So you’ve already put effort into building your brand… maybe you’ve developed a logo or a consistent look that carries across your website and marketing materials. You’ve probably got a tagline, and maybe some semblance of an ideal tone—but how much thought have you put into your brand’s language?
The Theory
Employing a successful marketing voice can be a bit tricky, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing or have any end goal in mind. A well-developed marketing voice should be able to develop your brand and make it more appealing to your target audience. It should appropriately represent your company through tone, vocabulary, and presentation, giving readers an instant (and usually subtle) feeling about who you are and what you stand for. For instance, if you’re catering to a field of specialized intellectuals, you’ll want to use high-level industry-specific language. If you’re appealing to a generic landscape of first year college students, you’ll want to use casual language, and mention pizza and/or beer as often as possible.
This is an oversimplification, of course, but the bottom line is your message will help you win your target audience—as long as you know who your target audience is.
The Practice
First things first—if you don’t know who your target audience is, now’s the time to figure it out! Work backward from the minds you’re appealing to, and consider the kind of voice that will provide them the greatest interest. From there, you’ll want to establish voice conventions—what kind of messages will you send? Are there any words you want to emphasize? How formal or casual is it? What level is the vocabulary? Should your sentences be basic or decorated with descriptors?
It can be overwhelming, and frustrating to keep consistent if you don’t have much writing experience. But with a well-formulated and consistently implemented content marketing strategy, you’ll find your company expanding the customer base and building authority in no time!
