How To Find Your Brand Voice - A Step-by-Step Guide
10-minute read
Finding your business’ brand voice is just as important as understanding your target audience. If you are not speaking their language, then you are shooting in the dark.
Let’s zoom out for a second, and think of a situation where you introduced yourself to a new group of people. Business owners need to do this constantly, let’s say you are at a networking event and you want to make sure you stand out. You ask yourself:
How can I make a lasting impression?
Here are some of the best things you can do:
#1 Be human — yes, you can talk business but throw in a couple of personal anecdotes to create rapport
#2 Give — most people at networking events are so ready to take, they are ready to find new clients or find partnerships that will benefit their business. What is often forgotten is that we are all humans and creating relationships is even more important. Instead of approaching things with the mindset of ‘what can they do for me?’, try to give them a nugget or knowledge or make an introduction to someone you think can genuinely help them. That’s how you network and build relationships.
#3 Be curious — what can I say? People love talking about themselves. Staying curious about their business and what they are going through will allow you to create a long-lasting relationship.
Now, how does this relate to creating a brand voice?
If you follow the advice I just gave you, you will be known as that friendly [insert job title] person that goes rock climbing and introduced so-and-so to so-and-so and was actually very pleasant and interested in so-and-so’s business.
“Creating a brand voice is all about creating a personality for your brand.”
What Is a Brand Voice?
Think of your brand as a person.
Your brand voice is the way your business shows up for the world, the way your business speaks to its audience and competitors, and the way your business handles any obstacles thrown in its way.
Ideally, your brand voice should be defined before you write any copy. That means before you create your website, and even before you write a caption on social media.
Let’s take a look at some brands that have a distinct brand voice:
Duolingo
If you have been on Tiktok, you know that Duolingo’s mascot runs one of the most beloved accounts on there (they also have the numbers to prove it). This brand analysis of Duolingo’s social media success highlights many important points on how it got there.
But I want to focus on how they really allowed their brand personality to shine. While Duolingo continues to be an app to learn new languages, it really connects with its audience by being relatable and funny.
Their brand personality shined through when they steered away from making how-to videos, and started jumping on trending sounds and being snarky in the comments section of other people and business’ social media.
One of my favourite parts of that analysis is what Zaria Parvez, Duolingo’s social media manager said:
“Instagram is how you would probably talk to a colleague, Facebook is how you talk to your like, grandma, and TikTok is how you talk to, like, a close friend.”
This goes back to imagining your brand as a person with its own characteristics and voice.
Wendy’s
Wendy’s is a brand with a big personality that really understands its target audience. Whoever is behind their Twitter account is snarky, funny, takes jabs at their competitor, and really stands out among all other fast food accounts.
This is a great example of choosing the right medium to have a conversation with your audience and creating a big personality to connect with them. If you think about it — what can a fast food restaurant possibly do on Twitter? Well, Wendy’s marketing team knows exactly what to do to be successful.
Wendy’s staying active on Twitch, a platform popular among millennials and gen-z that has 140 Million unique monthly visitors.
Wendy’s taking a stab at McDonald’s since their ice cream machine is notoriously broken.
Why Is It Important?
Instead of telling you, let’s take a look at a very successful startup: Wealthsimple.
Start-ups are actually one of the best use cases for building a brand voice. Why branding is important for startups?
Many startups make common things and problems easier to use and more accessible. Let’s take personal finance as an example.
Start-ups such as Wealthsimple set themselves apart by creating a personality that resonates with their audience. They started out by primarily catering to millennials, while the world was telling them to stop buying avocado toast, they said they will round up every purchase they make and invest it for them.
Wealthsimple clearly caters to a much larger audience, one of them being gen-z, but take a look at the simple messaging they use:
How Can You Build One?
#1 Create Your Personality
You can use The Brand Personality Framework that was developed by Jennifer L. Aaker. However, a lot has changed since 1997 and I believe it is too restricting.
We recommend having your team involved to answer:
Use 5 words that describe how you want your customers to perceive your business.
#2 Build Personas
Buyer personas are an asset in your brand guide and an important step is learning how to create your brand voice.
Not only should you focus on the language that you use, but you should show that you are hyperaware of who your audience is throughout your content.
HubSpot has a great article on how to build buyer personas that you should check out but here are some quick tips:
Put a face to your client — you can use stock photos to do this, but having a visual is important for creativity.
Outline basic information about them: age, income, lifestyle, gender identity, where do they live, what do they like to wear, and more.
News & media — where do they get their news from? Do they prefer to be contacted by email or text?
Challenges and goals — this is where you can focus a bit more on your business and outline exactly how your product solves their issues.
#3 Create a Word Bank
Creating a word bank is must simpler than you think, it is simply a library of words that you want your brand to use and to be associated with. This goes back to thinking of your brand as a person, a word bank helps build your personality.
Can you guess a word that is in Saffron Ink’s word bank 👀? Drop your guesses in the comment section
Another strategy for building a word bank is to outline alternatives for common words. You can include in your brand guide to replace common words such as ‘interesting’ or ‘top’ with words that you consider on-brand. For example:
Interesting ➡ Thought-provoking
Top ➡ Ultimate
Pro tip:
Create a brand guide and put all your research in one place.
This will make it much easier for your team, those new to your team or an agency you might work with to produce content that aligns with your brand voice.