big influence on your brand’s overall image and personality. And if you are a leader, an entrepreneur, or a solopreneur who communicates regularly via different Social Media platforms, for you it’s also very important to define your own tone of voice.

"Choosing the tone of voice for your brand defines the way how you communicate with your audience including the style of communication, the way you compose your messages with which words you use, how you deliver them and the emotional tone with a unique touch of WHO YOU ARE"

💡 Remember, the tone of your voice must be aligned to an overall framework and always be consistent across all the communication channels you use – but you can, and definitely should make slight differences in terms of style, tone, the expressions you use, etc. by different target audiences you communicate with or talk to.

🎯 When it comes to consistency in terms of brand voice, one of the best examples is the legendary “love brand”: Coca-Cola. The basic tone of voice is always positive radiating happiness, making you smile and look at life with the sunny side up, while at the same time it’s friendly and can appeal to literally everybody.

FINE-TUNE YOUR MESSAGES BY APPLYING THE RELEVANT TONE

👞 Step No 1 is to create targeted messages, meaning don’t talk to the mainstream but specify the content according to your target audience, or group of people – e.g. customers who are pet owners. If you have created your so-called “Customer or Buyer Personas”, and there are more target groups you want to address your messages to, be aware of differentiation. 

👠 And that’s where step No 2 comes in: align the tone of voice to each – e.g. use certain power words and speak more energetic when you talk to men who like motorsports, but be much more delicate and lower the intensity of your speech when you express emotions towards Moms with small kids. This is a crucial step to engage deeper and generate discussions with your audience!

FORMAL OR CASUAL – FUNNY OR SERIOUS?

And how about Cool and Easy? This will vary over different platforms and contexts, but still must represent the same core values of your company brand or as an entrepreneur, what your personal brand represents and stands by. Meaning you express the very same meaning in a less formal style and terminology.

💡 Imagine how you would explain the same information to your Client during a phone call and in an eNewsletter?

💡 Or how about using a messaging app such as Facebook Messenger or a Chatbot for a really short form of communication?

So, don’t just think about the written form, but e.g. if you make a video, an online course or a live presentation, you must be more precise and fine-tune all the details about the tone. And it’s not limited to how you speak, but

🎤 whether you are loud enough,

🎤 how fast the speed is or maybe you should speak slow,

🎤 what is the candace or the rhythm and

🎤 how do you use the tone of your voice for expressing different emotions.

Colloquialism and slang might also work well depending on the diversity and culture of your target audience, especially with the younger generations such as Gen Z or Gen X, but be careful not to go too far with it, rather find the balance.

THE POWER OF INFLUENCING AND PERSUADING

Remember, it’s about your purpose and how you deliver the message you want to be adopted, exactly the way you meant!

So again, keep focusing on the HOW in all verticals, because in most cases the way we say things is what really matters, especially when we want someone to do something or we want them convince about something.

 💡 E.g. there’s a very different impact on the listener or the addressee of the message if you say:

a.) “The Main Reasons Companies Fail to Meet Their Client Acquisition Goals”

b.) “Do you want to have more clients? Jump into our new online course!”

c.) “I don’t believe it! Why are you not able to bring in new clients?”

Furthermore, keeping things short and translating things that are difficult into a simple description or communication is always a winning strategy!

🧭If you want to broaden your knowledge about how to craft your Marketing, Branding and Content Strategy, stay tuned because more details will be described in the upcoming issues of the STRATEGYSCOPE newsletter.

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STRATEGYSCOPE is the Marketing, Branding & Content Strategy Compass for your business boost. Each week the newsletter covers various topics within these 3 key areas to guide SMBs (Small and Medium-sized Businesses) Entrepreneurs, and Solopreneurs to fine-tune their strategies and utilize the potential of Marketing for their sustainable growth.

📩 Got a question or Want to Work with Me? Shoot it over in the comments or DM to me @Ildiko Bujaki