What Is Brand Tone of Voice & How to Define Your Own

Your brand tone of voice is probably more important than you’ve realised.

Or perhaps you’re not too sure what your brand tone of voice is and it’s become muddled along the way.

Whatever the case, we’re exploring the topic here, helping you craft the way you speak and interact with your audience.

Ever person who works for your brand, and across every platform you have for your brand, should communicate in the same brand voice. This ensures your customers are receiving a consistent experience, and it’s your job to ensure that’s a positive one.

No two brands are the same – even if you’re selling the same product or service. This is where your brand tone of voice comes in as it can be one of your biggest differentiating tools. When customers are faced with so much choice, give them a reason to choose you.

In this blog we’ll be exploring what brand tone of voice is, why it’s important, some popular brand tone of voice examples, and most importantly, how to create your own.

What Is Brand Tone of Voice?

When working out your brand tone of voice, think about your personal tone of voice first.

Consider:

• The way you speak to people
• Your volume/ pitch
• The speed at which you talk
• Common words/ phrases you use

These factors form your own tone of voice and can affect the way you are perceived by others.

The same principles apply to your brand as the way you communicate and interact with your audience shapes their perception of your company.

For instance, if your marketing communications are always quite tongue-in-cheek, this gives the impression of a company with a playful, approachable personality.

On the other hand, if your communications are always direct and straight to the point, it builds a picture of your company as being corporate and formal.

In a nutshell, your brand tone of voice defines the way you speak to your audience – whether that’s in person, on email, via social media, through website copy, or any other communication channel.

Why Is Brand Tone of Voice Important?

Your brand tone of voice is important because it directly impacts how customers view your brand. In turn this affects whether or not they relate to your brand and if they will buy from you.

We’re more likely to buy from companies when we feel they understand our needs and pain points.

This makes it important for brands to humanise themselves to create a deeper connection, which can be done through their tone of voice.

The same way a person crafts the way they speak to someone depending on how they want to be perceived, a brand needs to do the same.

Think of your local bakery as a good example.

Their messaging will probably lean on factors such as being:

• Small
• Friendly
• Local
• Handmade

And it’s these things that shape their brand tone of voice. From the cheery server behind the counter to the friendly, familiar product packaging, it builds a picture of how the brand wants to be seen by customers.

Whether you’re creating your brand for the first time or rebranding, defining your brand tone of voice is essential for connecting with your audience and driving better sales.

Brand Tone of Voice Examples

It can be useful to look at some brand tone of voice examples when you’re trying to craft your own tone of voice.

You might not even realise it, but every brand, big or small, local or international, has their brand tone of voice. It’s all of the words that come to mind when you think of a brand as these are the things we associate with it.

For instance, if you think about The North Face, you might associate words like “adventurous,” “rugged,” and “explorer.”

You connect these things with the brand as they’ve crafted the way they want you to perceive them. It’s a very powerful marketing tool as it taps into our emotions.

Here are two other brand tone of voice examples and how they use this to connect with their audience.

Innocent Drinks

Brand tone of Voice: Playful, friendly, and approachable
Why? To create a relatable and enjoyable brand that makes customers feel happy

The brand tone of voice for Innocent drinks is centred around its lighthearted and fun personality. They hope to bring a sense of joy and laughter to their audience, while also conveying a message of health, wellbeing, and sustainability.

Innocent uses humour throughout its messaging, incorporating informal language in their packaging, social media posts, and marketing campaigns.

Their tone is always relaxed and friendly, making the brand feel approachable and human. This builds a sense of trust and familiarity with customers which encourages them to buy.

Apple

Brand tone of Voice: Simple, confident, and inspirational
Why? To convey a message of luxury and sophistication

When you think of any Apple product, you think of something premium and high quality. This is down to their brand tone of voice which conveys sophistication and innovation, whilst also staying grounded in everyday usability.

They put a lot of emphasis on making customers feel empowered and inspired by their products so that they become loyal to the Apple brand.

Everything from their product descriptions to ads, use minimalist, simple language that focuses on the experience of using the product, putting the customer at the forefront.

Their brand tone voice is authoritative yet inclusive, appealing to a wide range of customers with varying levels of technical ability so that everyone feels part of the Apple community.

How to Define Your Own Brand Tone of Voice

If you’ve never defined your brand’s tone of voice, or if you’re looking to review your current brand tone of voice, then keep reading.

The main goal is ensuring your brand speaks to your target audience as these are the people buying your products and services. So it’s their needs and desires that you must appeal to, otherwise your messaging will fall flat.

Top tip: Don’t write for you. Write for your audience.

Take a look at the steps below to ensure you’re pitching your messaging at the right level.

1. Identify Your Brand Values

Your brand values are the things your brand stands for.

