A Complete Guide to Finding and Using Your Brand Voice
The majority of the way your brand communicates is through your words. These words may be written—on your website or in social media posts; or verbal—when you interact with customers or prospects in person or on the phone. What you say and how you say it has a significant impact on how your brand is perceived.
It can be challenging for small business owners to define their brand voice. That’s why Branding Compass is so valuable for its ability to guide this decision. Read on to learn how to start developing your brand voice and use it to strengthen your overall branding approach.
What is your brand’s voice?
A brand voice breaks down into three main components: vocabulary, style, and content. The words you choose, how you say them, and the topics you prefer to talk about will shape your brand forever.
Your brand’s voice reflects your brand’s personality, which makes the words you choose essential. How you communicate these words is just as important as the words themselves. The type of things your brand talks, writes, or posts about will also impact its voice. With the importance of social media, email, and digital communication in successfully marketing your business, your brand’s voice takes on added significance. Our first Brand Voice featured blog gives you a deeper explanation of brand voice and its overall importance.
Develop your brand voice
- Think of your brand as a person
- Separate your voice from your brand’s voice
- Create consistency
- Think beyond words
- Take a cue from the competition
Personal voice or corporate Voice?
As the owner and face of a company, you need to make several decisions about writing and communicating. As a small business owner (and maybe your only employee), you likely have questions about whether you should have a personal voice or a more corporate voice.
Here are a few questions that we help you answer from part three of the brand voice series that breaks down the key differences between a personal voice and a corporate voice and which one is best for you:
- Should you post under your personal account or as a business on social media?
- Should you use the pronoun ‘I’ or ‘we’ when you describe your business?
- How close is your business brand to your personal brand?
Words and tone affect your brand image
To close out the Brand Voice series, our Founder, Emily Brackett, created a video to tell you more about how your words and tone are an extension of your brand voice and how they also affect your brand image.
Watch this to see and hear a real-life example of how two different business owners might take two different approaches to develop their unique brand voice.
How Branding Compass will guide you to develop your brand voice
Your Branding Compass report will include three charts that can help you get on the right track as you develop your brand voice:
- The word cloud shows you the words you are using right now when you talk about your brand. It’s a good way to self-assess if you emphasize the right vocabulary, style, and content.
- The brand alignment chart will tell you what words will attract your ideal clients and what words will turn them off!
- The key messages chart tells you what type of details your prospects want to hear before purchasing from you.
Make sure you choose a Comprehensive license to get all of these helpful insights in your final report.
Start building your brand
Begin developing a brand voice the easy way when you start your Branding Compass workbook. You’ll get expert, customized insights and help find the best words and the right tone to build your overall brand.
Free, 7-day brand-building course
Not sure where to start? Sign up now for our FREE 7-day educational program delivered right to your inbox.
