What Is A Brand Voice?
A Guide to Understanding and Creating a Brand Voice for your Business
Have you ever noticed how your closest friend has a unique personality that makes them who they are? They may be confident, bold, or witty, and you can always rely on them to act in certain ways that feel familiar to you.
Well, the same goes for brands. A brand voice is the personality that a company uses to communicate with its customers.
It’s what makes them stand out in a sea of competitors and helps customers connect with them on a personal level.
In fact, Harvard Business Review show that an emotional connection is even more important than customer satisfaction in building brand loyalty. After all, people prefer to buy from brands they know, like, and trust.
But developing a strong brand voice isn't easy, and it's important to find the right branding agency to help you achieve your goals.
Luckily, we're here to guide you in the right direction!
In this blog, you’ll find everything you need to know about defining your own strong brand voice and, by the end of it, you’ll be well on your way to building a strong brand style capable of driving brand loyalty and increasing customer lifetime value (and we all know what that means - more honey, more money!).
At The Branded, we offer expert consulting services to help businesses establish a clear and compelling brand voice that resonates with their target audience.
Our team of creative digital marketing agency professionals is dedicated to helping small businesses and startups succeed from the very beginning.
Whether you're just starting out or looking to take your branding efforts to the next level, we can help you achieve your goals.
So why wait?
Contact us today to book a consultation and get started on the path to success.
What You Are vs. How You Say It:
Brand Voice vs Brand Tone
In the world of marketing, one of the most important things to do is find your own brand voice.
A brand voice defines the personality of your company, and it can set you apart from competitors.
When building a brand, it is important to know the difference between your ‘brand voice’ and ‘brand tone’:
Brand Voice: Represents your brand’s unique personality and the values you stand for.
It can vary from being motivational (e.g. Nike) to playful (e.g. Snickers).
Brand Tone: The way your brand chooses to communicate, which depends on each situation and context.
You may have a distinct personality which is essential to who you are, but your everyday interactions and the way you talk to different people most likely won’t be the same.
Even if you are a cheerful, bubbly person in general, you most probably aren’t going to talk to the cashier at the grocery store in the same tone you do with your husband at home.
The same way works for brands–while your overall brand voice needs to be consistent, how you speak and communicate would be adjusted to suit a specific audience or type of content. Since it makes up the fabric of personality, your brand voice will trickle down to EVERYTHING you pump out be it emails, visuals and even jingles.
What Makes A Powerful Brand Voice?
Your brand voice is something that can be difficult to maintain. It needs constant work in order for the brand to thrive and inspire trust from customers.
While people usually think of creating a brand logo or a slogan when it comes to starting a brand, a great branding strategy also looks at bringing your business to life with a unique story, one that inspires people to connect with what you're doing. Here your brand voice matters… a lot.
Your brand voice should be defined by how you want people to think about your company and its products or services.
This should not just be an outward-facing element.
It's also inward-focused, meaning everything within your organization–from corporate culture to employee attitudes–needs to reflect the defined brand voice to come across as authentic to potential customers.
Let’s take a look at some brands that have successfully and authentically defined their brand voice to fit their overall branding and brand style.
Successful Brand Voice Examples
What is a brand voice? For Nike: Inspirational & Powerful
Nike has always been known for its inspirational tone of voice, powerful slogans and inspirational imagery. Its slogan "Just do it" is deeply ingrained in the minds of not just athletes, but also anyone who needs an extra push to achieve their goals.
For decades their slogan and logo have stood for athleticism, competition, winning - anything but giving up. Nike’s brand voice is so recognizable, that it's difficult to think of a company with more cohesive messaging. From its mission statement all the way down to product descriptions, Nike has created a brand identity that customers have come to recognize and appreciate.
At The Branded, we can help you build or redefine your brand identity, too. Defining your brand voice and brand tone can be challenging to put into words. As a full-service digital agency built for the next generation, we’re here to help you launch, grow, and scale your business.
What is a brand voice? For Disney: Enchanting, Pure Magic
With the slogan, “Where dreams come true" and fantastical designs, Disney has become synonymous with creating enchanting experiences.
At any Disney theme park, you can find every element of design reinforcing this brand voice and personality - from Cinderella’s castle to out-of-this-world roller coaster rides, it doesn't take long for guests to feel like they've left behind reality.
Everything about Disney leaves a brand impression that lasts from childhood to when you’re old and grey. The love for the Disney brand is passed down from generation to generation, building brand loyalty that is so familiar and recognizable it has become unbreakable.
What is a brand voice? For Dove: Empowering Real, Unfiltered Beauty
Dove positions itself as empowering women everywhere to find beauty in whatever size, shape or form. The brand strives to raise awareness on body positivity, a breath of fresh air from other beauty and self-care companies that for years have only covered a narrow range of beauty standards: straight, silky hair and smooth, milky skin, all treated with a heavy-handed Photoshop brush.
Over the years, Dove has successfully employed a brand voice similar to that of a calm, loving big sister. It speaks loud and clear on all mediums they cover from billboards featuring models of all sizes and colours to social media campaigns advocating for self-esteem education.
