Brand voice needs a personality transplant

I’m seeing a lot of companies, no doubt nudged by their agencies, proudly promoting “brand voice” descriptors that are little more than hygiene factors for modern business, dressed up as something special.

It’s irritating me.

Especially since brand voice is important — and becoming increasingly important as AI gets increasingly clever.

Here’s the thing:

These naff descriptors position themselves and, by extension, the companies behind them, as different, unique, singular… But they’re little more than the best practices of semi-decent communication.

Want examples?

Of course you do.

• Professional yet approachable. Permission. To. Play.

• Clarity and simplicity. I should bloody hope so.

• Informative and insightful. If it isn’t, why bother?

Done right, brand voice should be intricate, nuanced, definitive.

It should stand out in a noisy world where beige mush increasingly dominates.

It should earn its keep.

BRAND VOICE, BRIEFLY

Think about it this way: When you (and human consumers like you) encounter a company’s communication, content or copy, you engage with it on two levels:

Level 1

The facts in front of you suggest to the analytical side of your brain what the company does — or says it does.

Level 2

Your impressions of the company’s brand voice tell the creative side of your brain what that company might be like to deal with.

Most companies seem to focus on the Level 1 stuff when they don’t know how to begin to tackle the Level 2 stuff.

WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE

When a company’s brand voice defines its marketing and sales collateral — company profiles, brochures, proposals, presos and pitches — that’s good.

When web copy, thought leadership, blog articles, media releases, social posts and functional messaging have a shared style and personality, that’s good.

When a brand’s video clips, audio recordings and client service interactions speak more or less the same ‘language’ most of the time, that’s good.

When a brand has a consistent look and feel for stationery, signage, ads and marketing, and a consistent sound emerging from their content, that’s good.

When a brand comes across as a unified, organised source of messaging, that’s good. Especially since writing today is so often decentralised, with responsibilities shared between different authors in different places.

BAKED INTO ALL WORDS

Brand voice should, in an ideal world, be baked into all of the words a brand uses, all the time, everywhere. But here’s what confuses many people:

It’s not enough for writing to be confident, intelligent, precise, specific, innovative, positive… Your brand voice aspirations should be several levels higher and your brand voice execution several layers more granular than that.

Brand voice isn’t just about good writing. It’s about thoughts and feelings.

And data.

In my process, for example, we begin with online research, material review and qualitative assessment, before moving into a process of workshopping, longlisting, selection, definition, expansion, demonstration and sometimes, training. Critically, when seeking to define brand voice, we must sometimes also differentiate between what is and what is desired.

Want a taste of some of the brand voice work I’ve done for clients recently? Below are five samples, each of which is part of a greater set of three to four.

Remember: These brand voice values are used to partly define the messaging of five unrelated brands in five distinct sectors. Two are B2C; three are B2B. Three provide services; two, products. Two are international; three, local.

• FORTIFYING

In the context of this particular brand, ‘fortifying’ means protective, safeguarding, nurturing and strong.

• HANDS-ON

In the context of this brand, ‘hands-on’ delivers relentless practicality, attentiveness and responsiveness.

• VIVID

For this brand, ‘vivid’ refers to inventive, joyful, spirited, fresh writing that’s gently seasoned with what the client calls “woohoo!”.

• PRAGMATIC

In the context of this brand, ‘pragmatic’ means frank, measured, prudent, focused and trustworthy.

• CURIOUS

In the context of this brand, ‘curious’ invites enigmatic, adventurous, brave writing and early adoption.

The only thing these five brands have in common? Me.

HERE’S THE LESSON

When language can be sculpted to give your brand a distinctive, differentiated personality — one that your competitors and AI can’t hope to authentically replicate — you have an edge that matters. And that will matter more and more.

For more writing like this, please follow me on LinkedIn or connect with me directly.