Tone of voice: give your brand an identity| iO

Tone of voice: more than a style element

A brand’s tone of voice is similar to someone’s personality. It’s not about what you say but just as much about how you say it and what you stand for. Your tone of voice goes beyond style – it embodies your identity. After all, as a person, your personality shifts depending on the situation and the person you are talking to.

A clear difference in Microsoft’s tone of voice vs. Dropbox’s.

By outlining a tone of voice for your brand, you create a common thread to use so you can speak from the same personality across all channels (on- and offline, from big pieces of text to microcopy).

By being consistent, people get a clear image of your brand, trust you more easily, and connect to you more easily. After all, as a brand, you want to build a relationship with (potential) customers. On a website or app, you can create that relationship by talking to your users. How that will sound and the emotion you will evoke when you do so are essential elements to consider beforehand.

Talk the talk, walk the walk

Compare the copy on your website, app, social media, etc., with the ideal representative of your brand. To come across as credible, that person should say the right things and sound sincere. If there is a difference between the words you share and the message or sentiment behind them, people will grow suspicious and become less inclined to believe you.

An example:

Let’s say your company focuses strongly on innovation – in terms of products, way of working, and customer rapport. Your approach is hands-on, you have a youthful outlook on things, and you are always one step ahead of the competition. And then you share lines like “Please enter your email address so that we can send you our monthly newsletter.” Something’s not right. You may say you’re innovative, but your message tells me something else.

Define your target audience and the relationship you want to build with them

When it comes to your tone of voice, your personality must match your message. But there is a third thing you need to remember. Your target audience. Some questions you should ask yourself:

Who do you want to reach? Think of age, gender, education level, place of residence, etc.

What do they need, and which challenges do they face? Your service or product should make their lives easier (i.e. they have dry skin).

What are their wishes and dreams? What do they want to achieve by buying your product? (i.e. hydrated skin).

Check why your target audience wouldn’t engage with your services or product. What are their doubts? (i.e. they have questions about the ingredients).

Once you can answer those questions, you can address your audience in a more personal way, create content that fits their needs and write calls to action that are more effective.

Finally, define the kind of relationship you want to build. Do you want to be friends and get to their level or do you want to be a mentor or a salesman? Don’t patronise them, though. That would mean you are confirm shaming, a dark pattern used to convince users to act by tapping into their sense of guilt.

Your users are the best copywriters

Before I put us out of business, take this with a grain of salt. You should emulate the way your target audience tends to speak. Find out which words they use and how they write when they speak about your brand or something relevant to your brand. Do that by checking your emails and DMs, your reviews, online communities where people speak about you, etc.

Does that mean I have to sound the same all the time?

Being consistent doesn’t mean your copy needs to sound the same all the time. As I said before, you can compare a tone of voice to someone’s personality. You know when to joke or be serious. A tone spectrum with two extremes to stick to whenever certain touchpoints cross your path can help you.

The tone spectrum above demonstrates, among other things, how someone subscribing to the newsletter will be welcomed with a light-hearted and informal email. Has a user skipped an essential step while installing the app? Then they would get a notification about that in a more serious tone. The extremes of your tone spectrum and (the placement of) your touchpoints are different for every brand.

Better late than never

The quicker you can set a tone of voice and apply it, the better. Your copy will be more consistent, and everything will feel more cohesive instead of a bunch of pieces stuck together in whichever way suited you at the time. However, better late than never! You are not at all doomed if you haven’t set a tone of voice for your business from the very start.

About the author

Nicki Sannen

Senior Copywriter - iO

Growing up with a love for languages, Nicki is right at home in the exciting field of copywriting. As a writer herself, as well as head of a team of copywriters and content marketeers - offering inspiration and guidance on the daily. Never at a loss for words, always on the winning team.

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