Using brand rhetoric to improve your marketing voice is always a solid tactic; but to the unacquainted, it can seem a bit daunting. Fortunately, you don’t have to do everything at once, and even a few implemented strategies can take your brand voice to the next level.
With brand rhetoric, the first step is usually a brief rhetorical analysis to determine what elements of your current brand voice are successful and what elements are not. However, if you’re in a hurry and don’t want to take the time to sit down and deconstruct your current collateral, you can instead focus on your long-term goals: what elements of rhetoric do you want your brand to showcase? Authoritative Ethos? Emotional Pathos? Logical Logos?
Once you have a rough idea, you can use these five fast strategies to improve your overall rhetoric:
1.      Create a Character. Not a literal character, mind you. Create a mental persona for your brand. That way, it will be easier to create and think in a specific voice, and over time it will become easier to keep it consistent.
2.      Model Your Content. Take a look at some of the content your competitors are writing, and imagine how you would write it in your own voice. This will help you distinguish your voice from your competitors.
3.      Look for a Test Audience. Even if it’s just one person, find someone in your target demographic that you can use as a test audience and have them give you honest feedback on your content. Can they understand it? Can they relate to it?
4.      Work on Your Fluff Radar. No matter what kind of brand voice you want, fluff is a no-no. Read your content backward, from the end sentence-by-sentence to more accurately determine which sentences are necessary and which ones are just filler.
5.      Revise. You’d be surprised how many people don’t revise their content before posting it. No matter what, always read over your content with a specific voice in mind to make sure your words get a final polish.
These five steps won’t be enough to build and support a full brand rhetoric strategy, but they present a great way to get started. With practice, you’ll master a baseline for your brand voice and set a solid standard for your company.
photo credit: Ed Callow [ torquespeak ] via photopin cc
