Do You Have a Recognizable Brand?
In our day-to-day lives, we all use a combination of elements to identify our friends, coworkers, and acquaintances. Their name, face, voice, and personality create a holistic view of each person in our minds.
(I’d like to say I recognize friends by their number popping up on my phone, but Caller ID has taken over that part of my brain.)
Similarly, we recognize brands by some combination of their company name, logo, colors, tagline, and brand voice. Maybe even a mascot.
(If you recognize their phone number, I’m impressed….and a little concerned.)
Of all these elements, brand voice tends to be the least understood. But as you’ll see, having a distinct brand voice for your company can help you create a memorable impression for your customers - and in turn, build a strong brand and successful business.
What is a Brand Voice?
A brand voice is the unique way in which a company speaks to its customers through its messaging. It's your company's personality, tone and style of expression. Your company's brand voice speaks through your website, emails, advertisements, brochures, social media posts, and any other written or verbal communication your company shares with the public.
Brand Voice in the Real World
Let me give a few quick examples.
Consider Geico. I bet you can hear their tagline in your head now. "15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more on car insurance." The Geico gecko charms us with stories of roadside rescues and raspberry preserves. The website guides customers to easy solutions with clear, simple language. Geico's brand voice is helpful, refined, friendly, and accessible.
Compare this to Burger King, with their jingle-y commercials and made up words. "Whopper whopper whopper whopper junior double triple whopper." (Anyone else get that stuck in their head?) Their ads tend to live on the edge and spark some raised eyebrows. Burger King's brand voice is animated, unapologetic, and cheeky.
Both of these brands speak in a voice that's specifically theirs, and it's consistent across all channels. You're not going to confuse one for the other. You know what to expect, just like you expect a thriller by John Grisham to sound very different from a romance novel by Jane Austen.
Which brings up a point of clarity: your company's brand voice isn't the audible narration you choose for your TV commercial. It's the tone and choice of all the words your company shares with the public, whether a video on their social media feed or a billboard in their city.
Why Defining Your Brand Voice is Important
Aside from a logo and colors, brand voice is one of the clearest identifiers of a specific company and plays a huge role in how that brand is viewed by potential and current customers.
Defining a brand voice for your business is important because it helps to create a consistent and recognizable image, allowing customers to recognize your brand more easily. You can develop trust and loyalty with your customers by providing them with a consistent experience every time they interact with your brand.
Designing a brand voice that incorporates your company's culture and values also helps people understand the kind of experience they can expect from your business. Will it be playful? Down-to-earth? Posh? Professional?
What a Strong Brand Voice Can Do For Your Business
Your brand voice differentiates you from the dozens, hundreds, or thousands of other businesses in the same industry, attracting your ideal client (the type that really wants to work with you), and filtering out people who don't appreciate what you offer. (Let's be honest, you don't really want to work with those people anyway.)
With a clearly defined brand voice, you have a consistent standard for all your communication, from customer service to marketing and advertising. Ultimately, having a strong brand voice helps to build a strong and successful business.
Tips for Identifying Your Company's Brand Voice
1) If your brand was a TV character or movie actor, who would they be? What kind of words or expressions would they use or not use? How would you describe them to someone who has never heard of them?
2) Think about how you want your customers or clients to FEEL when they interact with your brand. For example, if you run a massage therapy practice, you may want your clients to feel relaxed, refreshed, and pampered when they come to see you. In this case, an appropriate brand voice will sound calm, reassuring, inviting, and experienced. If you're running a hot wings and fries stand, though, a different brand voice is called for. You probably want your customers to feel excited, happy, or indulgent. That means a brand voice that's energetic, cheerful, or stimulating.
Remember, it's YOUR business. So while the brand voice should reflect the industry and niche you're in, ultimately YOU get to decide the specific personality your brand demonstrates.
Now What??
Need some help with designing your brand voice, figuring out who your target audience is, or actually sitting down and WRITING your website or ads according to your brand voice? Professional copywriters are trained to write in ANY brand voice and make your brand sound just like your brand. They can help research what makes your clients and customers tick, and write in ways that influence them to do business with you!
Sources
Krawczyk, Nicki. Comprehensive Copywriting Academy Foundations Course [Online course]. https://www.comprehensivecopywriting.academy/
https://www.geico.com/
https://www.creativebloq.com/news/burger-king-lines-campaign
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cPxh2DikIA
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/burger-king-commercial-lyrics-whopper-ad-jingles/micmgywzwd6lrynyw6u2qakg
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