How to Define Your Brand Voice in 11 Steps + Why it's Important

We’re all about elevating your brand, and carefully defining your brand voice is the first step to success!
 

How to Define your Brand Voice in 11 Steps and Why it's Important

Establishing your brand voice means establishing a consistent and distinctive way of communicating with your audience across all channels and touchpoints.

From tone to style, and personality of your brand's messaging, it’s about reflecting your brand values, mission, and identity. Here's How to Define Your Brand Voice in 11 Steps + Why it's Important:

1. Understand Your Audience: Start by defining your target audience — their demographics, interests, preferences, and communication preferences. How do they interact with society, culture and online? What engages them? Tailor your brand voice to resonate with your audience and build a strong connection with them on all channels (prioritising the platforms they use, too). 
   
   
2. Clarify Your Brand Identity: Define your brand's mission, values, personality traits, and positioning in the market. Your brand voice should align with your brand identity and reflect its unique characteristics. Start with a mind map and let your thoughts and ideas flow before narrowing down a key list of main identifying factors.
   
   
3. Identify Key Messaging Pillars: Determine the key messages and themes you want to communicate to your audience. These messaging pillars should guide your brand voice and ensure consistency in your communication and the content you publish. When this can get overwhelming, your messaging pillars will keep you on track and importantly – on brand. 
   
   
4. Choose Tone and Style: Decide on the tone and style of your brand voice based on your brand identity and target audience. Consider factors such as formality, humour, empathy, and authenticity. Your brand voice should be consistent but adaptable to different contexts and channels. 
   
   
5. Create Brand Voice Guidelines: Working hand in hand with number four, develop brand voice guidelines to document your brand voice principles, including examples of preferred language, tone, and style. This helps ensure consistency in your communication across all channels and platforms. Have this documented where all team members can refer to it at any time. 
   
   
6. Train Your Team: Educate your team, including employees, partners, and stakeholders, about your brand voice guidelines and how to apply them in their communication efforts.
   
   Consistent messaging strengthens your brand identity and builds trust with your audience. Add these identifiers, pillars and ethos in team communications, office reminders and our favourite – client and employee merch.
   
   Imagine the office kitchen coffee cups with your messaging pillars, or t-shirts with your brand byline. Even something as simple as lanyards with your logo or values can make a great impact!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Monitor and Adjust: Continuously monitor your brand's communication efforts and gather feedback from your audience. Evaluate the effectiveness of your brand voice and make adjustments as needed to better resonate with your audience and achieve your communication goals. 
   
   

Now, why is defining your brand voice important?

1. Consistency: A consistent brand voice helps reinforce your brand identity and build recognition and familiarity among your audience. Consistency in messaging across different channels and touch points strengthens your brand's presence and reinforces its values and personality, making it hard for people to forget in all the right ways. 
   
   
2. Differentiation: A distinct brand voice sets you apart from competitors and helps you stand out in a crowded market while creating a memorable and unique experience that resonates with your audience. What comes next? Brand loyalty! 
   
   
3. Audience Connection: A well-defined brand voice builds a stronger emotional connection with your audience. It humanises your brand, making it more relatable and engaging to your audience and fostering trust and loyalty over time. 
   
   
4. Effective Communication: A defined brand voice provides clarity and direction for your communication efforts. It guides your messaging and ensures that your communication is relevant, impactful, and consistent with your brand identity and values.
   
   

Conclusion

So there you have it –  we hope you enjoyed reading How to Define Your Brand Voice in 11 Steps + Why it's Important!

Defining your brand voice is essential for building a strong and cohesive brand identity, fostering audience connection and loyalty, and effectively communicating your brand's values and messages.

If you’re starting from scratch, work with your team or speak to friends to brainstorm ideas and discuss how your brand can stand out using your voice and identity in every step of your business process.