Small business owners know the importance of standing out from other brands. How to find your brand voice in your specific industry may seem complicated, but it doesn’t have to be!
You want potential customers to feel connected to your brand before they even go near their wallet—and that’s where your brand’s voice comes in. Essentially, your company’s unique voice helps define who you are as a company and how others perceive you, so getting it right is crucial for success.
So, if you’re wondering how to find yours or just need some guidance on tweaking what you have, this blog post is here for you!
Defining What a Brand Voice Is
According to Qualtrics, your company’s brand voice is the personality of your brand. Your brand’s personality is how you stand out from the competition.
In short, no matter which team members are in charge of your social media platforms, websites, emails, blog posts, and advertisements, you must maintain a consistent brand voice throughout your communications.
On the other hand, a brand’s tone is your company’s voice and emotional connection to your audience. You adapt your tone to different situations. Moreover, your tone exhibits your capacity for proper empathy and understanding of the emotions of your target clients.
Related: What is a Business Digital Footprint?
How To Find Your Brand Voice
What Is Your Core Identity?
First, understanding your brand identity is crucial. Make sure your identity and the reason for your company’s existence are clearly defined.
This means developing a deep understanding of what you do, why you exist, and your brand’s core values, as these three elements are vital to achieving your goals.
Who Are Your Potential Clients?
Second, it’s important to consider who you are speaking to.
Furthermore, it’s a good idea to discover who your audience is. Similarly, the best way to zero in on your market is by learning where they enjoy spending time online. You can do this by creating a poll or checking Google Analytics.
Above all, getting to know who your potential clients are will allow you to genuinely speak to your audience.
Get Insights
Last but not least, it’s crucial to get insights from your audience in order to develop a brand voice that speaks to the people you’re trying to reach.
How do they perceive your brand? Pay attention to any common themes when surveying your audience. You can learn what impression you give people who interact with your brand simply by asking your current clients and customers, potential customers, and even your staff.
Content Review
At first, you might be inclined to pay more attention to what you want your brand to be than to what it actually is. Still, it’s an essential step to analyze the current content you’ve already produced and identify your existing communication style.
So, examine your current newsletters, blog entries, and social media postings. What patterns do you see in the content? It’s a great idea to keep track of the distinctive terminology and explanations you used so you can continue to be consistent with your brand voice.
Related: How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy
Helpful Tips for Establishing Your Brand Voice
Of course, you need to give your brand a unique personality. However, at the same time, you need to make sure your brand’s identity is appealing to your target audience.
A distinct brand voice should be apparent in the following:
- Advertising on digital media and traditional media like TV, radio, and billboards
- Your business website
- Social media posts
- Internal and external communication
- Emails and newsletters
- PRs and media releases
- Retail signs
Create Your Buyer Persona
To help make sure you’re speaking to the right audience, you can construct buyer personas or fictional characters based on market research. In order to develop a strong brand voice that will resonate with the people you want it to, you’ll need to consider:
- Buyer behavior
- The type of content your typical client engages to
- Influencer impact on different people and different channels
Create a Standard Style Guide
Did you know that revenue can rise by 33% when there’s a consistent tone of voice?
So, the next step to finding your brand voice is to make standard brand guidelines to ensure that everyone on your team speaks in the brand voice you want and exudes consistent brand personality.
Create guidelines for all your marketing materials and ensure everyone involved in growing your brand has easy access to them. During this process, conducting one or more brand voice training sessions for your in-house and freelance content creators is definitely worthwhile.
Consistently Analyze and Audit
Finally, your brand’s voice needs to be at par with the times. What was cheeky and smart two years ago may now sound antiquated and outdated, since language and communication constantly evolve.
When rebranding goods or services, be prepared to examine your current voice periodically, perhaps once a year.
Related: What is Social Media Marketing?
Conclusion
Your brand voice is one of the most critical aspects of your company because it’s how you communicate with your target audience. And, as we all know, first impressions are everything!
Luckily, finding or refining your brand’s voice doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Just remember to keep it authentic, consistent, and relevant to both you and your customers.
Still need help in how to find your brand voice? Shelten LLC is here to answer your questions about social media marketing, brand recognition and awareness, and so much more. Just send us an email or book your free consultation to learn more!
Reference
Brand voice: Definition, benefits, and tips to create one from Qualtrics
