How to write in a brand voice
A unique brand voice helps your business stand out from the competition and connect with your audience. But when you have a lot of people writing for you, it can be difficult to keep that voice consistent across all content.
In this article, I’ll share tips on how to set clear tone-of-voice guidelines, teach your team to follow them, and check how well you’re doing.
The reward? Customers will recognize your business more easily and feel more connected to it.
1. Find your brand’s voice
Before we dive into tools and training, let’s first figure out what your tone of voice is.
- First, find out what sets your voice apart. Think of words that describe your brand’s personality. Also think about how you want people to see you. Do you want to appear authoritative, relaxed, optimistic and analytical? Make a list of adjectives that summarize the emotions and qualities you want to convey.
- Review your current content. Look for common styles, tones, and word choices. Are there any phrases that really sound like your brand? For example, Microsoft describes his voice as “clear and clear,” “ready to help,” and “warm and relaxed.”
Highlight sections of your content that exemplify your ideal tone.
Make a list of the most important parts of your voice. A list helps writers understand what to aim for and gives you feedback on how well the content fits your brand voice.
Consider typical sentence structure, active and passive voice, use of idioms or cultural references, and emotional feelings.
2. Give writers the tools they need
When you have the right tools, it’s easier to write in your brand’s voice. So prepare your writers for success.
Equip your team members with the resources they need to write in your company’s tone. Make a detailed one Copy style guide This includes any special words you use, ways to format text, and basic writing rules. Give specific examples of how you can use your voice in different contexts, such as: B. on social media, in long articles and in video scripts.
Share good and not so good writing examples. Use your voice list to point out why these samples hit or miss the mark. Present outstanding content in a common area so authors can easily reference it. Comment on examples to illustrate exactly how they embody your ideal tone of voice.
Create templates, editorial calendars, and word lists that fit your voice. For example, add commonly used verbs and adjectives to bring your tone to life. Make sure these tools are easy to find and use. You could set up a central repository, such as a shared drive, where authors can access the resources at any time.
3. Provide training and ensure collaboration
Having the right tools is one thing, using them effectively is another. Through training and collaboration, you ensure your team members are on the same page.
- Host workshops to talk about your voice and the tools you develop. Let writers ask questions so they understand the why behind the voice, not just the how. A consistent tone of voice starts with buy-in from your content creators. Consider breaking into small groups to analyze the tone of the sample copy.
- Provide feedback that helps writers set the right tone. Instead of setting strict rules up front, let them play around with the voice. Celebrate when they succeed. If they miss something, work together to find the right tone. Feedback should enlighten and reinforce, not criticize.
- Have team members review each other’s work. You can point out how well the content fits the tone of the company. Celebrate great examples and learn from the not-so-great ones. Stay on top of when and how your policies meaningfully guide decisions. Peer reviews encourage collaboration and strengthen your tone of voice standards.
- Host regular refreshers on your language policies. Reach out to your team from time to time to answer questions and share new examples. If you keep track of your tone of voice, consistency will become second nature. You could try it playful training with competitions – for example, to adapt text examples to your tone of voice.
4. Measure the consistency of the brand voice
How do we know if we are on the right path? Regular check-ins help ensure our brand voice remains consistent.
- Review your content from time to time to see how well it fits your company’s tone of voice. For example, you can check tone, terminology, and sentence length. Get input from your entire team to identify areas for improvement and track how compliance changes over time.
- Ask readers if your content sounds consistent. External feedback via surveys and interviews can reveal issues you may not have noticed. You could evaluate the quality of your content using studies that assess perceived brand attributes before and after implementing language policies.
- Look at reader engagement data. Analytics can reveal whether your tone of voice resonates with your audience. But don’t just rely on numbers. Maintaining a consistent voice is about teamwork, not just checking boxes.
- Consider using AI tools to analyze your writing. New machine learning models like ChatGPT can evaluate various dimensions like sentiment and complexity to quantify how your content meets your guidelines. However, the results may be inconsistent. Therefore, always check them from a human perspective.
- Reconsider and refine your tone of voice as necessary. Your policies are not set in stone. As your brand evolves, your tone and language should evolve too. Gather team feedback to determine when and how to update your opinion – perhaps once a year.
* * *
With these four steps, you can ensure your content speaks with a clear voice – and your audience will feel more connected to you because they always know it’s you they’re hearing.
More brand voice resources
Win in B2B Content by Finding Your Brand Voice: Ahava Leibtag on Marketing Smarts (Podcast)
Six ways to maintain your brand voice while using freelancers
Developing Your Brand Voice: Three Keys to Killer Messaging