How to find your brand voice

We all know logos visually represent a company, but they’re far from the only thing that has to capture a brand’s essence. 

Brand voice is how you speak to your audience. It’s the attitude, style, and tone broadcasted to the world every time you communicate through words. 

As readers, we instinctively know when we like a brand’s voice or not. We also notice when they’re inconsistent or if they’re faking it. 

You can throw around a slogan, but you can’t copy and paste voice. It’s more than catchphrases and style choices (though that can certainly be part of it). A strong brand voice goes much deeper than that. It should be a reflection of your brand’s core values and the unique selling points that come along with that.

In most cases, once you’re aligned on all those fronts, your voice will come pretty naturally.

So, how do you start pin-pointing your brand voice?

With a little heart and soul, of course.

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Heart

By Heart, I mean your Purpose, Mission, Values, and the Brand Story that helps link it all together.

Here are some key questions to ask yourself to get at the heart of your brand voice.

Purpose

• Literally, what’s the point? Why does your business exist?

• What problem(s) are you trying to solve?

• What’s your one-of-a-kind offer that makes your purpose necessary? 

Mission

• What does your ideal future look like?

• How do you intend to achieve that future? What the heck is your action plan?

• How is it different from the competition’s? 

Values

• What are your core beliefs and how do they affect how you work?

• What standards do you uphold in all your products or services?

• How are they unique to your industry? 

Story

Here I go again talking about stories. But seriously, your brand story creates a link between your purpose, mission, and values. Use storytelling to craft memorable backstories that people can immediately identify. 

Ask yourself:

• What struggles or events took place to inspire your company’s creation?

• What happened that made you want to challenge the status quo and create a different future for your clients?

I was listening to No Stupid Questions, a podcast by Freakanomics Radio. There was recently an episode called “Why Are Stories Stickier Than Statistics?”. One study that stuck out was “the identifiable victim effect”. 

The study showed that a “single individual’s story is more compelling than a group of people with the same need”.

Before you “@” me about the power of statistics, hold on. Statistics are also an amazing way to compel people and you should think about where you can use them too. But, when it comes to crafting your brand voice, storytelling gets at the root of things better.

For example, say your brand’s purpose is to help reduce the percentage of women who suffer with body image issues. But what’s the individual story behind why you got interested in that stat?

This doesn’t mean we need to read your entire life story on every web page and in every piece of content... The odd anecdote in the right place will work wonders.

But if you can keep that backstory in mind, it’ll help you get to the heart of your brand voice.

Take Katniss Everdeen. Before she was “The Girl on Fire”, she was the daughter of a deceased coal miner who envisioned a future where the young weren’t killed for entertainment. When her sister was enlisted to join the Hunger Games, Katniss made a statement by volunteering as tribute to take her sister’s place.

Everyone knows that.

You might not be a bow and arrow slinging warrior from an apocalyptic future, but you’ve got a story. Make it known. Make it part of your brand voice—weave it into your purpose, mission, and values when appropriate. 

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Soul

By soul, I mean the Language, Tone, and Tempo your brand voice uses. The personality behind it.

Questions to think about:

• What terminology do you use? What are your go-to words, phrases, and references?

• Are you formal or more casual?

• Are you fun and light or passionate and serious? 

• Are you fast talking and intense or relaxed and subdued?

• Do you use more short staccato sentences or longer, slower sentences? (You should use a mix but is there one you’re more partial to?)

Start by thinking of 3 to 5 adjectives to describe your brand’s terminology, pacing, and tone. Then, come up with do’s and don’t for each as a guideline for expressing the voice.  

You can also make a list of specific words you use regularly along with a list of reasons why, when, and how to use them. If you have multiple people on staff in charge of expressing the brand, make sure everyone is crystal clear on what that means. 

Treat your personality like salt

Use personality—the soul of your brand voice—to create deep, but balanced flavour.

First, don’t sacrifice results for personality. If you dump in a shit ton of salt, you’ll completely mask everything else about the dish. It needs to balance with the other elements of your copy to be effective.

So don’t just focus on the quirky terminology your brand is known for. You’ve also got to utilize strategic wording that persuades your audience to make the move you want them to (subscribe to your email list, follow you on Instagram, book a service, buy a product, etc.).

Second, incorporate your brand’s personality from the get-go. You want to inject depth of flavour, so you need to season from within at every step of the writing process—not throw in a couple sprinkles at the end. 

I.e.: Don’t merely drop in a few catch phrases and go-to words after you’ve drafted all your copy. It won’t come across as authentic.

Just ask my cooking/writing idol, Samin Nosrat.

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Hopefully this gets you thinking about how to craft a memorable brand voice. If you have questions, I’d love to hear from you in my DM’s!

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