Whether you know it or not, companies have a voice. It is a crucial part of their branding that you may not notice until it is pointed out. For example, a luxury car company’s commercial sounds vastly different than that of a local used car dealership. The key is finding a voice that aligns with your company’s values. In this article, I discuss the importance of your voice as well as how to find it.
What is Voice
Your voice is the personification of your branding, which is a reflection of your core values. How you talk to your current and potential customers greatly influences how they feel about your company. In a fun exercise, I asked companies to imagine who their spokesperson would be. This would often point to the personality they wish to portray, and thus the company’s voice. Whatever your trick is, find your voice and consistently apply it to your products.
Why Voice Matters
Your company’s voice is one of the few ways you can distinguish yourself in your space. Your brand colors and logo are part of your visual language. But your voice is your written and spoken language. When your voice aligns with your branding and company’s values, it sends a very strong and clear message to your customers. That clarity enhances your trustworthiness and credibility.
Voice vs Tone
Does determining a company voice limit what you can say? The answer is “It depends”. If you have children, you know that how you are talking with them often depends on the situation. Praising a child for a good report card sounds different than scolding them for writing on a newly painted wall. Likewise, an error message should sound different than a marketing email. The catch is that you are still speaking with the same voice. Your grammar, vocabulary, and messaging should still be the same. I will cover tone in later articles and help you connect it with all areas of your business.
Determine Your Voice
While I cannot find your company’s voice, you can use the answers to these questions as a starting point. Use the answers to make some tough decisions about the direction of your brand. The next time you make a design decision, ask how you can better align with these answers.
- What does your ideal customer look like?
- What does your typical customer need?
- What will your customers need 1, 3, or 5 years from now?
- How are you uniquely poised to meet those needs?
- Which areas does your business focus on?
- Which areas have you decided not to serve?
- What areas of your business have the most opportunity?
- What areas of your business are the most stable?
- What is a common concern across those areas you can address?
- What is your biggest competitive advantage?
- What is your company’s biggest weakness?
- How are you addressing that weakness?
- What, if any, areas of your business do you joke about?
- How formal or conversational do you sound when talking with customers?
- What do you dislike about your current branding?
- Who would you want to be your company’s spokesperson?
- How would you want them to talk to your customers?
Example
I have done this with a few companies and the results are always interesting. As you walk through your questions with yourself and/or senior leadership, some quotes will jump out at you. Below is an example
“We want to be seen as a high school teacher, knowledgeable but not arrogant. We should sound like a mix of Morgan Freeman and Brian (leader of the sales team), wise and eager to assist customers. But, we’re not afraid of being 10% more expensive than our competition as long as we can deliver 11% more value.”
Example Company Voice
Action Item
Run through the questions above and create a foundation of information about your company. Take those inputs and come up with a few sentences that describe your voice. Once you create your voice, see how you can apply it to your next piece of content (web page, social media post, email, etc.). When you are comfortable with the idea, conduct an audit of other content and revise as necessary. Soon you will have a consistent voice that amplifies your brand and portrays consistency and confidence to your customers.
Photo by Igreja Dimensão.