The Brand Voice: Let Your Business Speak For Itself

One of the key factors of creating a brand voice for your business is consistent branding, and it’s essential in developing a successful business.

What is a ‘brand voice’?

Your brand voice is your business’s recognisable personality. It is built up from the characteristics you use to advertise your business, such as visual elements and the language and tone you use in written content. It is the message your business puts across to anyone that sees it.

Why is it important?

A brand voice is the way people perceive your entire business and the people that work within it. Having a successful

Consistency lets you shape how potential customers see you. Using the same language and tone across all of your marketing ensures you are clearly communicating the type of brand you are, and who your products or services are meant for.

If you use formal language, you will likely attract a different client base to if your content consists of a more relaxed, slang-based language, which tends to attract a younger audience. Whilst it is possible to mix between these voices depending on the project or product you are promoting, sticking to one tends to create a recognisable brand voice which your customers will remember.

If your business is small, you’re self-employed, or the sole person working on creating content, you will probably already have a specific tone or style you express within your written content. Whilst that works for when you work alone, if you want to scale your business then having a specified voice brand will ensure this same personality you have built for your business continues when other people are writing or creating the materials.

How do I create a brand voice?

One of the most overlooked aspects of a brand voice is structure. The layout of your content, down to the breakdown of paragraphs, number of images and overall length can all impact whether someone will take the time to actually read it.

The longer a blog post, article or page is, the more serious it will seem. Breaking text up with titles, images and quotes can help to break down content and make it easier to digest.

When deciding how you will portray your business, consider who your customers are, what products and services you are selling, and how you want people to interact with that content.

It is also essential you are consistent with the terms, phrases and wording you use. Make sure your content refers to your products and services in the same way across the board, so you don’t confuse those who are reading it.

An example of this is Starbucks. They use Tall, Grande and Venti when referring to small, medium and large drinks, and they always use those same terms. They have become recognisable to Starbucks and regular customers know the lingo, creating a sense of familiarity and community.

What if I don’t know what brand voice I want my business to have?

A good place to start is to write down key words and characteristics that you want your business to have and been seen as. From there, you can begin building out the rest of your brand voice.

Looking at others brands you admire can help you narrow down the style you would like to aim for. Bookmark articles, posts or imagery you like and feel would work well within your own branding.

Once you have nailed the personality you want your business to have, you can write down these traits and guidelines to refer back to in the future and for other employees to work from.