Fleshing out a unique and effective brand voice is no easy feat, but you can use these 10 questions to find your main focus and develop a voice that reflects that.
Brand voice is one of the most overlooked elements of a well-developed brand, taking a backseat to visuals like the logo and primary brand colors. But without a consistent brand voice, your messaging could become inconsistent or worse—forgettable.
Your brand voice needs to reflect who you are at the core of your company, but many entrepreneurs and branding experts struggle to get started. Ask yourself these questions to determine what you need in a brand voice, and how you can deliver that:
1. Who are you? Turn your brand into a human being. Are you old? Young? Male? Female? Turn that personality into a voice.
2. Who is your customer? Likewise, condense your target population into one, all-encompassing person. Imagine a conversation with that person. How would you talk to them?
3. Are you calm or excitable? When people read your messages, does their heart rate slow down or speed up?
4. How “hip” are you? The fact that I put “hip” in quotation marks is a little ironic, but the question of hip is a relevant one. Will you use slang or colloquial terms, or stick to evergreen language?
5. Are you a friend, a colleague, or a mentor? You’re going to be using a different tone depending on your brand’s role.
6. What do your competitors sound like? Look at their brand voices to get a feel for what’s been done in the industry.
7. Why are you different? After determining who your competitors are, figure out a way to sound different from them.
8. How will you be remembered? Is it going to be your edge? Your attention to detail? Your brevity? Your humor?
9. How talkative are you? This is almost as much of a design question as it is a voice question, but how much of your messages are going to be based on words? Many or few?
10. What is the first impression you want people to have? Your words need to convey that impression immediately and consistently across platforms.
Quez Media Marketing is a leading expert in brand development, including brand voice. For a free consultation on your current content marketing strategy, don’t hesitate to contact us!
