How to create a brand’s tone of voice

It can be a challenge to define your brand’s communication language and tone. That’s why we have outlined the process for you step by step. And what’s more: we show you how to create complete, brand-specific and useful editorial guidelines. 

This article answers these questions:  

– What is tone of voice? 

– What are the benefits of defining it?  

– How to create your tone of voice?  

– How to effectively compile editorial guidelines so that your organization gets your message?  

– How to compile editorial guidelines so that your organization gets the message effectively?

What is a brand’s tone of voice?

Tone of voice (ToV) is the language a company uses to communicate with its audience. It reaches beyond the written word since it also covers the spoken language that customers hear in voice messages (videos, tutorials or podcasts). Some say that consistent language and tone of communication (the brand voice) applies to every type of interaction, so do not limit it to content marketing or social media posts. On the one hand, a company communicates its values and vision to its target audience. On the other hand, the target audience accepts the message (or not!). Your language and its tone – or tone of voice – will determine whether the audience will recognize your company and accept its identity as you intend.  

Do words have power?

Choosing the right language and tone for your brand voice is fundamental if you want your communication to bring the intended benefits and help achieve goals. When creating a brand image, the focus is often mainly on the aesthetics and visual part of marketing materials (e-book, landing page, flyer, T&Cs) or social media visibility. However, this is only part of building a communication strategy. If you want customers to associate you with a specific way of communicating, you need word power. You need your texts to walk the walk. You can showcase your tone of voice even in a case study. 

Check our article for some tips on writing a convincing case study.

Take UX writers. They know words do have power. In a presentation titled How Words Can Make Your Product Stand Out, content strategist Maggie Stanphill revealed a simple trick that radically changed the way hotels are searched on Google. The phrase ‘book a room’ proved intimidating for search engine users. It was too early for them to make a reservation at that point. Maggie and her team opted for ‘check availability’. That was it. Most people first simply want to check their options. A rewording directly translated into high conversion increases in stores or online platforms.

In this article, we will highlight the criteria for a tone of voice tailored to both your needs and your target user criteria. We will also show the importance of including tone of voice in your company’s communication strategy. You will learn how to compile editorial guidelines for your brand language and tone.

Take UX writers. They know words have power. In a presentation titled “How Words Can Make Your Product Stand Out”, content strategist Maggie Stanphill revealed a simple trick that radically changed the search for hotels on Google. The phrase “book a room” proved intimidating for search engine users. It was too early for them to make a reservation at that point. Maggie and her team opted for ‘check availability’. That was it. First, most people simply want to check their options. This rewording translated directly into high conversion increases in stores and online platforms.  

In this article, we highlight the criteria for a tone of voice that is tailored both to your needs and your target user criteria. We also show the importance of including tone of voice in your company’s communication strategy. You will also learn how to compile editorial guidelines for your brand language and tone.  

Tone of voice – why do I need it?

Properly defined tone of voice, or one that is specific and precise, will bring a number of benefits to your company.

1. Tone of voice impresses customers and improves your brand perception.

Your business is constantly being evaluated. Customers, also potential ones, analyze (even subconsciously) every word or term they come across. Your brand’s unique language and tone is a showcase for your business. It builds a positive image, persuades people to use your products or service and it enables prospective clients to make purchase decision in your favor. .

2. Tone of voice is the gatekeeper of clear and consistent communication.

Customers interact with many people in your organization before they make a purchase. They go through a myriad of materials: from social media advertising, through website content, to customer service emails. Clear and understandable language and tone helps organize all this content so you have a clear and consistent approach to the customer at every stage of the interaction. One tone. One company. 

3. Tone of voice is the common language of all departments.

The more staff, the more difficult it becomes to remain consistent in your communication. Different people have different styles, preferences and experiences. A consistent, jointly developed language and tone of brand communication is a work to which everyone has contributed. Everyone agrees on the outcome of their common effort. Every new marketing piece or every new website matches your tone of voice. From now on, everyone knows ‘what’ and ‘how’ to write. 

4. Tone of voice boosts work and drives business.

Why? Because it inspires interaction and encourages questions. It proves to be a remarkable improvement when it comes to designing, developing and producing content. It gives a framework to advertising efforts and gives an edge in marketing, sales and any other area. 

The right choice of brand language and tone: the starting point

All company content must ‘speak’ in a consistent language and tone. To this end, you need to analyze who your audience is. You need different approach to young people and to seniors. You’ll reach young moms with different communication than men interested in construction and DIY. 

Another consideration is mirroring

You are aware that blog, linkbuilding, social media, newsletters or YouTube are completely different channels. Each requires a different form of communication and features a specific set of rules. However, each should be aligned with your company’s specific tone of voice. 

Nielsen Norman Group experts have identified 4 key tones of voice: 
– humor, 
– formality, 
– respectfulness, 
– enthusiasm. 

Each has its own characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. However, they form the basis you can build the tone of voice of your business on. It might be good to consciously choose the one that best reflects the nature of your organization.

Language and tone of brand communication: what actually matters? It all depends on your goal!

