As the head of your company, it is a daunting task for your CEO to decide where and how to allocate...
How do you go about defining your brand's tone of voice? Start, by thinking about your customers. Once you understand them, you can then consider the things you need to include to help you engage. Use this 5-step process to create your brands perfect tone.
Your business' tone of voice is how your company portrays itself.
Tone of voice refers to how your company 'speaks' in brand messages, packaging, website copy, emails and social media. Creating the perfect tone of voice helps you engage with your customers.
There are many questions you need to answer when creating your business' voice but it's important you first start with your audience. Once you understand them, you can create the right voice.
1) Understand your audience
Who is your market audience? Who are the people who will be looking to buy your products or services? Consider their gender, their age and their ambitions. The tone of your business' voice needs to engage with your market demographic.
1b) Create Buyer Personas
To get a better understanding of your audience, create profiles of your ideal customers. Having Buyer Personas gives you an in-depth study about your audiences and helps you understand what they like to engage with and their personal motivations. This will help you personalise your tone of voice for each type of customer you have to work with.
2) What are your promises and core values? Define them
Now you know who your audience is, it's time to incorporate your brand's values into your tone of voice. Ask yourself, what are your brand's values?
Does your business promise an improved service to help people stay safe at work? Does your company aim to give their customers the best beauty and fashion styles? If you are a law company offering advice on criminal law, your tone of voice can't be jokey and nonchalant, it will have to be professional and show they are a trustworthy business.
In any advertisement, promotion or packaging, a person should be able to understand your business' core values. Make it clear in your content.
3) Show personality and be human!
Your tone of voice needs personality. When people are interacting with your business they are technically interacting with a metaphorical person who has goals and ambitions too.
If the content on your website is bland and lacks emotional tone, customers aren't going to have a memorable experience. Make your tone of voice engaging and use second person pronouns to address your reader directly.
4) Have a balance
Your business is trying to make money so naturally a lot of your content will sound 'salesy'. Find the perfect balance between your business' personality and sales language. Customers should be able to engage with the voice of your company and feel like they have been encouraged along the Buyer's Journey rather than being harassed by sales cliches.
5) Tone of voice needs to change along the Buyer's Journey
At the different stages of the Buyer's Journey, your tone of voice should adapt and differ depending on what they are trying to do. Segment different parts of the journey and determine what tone of voice your customers will engage with best as they progress along.
How can I create the perfect tone for my business?
With these five key elements in mind, you can create a tone of voice that will help you engage with your customers and help build the image of your brand.
Take some time to research your customers and consider what voice they are most receptive to before deciding what voice best represents you. Create strategies with your copywriters to ensure your tone is fluent and consistent throughout your brand's marketing. Customers want to engage with brands that are consistent with their messages because it shows they are are trustworthy and reliable.
Get started creating the perfect tone of voice for your business by creating Buyer Personas. Download the FREE template to help you understand your audience better.
What else do you think is important when creating the perfect tone of voice? Tell us in the comments below.
