If we were to take your logo and colour scheme of a piece of your marketing, would your customers instantly be able to recognise it as yours?
You’d certainly be able to recognise marketing from Innocent Smoothies, Apple, or Nike if we stripped their marketing right back. Why? Because they have a strong, clear, defined, and recognisable brand voice.
But what exactly is a brand tone of voice? Your brand voice isn’t what you say, but how you say it.
The best brand voices build trust and familiarity, they express your business’s personality, and set you apart from the competition. An established tone of voice is what turns your business into a brand.
Whether you’re a start-up, going through a re-brand, or an established business that wants to get their brand working harder for them, here’s how to find your brand voice:
## 1. Identify Your Brand’s Beliefs
What does your company stand for? What are your beliefs? What is it that makes you tick, that you work for each and every day? Before you can develop a brand tone of voice, you need to really understand and identify this.
What are they key messages you want your brand tone of voice to convey? Whatever those messages are, they need to be consistent. At every touchpoint. It’s this consistency that reinforces your brand voice and helps your customers to recognise it.
## 2. What Does Your Audience Want?
While your tone of voice is largely directed by your brand beliefs, your audience plays a huge part too. (link: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/data/q2-2017/ text: According to Sprout Social), over 86% of consumers said the behaviour they most want to see from brands on social media is honesty. 33% said they wanted brands to be snarky. What does YOUR audience want from you?
You need to know WHO your audience is, WHAT they need, WHY they need it, and WHAT it is that makes them buy from you. Your brand tone of voice needs to not only speak to these existing customers, but also appeal to likeminded prospects.
## 3. Define Your Characteristics
It’s not enough to say: *“Our brand voice needs to be passionate!”*. You need to break the characteristics of your brand voice down further. WHAT are you passionate about? WHY? HOW do you convey that in your copy?
This will help you, your team, and any agencies you may work with to really get under the skin of your brand voice. “Passionate” can mean different things to different content authors. An effective brand voice leaves no room for ambiguity.
## 4. Grow Your Voice
As your brand grows, so too should your tone of voice. You should regularly revisit your brand voice and see if it still embodies your business’s beliefs and speaks directly to your target audience. If it doesn’t, make the changes so that it does once more.
Need help identifying your brand voice? (link: https://superdream.com/get-in-touch text: Contact the Superdream experts today) who can help you get your marketing working harder for you.