Do You Have a Defined Brand Voice?

You know when you hear an ad and can immediately tell who it’s from based on the language, tone, and music?

Or when you come across a social post that’s captivating less because of what it’s saying and more because of how it’s said and how it makes you feel?

Brands that have this figured out are clear on what their brand voice is.

What is a brand voice?

Your brand voice is how you convey your brand personality through your word choices and writing. Generally, it’s a defined set of five or six words that work together to ensure your writing and materials feel distinctly like your brand.

Take Nike. What words come to mind when you think about most of their ads? Inspirational? Emotional? Motivating?

Now let’s do the opposite. What are Nike ads definitely not? You probably don’t find yourself laughing at them, and you probably don’t feel like you’re sitting through an academic lecture. Why? Because Nike is clear that they’re not a humorous brand, and they don’t focus on explaining the nitty-gritty science behind their shoes. Those things don’t align with their brand voice or the feeling they want audiences to have when interacting with them, even though both would be valid approaches for a shoe company to take. (In fact, when Nike did try humor it didn’t go over very well because it was off-brand and counter to their mission.)

Nike is an example of a brand that knows exactly who they are and how they want people to feel.

Liquid Death, a sparkling water company, is another brand that oozes personality. Their copy, while informative, is irreverent. It’s designed to make you stop and marvel at the audacity of it all. And it works, because no one else in their space talks quite like they do.

Why should you establish your brand voice?

We think your brand voice deserves a place in your brand or identity guidelines.

Documenting it can be incredibly helpful when onboarding staff members or sharing guidance with anyone writing on behalf of your brand.

If you’ve done a lot of writing for your organization (or you’ve been there since the beginning and helped shape its communications) you probably understand instinctively what the brand should sound and feel like.

But the reality is that it may not be obvious to someone new or to outside partners trying to support your work.

If you’ve ever worked with a freelance writer, hired an intern, or onboarded someone new to your communications team, you may have noticed this quickly. For example, the social media post they drafted wasn’t technically wrong, but it didn’t feel right.

A lack of clarity around your brand voice is often the reason for that disconnect.

How to define your brand voice

Sit down with a trusted team and brainstorm a list of words that feel authentic to who you are as a brand.

Some examples might include: optimistic, energetic, academic, fun, serious, comforting, motivational, or matter-of-fact.

Then, brainstorm a second list of words you agree your brand is not.

From there, work together to identify the five or six words that truly align with your organization. Then, give each word a sentence or two explaining what you mean by it.

Here’s an example:

Folksy
While we provide quality information that educates our audience, we do so using common, accessible language. We are experts, but we avoid academic or jargon-heavy wording, instead leaning into warm, familiar language choices.

One important thing to remember: your brand voice words don’t have to be literal, and not every piece of communication will express all of them equally every time.

We love this example from a Medium article by Lauren Pope:

“To understand how tone works, imagine you’re a barista. Different customers might want an americano, a flat white, or a cappuccino; you’ll put the same coffee in everything, but you’ll change the amount of milk or water to make their specific order.”

Depending on the communication, you’ll naturally lean more heavily into some aspects of your brand voice than others.

An organizational gift

Establishing your brand voice and defining it clearly on paper is an organizational gift. It’s a piece in the puzzle of defining who your brand is. Clarity around brand voice creates greater consistency, reduces time spent on editing and revisions, and ensures your brand is always portrayed authentically.