When it comes to standing out as a business online, it’s not enough to just write content. Writing good content is the first step, but differentiating yourself from your competitors is key. Now that we’ve talked about the basics of content marketing, it’s time to really focus on your brand’s unique voice. Does your content match your message and your brand? Making your content’s message accurately present your brand is an important way to stand out as a business.
What does it mean to develop your brand’s voice?
Your brand’s voice is your brand’s personality in writing. A unique voice will help you connect and be recognizable to your audience. Whether it’s formal or very casual, you want your brand’s voice to be consistent across all of your written material. By doing this, your customers will start recognizing your brand as soon as they start reading your words. A consistent voice gives your brand strength, and makes your message more memorable. This is important, because it helps you to build real connections with your customers through your writing. It also allows your customers to feel like they understand your company, and it helps them want to buy your product or work with you.
How to Establish Your Brand’s Voice
Just like you did with the design aspects of your brand, your brand’s written voice needs to be a reflection of your company. Take some time to think about how you want your customers to feel about your brand.
What sets your company apart?
How would you describe your products or services to a customer in person?
Does your customer base resonate with a more casual tone, or would they prefer something more formal?
Does your brand’s voice match what you’re selling?
When developing your brand voice, it’s important to keep your goals and brand personality at the forefront. Make sure that you’re not alienating your customer base by focusing too much on being different, and losing sight of what your product or service can do for them. Knowing your customers and doing the research from the start will help you narrow this down.
Once you have an answer to these questions, these are the important points that you need to keep in mind in order to create a cohesive and effective brand voice:
1) Have and enforce a consistent writing style.
If you have a conversational style for your website copy, make sure that the same style translates to your blog posts, advertisements, email marketing, and any written material that represents your brand. This doesn’t mean that you can’t target your customer base in a different way, but it does mean that your customers should universally recognize your voice and your brand. This same style will help your brand feel consistent and trustworthy.
2) Pay attention to your sentence structure and formatting.
Do you like long flowing sentences, short sentences, or a combination of both? Do you write long academic essays one day and follow it up with short technical articles the next? The way you structure your sentences has just as much impact as your tone when you are creating your brand’s unique identity. It is important that you don’t confuse your customers by altering your style too much. Don’t fret if you’re not sure which style works for your brand and your customers right now. You can try out different styles and test them to see what works and matches your brand voice and goals.
3) Make sure that everyone who writes for your business is on the same page.
Remember that your brand voice needs to be consistent through all of your written material, including your social media, your website, your blog, and your advertisements. Different writers don’t have to sound exactly the same, but they must work on invoking a similar feeling through their writing.
4) Connect with your clients by actively using your brand voice in every situation.
How do you reply when a customer is angry, or to a customer who is extremely enthusiastic? Your written interactions need to continue to match your brand’s voice when customers contact you or refer to you in writing. This is especially important in the social media environment, where other potential leads and current customers will take note of your interactions. Have a written plan on how to address these customer interactions, and make sure that everyone in your company uses it.
5) Change what isn’t working.
If you notice that a certain aspect of your brand’s voice is not working, don’t be afraid to make a change. As your customers change and your product offerings and services evolve, so will your brand’s voice. Just as you learn and grow as business owner, your brand’s voice will continue to develop and become more complex to match your goals and audience.
Why is all of this important?
With so many conflicting voices out there, developing and consistently using your cohesive brand voice will help you continue to stand out in your industry. Don’t be scared to make changes and test new concepts during your development stage to see what really connects with your clients.
Remember that a clear and consistent voice has the power to make you a trustworthy and reliable source.
Like always, if you need help developing your content marketing plan or building your digital presence online, feel free to contact us for a quote. We’ll be happy to walk you through these steps towards helping you build a strong digital presence to meet your marketing goals.