It’s these factors that separate your brand from others in the market who will be claiming to offer the same thing as you. Your brand values can set you apart and give customers that important reason to choose you over someone else (who might even be cheaper).

When defining your brand values, ask yourself:

• What does our brand stand for?
• What do I want the brand to represent?
• Is the brand fun and playful, or serious and direct?

Asking yourself these questions will help shape your tone of voice to ensure it aligns with your brand’s core identity.

It ensures alignment between how you want to be perceived and the messaging you use to make it happen.

For instance, a brand that values sustainability might adopt a tone that is responsible and informative, focussing on how their product packaging is good for the environment.

In contrast, a brand focused on fun might take a more casual, energetic approach (think Ben & Jerry’s and Red Bull as examples).

2. Get Clear On Your Target Audience

Your target audience is the most important part of your brand tone of voice. These are the people who need to hear your messaging and relate to it.

Regardless of what sector you’re in or what you’re selling, you need to know who the end customer is and what type of messaging appeals to them.

For example, ask yourself:

• Are my customers young professionals or tech-savvy teenagers?
• What are the pain points my audience faces?
• What are the values or beliefs that resonate most with my audience?
• What is the preferred communication style of my audience?
• What motivates my audience to make a purchase or take action?

It’s important you have answers to these questions as a tone that works for one group will not necessarily work for the other.

You need to think about the language and communication style of your audience so that you can craft messaging that speaks to them. For instance, if you’re appealing to millennials, you might use a more casual, relatable tone. In contrast, a more formal, professional tone would better appeal to young professionals.

This also influences the platforms you use to communicate as an older audience might prefer printed marketing whereas teenagers will be much more active on social media.

3. Analyse Your Competitors

Your competitors can give you fantastic insights when you’re creating your brand tone of voice. These are the brands competing for the same pool of customers as you, so you need to know how they’re communicating and if it’s working well.

Look at their website as a starting point as their website copy is a key indicator of how they’re speaking to their audience. Also review their social media posts and the language and imagery they use, as this helps you build a picture of their communication style.

Is there anything you can use from this to craft your own brand tone of voice? There might be some insights which can help you better relate to your audience.

Also analyse what works and what doesn’t as this will help you avoid common pitfalls. However, whilst your competitors offer good inspiration about how to craft your own tone, it’s about differentiating yourself and ensuring you stand out.

Don’t just copy what they’re doing, create a brand tone of voice that’s unique and distinctly yours.

4. Establish Key Messaging

Once you’ve got your brand values pinned down, your target audience in mind, and you’ve reviewed your competitors, it’s time to define your key messages.

These are the foundation of how you interact with your audience and can be viewed as ‘themes’ which run through all of your communications.

For example if you’ve defined one of your brand values are being around sustainability, key messaging pillars would include words such as:

• Eco-friendly
• Sustainable sourcing
• Conservation
• Responsibility
• Green innovation

These pillars are central to your brand tone of voice as they guide your communications ensuring everything stays aligned. It can be easy to go rogue with your brand tone as you see or hear messaging that you like.

However, this keeps a point of focus and ensures every communication reflects the values of your brand, strengthening your connection with your audience.

5. Test and Refine

You should now feel clearer on your brand tone of voice and the way you want to interact with your audience.

However, it’s not a one-off process and it’s not set in stone as your business needs to evolve. As technology advances, employees come and go, product ranges expand, your brand tone of voice will need to be revisited.

Whilst your key message pillars might remain the same, the language you use could change to ensure you’re remaining relevant and relatable to your target audience. You might also find that your audience changes (for example if you introduce a new product) so this will need to be accounted for in your brand tone of voice, ensuring no one feels alienated.

Whether it’s via your social media posts, website copy, or in-person customer communications, every possible avenue where you interact with your audience needs to be cohesive.

Also pay attention to how your audience responds, for example, are they engaging with your content? Are they resonating with the language you’re using?

If not, don’t be afraid to go back and refine it. It’s important to stay flexible, ensuring you’re meeting the needs of your most important people: your audience.

What Is Brand Tone of Voice & How to Define Your Own

Your brand tone of voice is a core part of your brand identity.

Without it, customers will feel confused when seeing any communication from your brand as there will be a lack of consistency and relevance.

Every brand has a tone of voice, and it’s this element that shapes the way customers perceive them, whether that’s building a reputation of being corporate and formal, or cool and casual

Crafting your brand tone of voice isn’t easy as lots of people will have different opinions. However it’s the needs of your audience that shape your tone of voice as it’s these people you need to speak to, not your boss or chief executive.

If you need help defining your brand tone of voice, get in touch with our team. Our branding experts will work with you to ensure your brand resonates with customers, creating guidelines that evolve with your company as it grows.