What is tone of voice?
Tone of voice defines how you use words, phrases and messages to impact your audience. It’s about the style of presentation, rather than the words you choose. A distinctive tone of voice can help you communicate identity, mood and personality.
In digital marketing, tone of voice determines how your company represents its personality online. It can help your business interact with customers and shape their view of – and feelings towards – your brand. Tone of voice can help you engage your customers through your content and marketing materials. It’s a powerful weapon for attracting and retaining a loyal audience.
In this blog, Jon Smart, QBD’s Head of Content, takes a closer look at tone of voice and how you can use it to set your business apart.
Tone of voice is an important factor in digital marketing because it conveys a brand’s identity and purpose to its audience.
In today’s fast-paced digital society, many businesses rely on their visuals to reach and attract their customers. Brands use logos to tell people who they are and what they stand for.
However, a logo must be more than just a symbol. It must represent the values of the company behind it and what they are trying to accomplish.
The way that businesses communicate with their customers also influences how people think about the brand.
A brand can be personified by the tone it uses to speak to its customers. Whether it’s fun and friendly or formal and professional, this tone of voice can affect how people perceive the business.
The tone that businesses use when they’re talking to their clients directly impacts how customers perceive their brands. Meanwhile, the tone they use when speaking to employees can also say a lot about their attitude towards their staff.
While tone of voice is vital to businesses, it’s something that digital marketers and agencies, like QBD, need to be aware of as well since they are responsible for creating content on behalf of brands.
Podcast: Tone of Voice
Want to hear more? Listen to our episode on tone of voice and it can make or break your brand’s connection with customers – determining whether people see you as trustworthy and relatable, or just another faceless company. Join us as we explore this crucial aspect of marketing with industry expert Jon Smart.
So, what is tone of voice?
Tone of voice is your brand’s personality. It’s how you express yourself to your customers, readers, and viewers.
It’s the language you use in your marketing copy, social media posts, and content. It’s how you sound when you speak on live video or podcasts or create blog posts, email newsletters, or other written communications.
Tone of voice is an integral part of any brand’s identity because it determines how people think about the thing they’re interacting with.
It influences how they think about the company behind it, what it stands for and whether they’re interested in what it has to offer them.
Consumers have a greater connection with brands that speak to them in a conversational tone.
To successfully engage their customers, brands need to understand the emotional connection of their target consumers and what’s important to them.
Tone of voice is a crucial element of successful marketing because it can help you capture your audience’s attention and effectively communicate with them.
So, developing a tone of voice is essential, as it will guide all your written and verbal communications and enable you to create a coherent message that portrays your brand in the best light.
Why do you need a tone of voice for your brand?
When it comes to creating content, it’s not just about what you say but how you say it.
Your tone of voice should reflect your brand and values, align with your visual identity, and carry a consistent message across all your marketing channels.
Developing the right tone of voice for your business takes time. It’s about defining and understanding your mission, values and what you stand for.
It’s also about understanding how your customers – both existing and potential – perceive your brand and what they want from you.
Once you have this insight and understand what your brand voice is and how you need to communicate, it’s about documenting your brand’s personality traits, key messages, common vocabulary, words and phrases, and any examples of how – or how not – to write emails, social profiles or posts, blogs, website content and any other communications.
Benefits of having a tone of voice
Tone of voice is an essential brand element that can enhance or detract from your company’s image. A good tone of voice will help your business establish trust with customers, build loyalty, and communicate better. Here are some of the main benefits that a tone of voice for your brand can bring:
Build connections
Brands that use an upbeat tone of voice leave their customers feeling as though the company cares about them. In fact, almost two-thirds of customers say they feel a strong emotional connection to brands that use the appropriate tone of voice when communicating with them.
Humanise your brand
People connect with businesses because of the products and services that they provide. When brands have a relatable personality, it helps build trust and credibility. Communicating with the right tone of voice can help you build a stronger connection with your audience.
Stand out from the crowd
Businesses with a distinctive or unique tone of voice have a better chance of standing out from the crowd and differentiating themselves from their competitors.
Your tone of voice can help you refine your brand’s personality and create compelling messaging and memorable content, all of which are key to reaching a wider audience and attracting new customers.
Increase revenue
A strong tone of voice can help your business boost its revenue. Presenting your brand consistently across all your marketing channels is the key to keeping existing customers engaged and building trust with new customers so that when they are ready to buy what you offer, you’re the first port of call.
How to create your brand’s tone of voice
There are four key elements to consider when it comes to creating your brand’s tone of voice.
Your audience is the starting point for any form of marketing, and you should always look at your business through your customers’ eyes to try and understand their perspective. Things to consider here include:
- Are you using the correct language to speak to them?
- Is your messaging consistent?
- Does what you’re saying provide value?
- Does your tone of voice align with your business mission, values and visual identity?
The next thing to consider is your brand values. While your customers buy your products and services because of what they are, they buy them from your business because they like what you stand for. If your corporate values are relevant and meaningful to your customers, it gives your brand depth and weight and offers your customers something valuable to buy into.
Language and messaging are the third element of your tone of voice, as they will influence how your customers perceive your brand. For example, if you want to be seen as informal and casual, professional and corporate, or even edgy and controversial, then the language you use and the words you choose must reflect that. Consistency is essential here. If your messaging changes every time you communicate, or if you’re humorous and down to earth one minute and too stuffy and formal the next, it makes it hard for your audience to understand who you are and what you stand for.
Finally, once you have all the building blocks for your brand’s tone of voice in place, it’s important you document them.
A brand communications book or house style guide is essential. It will give your in-house marketing team the framework within which to create content. And if you are outsourcing your marketing to an external agency or freelancer, they’ll also know what ‘rules’ they need to follow to ensure the content they create uses the right tone of voice and complements your own efforts.
How can QBD help?
Brand messaging is all about connecting with your customers on a deeper level, using a narrative that stirs emotion and inspires loyalty and trust.
Customers want to buy from – and work with – businesses they trust. We can help you define your brand personality and tone of voice, so you can communicate your purpose and values and tell the right brand story.
A distinctive tone of voice will help reinforce your brand messaging and visual identity and create consistency across all your communication channels and marketing activities.
We can help your business reach and connect with your audience through digital marketing that delivers results and supports your business objectives.
Give us a call today to find out more.