By M. Isi Eromosele

We can’t say for sure what a brand’s tone of voice consists of, but we know it when we see or hear it.

The brand voice is a more specific and useful way to convey a brand’s personality and tell its story. Brand voice is similar to tone of voice, only modulated. Think of it as a customized verbal strategy that guides and defines the way an organization communicates its particular point of view.

Brand voice is more like a complete music score from which you and your team can play a full-on arrangement of the “song” that is your brand. When done right, it has room built in for improvisation.

In addition to making sure you’re all singing from the same songbook, brand voice is meant to make sure the song you’re singing is the right one for your brand, one that appeals to all your audiences and one they’re not going to get sick of hearing anytime soon.

Think of it this way: brand voice is a strategic tool to help everyone in your organization tell the story of your brand in a consistently compelling way.

Why does brand voice matter? Why do brands require a specific and useful way to tell

a brand’s story?

Crafting A Strategic Brand Voice

In today’s noisy marketplace, a strategic brand voice ensures that your brand is clearly heard, quickly recognized and easily remembered, especially in the digital clutter of today’s media environment.

A differentiated brand voice establishes the unique personality of your brand and builds deep emotional connections with your employees, shareholders and customers alike.

 Brand Voice As Strategic Storytelling

What your customers are saying, if you listen through the media noise is basically this:

Tell me a story. Your story.

And a story well told is really a strategy. It’s a strategy for deploying words to create an effect. Good brands make an impact when they speak. A really good story can change people’s lives, and if enough people hear it, that story can change the fortunes of that brand.

Brand voice should be flexible enough to cross mediums, moods and audiences while remaining relevant at every touchpoint. For example, the earnestness you find on the Zappos website extends to all its touchpoints, including Facebook and Twitter.

It is even evident in the more functional emails Zappos sends customers about shipping: “ We've enclosed some tracking information, so you can follow your order from Zappos Fulfillment Centers to its final destination”

It’s almost like being a superspy!” By making sure that committed voice is present everywhere you encounter the brand, Zappos keeps customers excited about shopping with them.

Your brand voice also needs to be accessible: clear to all who hear it and easy for anyone in your organization to use.

When people say, “Tell me a story,” the subtext is, simply, “Inspire me.” That’s why your brand voice must be inspirational and exciting. Your language should drive behavior in the marketplace among customers.

AT&T’s “Rethink Possible” campaign, centered around imaginative graphics and playful imagery, comes to life on its website through words like “Explore. Play. Discover.” Even touch points one might consider mundane are infused with the brand voice.

At every step, AT&T is working to bring its brand to life for consumers, because that keeps them coming back.

Just as your language should inspire customers, it should also inspire your employees to embody the values and attributes of your brand. Brand voice can play a vital role in attracting and retaining your people. They in turn will be your greatest brand ambassadors.

There are three phases to building a brand voice:

Establishing your brand’s personality

Understand the larger strategy of your brand - who you are, what you stand for and where you’re going.

Developing your brand voice

Identify communication tactics around viewpoint, structure, syntax and semantics and mapping them to the brand personality.

Socializing your brand voice

Train internal teams on the brand voice and how to use it; providing additional as-needed verbal consultation on writing projects.

In addition, there are six rules of brand voice that should shape your approach.

Six Rules Of Brand Voice

Your brand voice fundamentally defines your brand

It’s an expression of the values that shape your organization - it best delivers the messages you’re trying to send and shapes the perception of your brand not only through what you say but how you say it.

Brand voice, like a singing or speaking voice, has a range

Your brand voice should span several registers, from whisper to shout. Consistency is not the same as sameness and in order to remain consistently compelling, brand voice must adapt to different scenarios such as mood, medium and audience to say the right words the right way at the right time.

Brand voice is more than word choice

It’s about syntax, structure, semantics and style. It’s about sending your messages in the most clear and efficient way by evoking a style that matches what you’re trying to say. That’s why your brand voice works best with messaging as a complete communications toolkit.

Brand voice creates a dialogue

Communication requires a response, and your brand voice brings value to that dialogue. It means you’re able to listen and respond in a way that brings your brand strategy to life.

Brand voice is key to internal brand engagement

Internal brand engagement means everyone’s on the same page, which is easy to do when you’re all speaking in one voice with one shared point of view. Your brand voice helps you deliver on your brand promise from the inside out.

A strong brand voice will evolve over time

Maintaining the consistency of your brand voice across the organization requires review, feedback and discussion: what’s working and what isn’t? By taking a descriptivist view, and stopping to re-evaluate your verbal strategy from time to time, you’ll strengthen your linguistic approach across the board.

In the end, you will be judged on what you put out there. The way you speak and how you tell your story are crucial to making sure people are listening to what you have to say.

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

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