Did you know your brand has a language and a tone of voice and that they are an integral part of your branding process? Your brand language and tone of voice help you communicate your values, beliefs, and purpose in a way that resonates with your customers. By choosing the right words and the right style, you can create a unique brand voice that reflects your brand personality and feels authentic to your customers.
Let’s take a look at what brand language and tone of voice are, why are they important, and how Brandician fine-tunes your brand voice by using brand archetypes, content strategy, and automation tools.
What is a brand language and tone of voice, and why are they important?
Along with the colors you use, an important element of your brand identity is the way it speaks. Research shows that customers are 61% more likely to purchase products and services from brands that have a unique voice. Your brand’s language and tone of voice are a reflection of your brand’s personality. They are a straightforward way of communicating with customers about your brand, products, and services. More so, they are an important part of building and maintaining a strong brand identity.
Brand language
One of the first things that a potential customer notices is the language that you use to describe your products or services.
Your brand’s language is the body of words, phrases, and terms. It communicates the brand’s personality and creates a connection with your target customers.
Brand language includes all the words and phrases that are used in your customer interactions, websites, marketing materials, and internal communications. Essentially, it’s the way you talk about your brand and the way you want your customers to talk about it.
Tone of voice
The language that your brand uses goes hand in hand with your brand’s tone of voice.
The tone of voice your brand uses is one of the most important parts of developing a unique and authentic identity. It is all about how you communicate your messages.
Do you use a positive and inspiring tone of voice or does a strong and powerful way of communication suit you better? Your brand’s tone of voice sets the expectation for how your brand will communicate with customers and reinforces the message you’re trying to communicate. That is why you should strive to create an authentic and identifiable brand voice that sets you apart from the competition.
Key elements of a good brand voice
Your brand language and tone of voice have the power to shape how your customers perceive you. By having a clear and purposeful voice, you can make a more genuine connection with your target customers, which is an essential first step in turning them into lifelong brand advocates. To make sure your brand voice is up to the task, you should consider these five key elements of a good brand voice.
1. Identifying the purpose
The most basic purpose of communication is to get something across. Knowing the goal of your writing and designing the language around it helps you bring real value to the table. That is why the most successful brands in the world have a clear purpose when communicating. They know who they’re trying to reach and why. Understanding the purpose of your content helps you speak in an authentic tone, using language that is simple and straightforward.
Whether you are trying to engage entertain, or educate, creating your content with a clear purpose is the key for successful communication- and successful communication is a key for developing a strong brand voice.
2. Focusing on your customers
At Brandician we like to put a focus on a customer-centric approach. After all your customers are where it all begins. The better you understand your target customers, the better you will be able to tailor your communication. A good idea is to make sure that your words are engaging and that they speak directly to your audience. It is important to take steps to acknowledge your customers’ needs and motivations and act on that understanding by using a customized communication technique.
The way you communicate with your customers is one of the fundamental components of aspirational uniqueness, and therefore a critical segment of your brand identity.
3. Understanding your character
Besides knowing your customers, it is essential to know yourself. This means putting an emphasis on your core values and fundamental ideals. Thinking about what motivates you and where your passion lies is a very important element of your branding process. Understanding your character helps you create a clear brand language and tone of voice that speaks out to your customers, but also feels authentic to you.
Taking a look at 12 brand archetypes can help you better define your character, and target your marketing and messaging to resonate with specific groups of people, and your target customers.
4. Creating emotions
When it comes to building a strong brand identity, it’s not enough to stick to a single tone of voice and communicate in a formal language. A brand needs to project a set of emotions to customers in an effort to come across as genuinely personable and likable. In order to stand out from your competitors, a good idea is to appeal to your consumer’s emotional state, ego, needs, and aspirations.
When the brand’s voice is expressed with warmth, humor, and personality, it becomes much more engaging. This is the essence of successful brand communication. More so, creating meaningful communication that speaks to your customers on an emotional level is essential for a successful branding process.
5. Being consistent
Your brand language and tone of voice should be fairly consistent across all mediums. This means choosing the brand voice that makes a perfect fit for your company and then sticking to it. By doing so you will make sure that customers can recognize and relate to your brand no matter what format the message is delivered in.
The consistency in the way that you speak to your customers builds a sense of trust and lets them know that you’re a reliable company.
