We don’t like to brag (but we’re gonna). Marketing guru, Jay Baer, recently wrote that the Daily Carnage is “delivered with just enough snark to ensure it’s opened daily.”
We truly couldn’t ask for a better compliment. That “snark” is our brand voice. It’s our clearly defined writing style that connects with our readers.
But, even though we have it clearly defined, finding your brand’s voice isn’t as formulaic as other marketing strategies. There is a general guide to finding it, though, and we’re writing down our process for you today.
Know your audience. How well do you really know your audience? Even if you think you know them, you should do a ton of social listening to start shaping your voice. Find out where your audience lives online and study how they communicate. Don’t settle for, “Oh, my audience is boring. They use the language that everyone else uses.” That’s never the case. Dig deeper if that’s what you’re coming up with.
Know Your Brand. And know your competitors’ brands. What are their brand voices? Which ones do you like/dislike? Write down answers to these questions:
- How do you want your brand to make people feel?
- What are your brand’s values?
- What personality traits does your brand embody?
- What kind of person would your brand be?
Make a brand voice guideline. Write down adjectives about what you want your voice to sound like. And, be specific with it. Here are some of the words that came out of our initial brand voice guideline:
- Millennial marketer
- Cheeky and quirky
- Friendly and approachable
- Trustworthy and knowledgeable
- Informal and chatty
- Bold and confident
- Quick and clever
- Culturally aware and sensitive
When you combine all of those words, what do you see? A person! Hopefully someone who you’d want to be friends with.
That was intentional. To create that emotional connection that friends have, we chose to mimic digital conversations close friends have with one another.
Last takeaway: Don’t be afraid to loosen up the language when appropriate. It will, without a doubt, give your brand voice a welcomed human touch. Your brand will be more memorable and remarkable for it.
That’s only scratching the surface of brand voice. We go way deeper on it in this blog post →