Funny or serious, formal or casual? How to ‘talk’ to the recipient? It all depends on the form and objectives of your business. It is important to choose words that fit the image of your business and differentiate you from the competition. Engage the user and grab their attention. 

For example, a housing cooperative should address its members and tenants in a serious and matter-of-fact tone while avoiding newspeak. On the other hand, a company that sells children’s toys can be humorous in its brand communication. 

We tend to address corporate customers formally: “We apologize for the technical problem with the server”. The same issue might be communicated in a simpler message to an individual: “Sorry, but we have a problem with the server”. This might work well especially if you want to position as a user-friendly service provider rather than a major and global organization.  

The tone of brand communication is also about emotions

Respect or a note of arrogance? Does your company take a respectful and subdued approach? Or does it take an ‘over the top’ approach in an effort to stand out from the competition?  

Is the tone enthusiastic or matter-of-fact? If you want to evoke emotions in the recipient, you yourself must trigger them. When you want to put out ‘fires’ however, speak to the customer in a firm but calm manner. 

Friendly communication and the desire to create conversational interaction with users must not overshadow the context of your content. So, if the goal of the user interface is conversion, being too conversational can have an adverse effect. A study by Torrey Podmajersky, author of Strategic Writing for UX, found that users were significantly more willing to click on calls to action (CTAs) that consisted of up to two words. 

How do you define the language and tone of your brand communication?

Step 1: Your brand and competitors in the spotlight

Some questions just need to be asked. Is your brand playful or serious? Dreamy or pragmatic? An effective ToV requires good understanding of your DNA. Have you listed the values you want to build communication on? Are they reflected in your communication? Does your communication support the image you want to build? Are you clearly communicating the image to your audience?

Take a look at how competitors or brands that inspire you communicate. Choose brands with very clear and distinctive communications (like Adobe, Google Cloud) for comparison. See what you can use and what you need to avoid.

Step 2: Research your customers

Enough talking about yourself. It’s your customers that matter, right? What will they appreciate? Seriousness, humor, facts or storytelling? You need to know how your brand will most effectively reach customers and build your image. Don’t lose track of your limitations: you cannot always say everything. Don’t ignore common sense, red flags from lawyers or the concerns of your staff. Remember that your tone of voice is a joint effort and everyone needs to getit. 

Step 3: Say a lot, but in your own way

The brand speaks for itself! Avoid clichés like “we put people first” or “the environment is an important part of our actions” – any brand can put that on their posters. You need to get to the bottom of your organization. Discover what is at its heart. Establish the foundation for building your image. A practical exercise might help: imagine your brand as a person. What qualities does it have? What about the flaws? Does it have an interesting story to tell? How does it behave?  

Editorial guidelines – a sound knowledge base and a reference point

You can never have too many guidelines when building a tone of voice. You need guidelines that are written down, specific and accessible to all stakeholders: staff, journalists, PR agencies, translators. Editorial guidelines are a reference point and robust knowledge base. At Contelia, we stress the importance of knowledge sharing at every step in an organization. Even the smartest tone of voice will be ignored due to staff turnover or a change in the agency your company works with – unless it is compiled and accessible. 

Good editorial guidelines include:  

– the context and challenges of either creating a tone of voice or updating it, 

– the main features and qualifiers of your communications, which should be consistently and skillfully incorporated into all content – to achieve a clear and consistent brand image, 

– rules for using tone of voice: how it should be used, how to apply it across channels, etc.,  

– specific language recommendations: words to avoid, preferred terminology, titling, sentence length, etc.,  

– examples of ‘before’ and ‘after’: this is always memorable and streamlines work or onboarding for newcomers. 

Exemple: Guide to tone of voice Monzo

A great example of how to approach creating and then (just as importantly) maintaining a chosen language and tone of communication is Monzo bank. It considers tone of voice so important that it shares information on the subject with its customers. 

Monzo has posted a mini-guide on its communications page. Every customer – current and future – can learn how the bank intends to “speak” to them. Such information is usually contained in internal documents or on the organization’s intranet. Monzo opted to show how it intends to live up to its values. Not only does it say that it is a modern and bold brand, but it also shows this by boldly sharing information considered “internal” in some organizations. It proves that it is a consistent brand: one language, one tone. For everyone: customers and employees alike.  

Here’s what Monzo has to say:

“We’ve opened this up to the world as well (hello world! 🌍), because we want to be held up to the lofty standards we set ourselves here. We believe in everything we’ve said, so if you see us falling short then please let us know.”

“The words we put on screen and paper are one of the most important ways we have of showing people what we stand for. Not just our marketing, but all our terms and conditions, every chat with us, all the nooks and crannies in our app, and how we communicate with each other on the inside. Every word adds up to people’s perception of who we are […].”

Do you need a tone-of-voice expert?

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Developing a consistent brand language is a time-consuming task, but it is extremely important. It’s how you gain the trust and appreciation of your target audience and it’s how you represent your brand. 

At Contelia, we will support you in developing your tone of voice and in producing expert content that matches it. Together, we can reach audiences at different levels. Contact us to see what we do for you, no strings attached.