How Brandician puts this in practice
The way you speak to your customers is one of the fundamental building blocks of a successful branding process. At Brandician we have many years of experience in crafting marketing campaigns and messaging that resonates with our clients and their customers. Our ultimate goal is to create authentic and honest connections between brands and all those who interact with them. To make all of this possible we fine-tune your brand voice by using brand archetypes, content strategy, and automation tools.
Choosing the right language and tone of voice with a help of brand archetypes
Branding archetypes are patterns or templates that can be used to create meaning in a branding process. By understanding the different archetypes and how they affect our decision-making process, you can create a brand voice that truly speaks to your customers. In this way, utilizing brand archetypes can help you achieve a deeper connection with your customers and even boost your competitive advantage.
The Explorer
Language
Upbeat and optimistic, open-minded, resourceful.
Tone of voice
Inspirational and encouraging.
Goal
Encourage consumers to step outside of their comfort zones and follow their heart.
Examples
Mosaic, The North Face, Jeep.
Hero
Language
Challenging and provocative. Use strong words and ask hard questions.
Tone of voice
Motivational, self-confident, self-disciplined, direct.
Goal
Challenge customers to make a change, motivate them to improve their situation.
Examples
WebTrit, Nike.
Caregiver
Language
Considerate, friendly, and optimistic.
Tone of voice
Warm, empathetic, and compassionate.
Goal
Make customers feel recognized and appreciated for what they do.
Examples
Brandician, Dove, Red Cross.
Sage
Language
Knowledgeable, assured, guiding.
Tone of voice
Analytical, informative, instructive.
Rebel
Language
Sharp, rebellious, combative.
Tone of voice
Non-confirmative, revolutionary, outspoken.
Everyman
Language
Friendly, humble, authentic.
Tone of voice
Sincere, helpful, positive.
The Ruler
Language
Commanding, refined, articulate.
Tone of voice
Authoritative, influential, knowledgeable.
Using a content strategy
By planning, creating, and implementing the correct content strategy we help our customers reach and engage different audiences.
We stress the importance of harmonizing their brand language and tone of voice with the content they are sharing and making sure that their content is always consistent and purposeful. In doing so we focus on four essential content types: attraction, authority, affinity, and action. Successful use of these types of content is an integral part of any branding and marketing process.
For example, if you are hoping to reach new audiences the content type you should be focusing on is “attraction content”. This type of content is meant to bring customers to you, catch their interest and provide valuable information. However, if your goal is to go beyond mere attraction you will need an “authority content”. It helps you build trust by showing that you are an expert and that you have a deep understanding of your customer’s needs. Once you establish attraction and trust, you should consider building a community of like-minded people. Your “affinity content” will help you do just that by inspiring your audience to prefer you over your competitors. Finally, your “action content” is designed to turn the interested audience into happy customers.
Attraction
Reach a new audience and get your message in front of new people.
Attraction content includes interesting and exciting SEO optimized information available for free on the website and social networks so people can read it and share, and for search engines to index so it can be found.
Authority
Forms opinions about you as an expert in your field
Authority content helps you establish your authority, credibility, and trust. This is achieved by demonstrating that you have expertise through delivering valuable information in an easy-to-deliver way.
Affinity
Specifically designed to help you grow your community
Affinity content is relevant to your audience. It helps people who share your values and beliefs come together as your community. This is done by building a deeper connection with your readers on an emotional level.
Action
Turns the interested audience into happy customers
Action content has an action in mind that you would like the reader to take. The best way to do that is to write your content with a specific action goal in mind and straightforwardly ask people to do it.
Implementation and upkeep
Once your content strategy is crafted it is time for an ongoing process of content management. This means implementing and upkeeping your brand’s content strategy to attract the audience, build a community, and boost sales.
At Brandician we use a variety of platforms to share our content and we always encourage our customers to do so as well. For example, we use WordPress. It is a great free open-source content management system that helps us design beautiful and engaging websites and blogs.
On the other hand, we use different social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter as an easy way to connect and engage potential customers. In order to make this process easier, we use automation tools. They help us save time and minimize manual work by transforming certain activities into automated tasks that can be managed from a single interface.
Long story short
Your brand language and tone of voice are an essential part of your branding process. If used correctly they help you connect and engage your audience in a meaningful way. At Brandician we have a unique approach to every aspect of a branding process. In this case, we use brand archetypes and content strategies to help our customers develop and implement their brand voice.
We have a lot of satisfied customers! If you need help in fine-tuning your brand voice contact us to get started!