What is a brand voice? For Dollar Shave Club: Direct, Funny & Relatable
First entering the market by delivering their “F*cking Great Blades” campaign, Dollar Shave Club has a down-to-earth and humorous approach to their brand, refreshing in comparison to the more formal, tech-driven tone of other overpriced shaving brands.
They got one insight right: men don’t really give too much thought when it comes to buying things like shavers and shaving creams. All they want is a product that can do the job right with as little fuss as possible.
Their brand voice comes across painlessly simple and relates to the everyday man - just tell it like it is.
We can capture the right brand voice for your business, too. As a Digital Marketing and Branding Agency, we love getting creative!
What is a brand voice? For Coca-Cola: Friendship & Happiness
Coke is a pioneer with consistent branding. Their brand voice is embodied by values of friendship and happiness, and each marketing campaign is accompanied by imagery of families and friends getting together and sharing memories.
The takeaway is clear: Coca-Cola is more than just a drink. It tells stories, evokes feelings and connections with its audience in ways that words alone can't accomplish.
The brand has been capturing moments of shared joy for over 100 years as the world changes around them by using effective messaging campaigns to connect consumers across different generations who share these experiences.
Of course, take note that Coke is at a mature stage in the product life cycle - the market is incredibly saturated yet they still manage to dominate it. Coke’s strategy is successful in tapping into the minds of consumers and delivering new life to an established product.
These companies have all attained great success through their branding strategies.
Though the consistent and appropriate definition of voice and tone is generally essential for every company, it's important to know your market situation before properly formulating a brand strategy that will reach audiences in an effective way.
5 Steps To Define Your Powerful Brand Voice
If you’re ready to start defining a brand voice that suits your company and what it stands for, here are 5 steps you can take today.
Look at your target audience
In order to know what to say and how to say it, you first need to define who you’re speaking to. Ask yourself:
Who is your target audience? What is their age, profession, motivation? Cover both demographics and psychographics.
What are their desires and frustrations when it comes to your product or service?
Why would they want your product or service?
How can your product or service help them in a way your competitors can’t?
Brainstorm Internally
Just like how Apple’s brand voice is synonymous with Steve Jobs and Disney’s with good ol’ Walt, the key to finding your brand voice is to channel the founders and its closest employees. No one will have a more authentic one than you and the people who work with you.
So bring together the founders and a few trusty employees and answer a few questions:
What are your brand’s core values?
What problem will your product or service solve?
If your brand was a person, describe him/her in three words
Do A Content Audit
Take a look at everything you’ve published so far. From social media content to pitch decks, note if there is a specific voice that comes across, even if you didn’t intend it to.
Is your brand friendly, or is it authoritative? Is it inspirational or perhaps relatable?
Look at top-performing content to analyze which sort of personality and tone your current audience gravitates towards.
Create A Brand Voice Chart
This is where you put your research and ideas down to paper and start illustrating your brand voice. A brand voice chart will be a fundamental reference document to ensure every piece of content and communication piece you push out is consistently using the same voice.
A brand voice chart typically contains:
Your brand’s core values
The brand personality or voice you want to display
Do’s and don’ts in your communications
Check out this brand voice chart we did for Saint Perry, a fashion brand client that’s all about exuding confidence:
To read up more on how to define your brand voice and other examples of brand voice charts, here is a brand voice guideline. But if you’re like Saint Perry and would rather leave it to the experts (can’t blame ‘em!), reach out to us, and let us map out your brand voice for you. We’re the Best Branding Agency around.
Review & Refresh Regularly!
As your brand evolves or as new competition enters the marketplace, it’s good to revisit your chart and refresh it if needed. Quarterly check-ups allow you to keep an eye out for new competitors or trends and can help you adapt quickly before any issues come up.
In other words: don't be afraid of making edits!
Like your first relationship that was based on overt romantic gestures and teen angst, it's important not to stick with something that isn't working as well anymore just because it was what you started out with.
If you notice anything that's been less successful or more aspirational than possible, then take action.
Find Your Brand Voice & Speak Up
To end with, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
Don’t force it. If you feel like your brand is forcing itself to sound and look a certain way, then that isn’t your authentic brand voice!
Don’t copy someone else’s voice. Just because it works for them doesn’t mean it will for you - dive down deeper until you find your true voice.
You can’t be everything to everyone. Some people won’t like what you have to say, and that’s perfectly fine! The only opinion that matters are from those who will be willing to part with their money in exchange for your product or service.
In the same way that a person's voice is more than just their words, the "voice" of your company goes beyond what you say. It also includes how customers perceive and interact with everything from marketing materials to customer service policies - all dependent on whether they trust us or not.
A brand voice that strikes customer loyalty is one that is clear, recognizable and authentic. If you want your business success to be long-term, stick to defining a brand voice that aligns with why people should put their time, money and faith into you.
Interested in knowing more about how to brainstorm effectively to find your brand voice? Reach out to our creative branding agency and let us do the bulk of the work for you (we’ll get the coffee).