Setting the right tone consistently across all touchpoints

From press releases, company brochures, to website copy and social media, it’s important to have a consistent tone of voice in company communication, which captures your brand personality.

Setting the right tone influences how both internal and external audiences perceive your business. It highlights your values and expertise and differentiates you from the competition.

Without your logo, could people identify content as coming from you? While you may need to slightly adjust your voice for different audiences or contexts – for example taking a more relaxed approach on social media, your overall tone of voice should show uniformity. That way, it reflects and aligns with your values and means all employees are on brand. Top performing brands like Audi and Starbucks understand the significance of getting this right, showcasing their tone of voice online.

Express yourself

To define your voice, it’s handy to give your business a persona. Are you caring, modern, edgy, or serious? When identifying what characteristics best describe your brand, you could even match this to a celebrity. Remember it needs to be true to you. It may help to create a one-page sheet, splitting this into the type of brand you are and the type of brand you are not. How does your business embody these traits? How do you want potential customers to feel when they interact with your brand?

Use this information to help you develop brand tone of voice guidelines, to share and communicate amongst colleagues. To make it easy for team members to follow, include some practical examples of how your business should sound in content such as telephone calls, social media, or emails. Provide training workshops to ensure that everyone representing your brand understands and uses the appropriate tone of voice.

Getting the finer details right

Check for consistency in less prominent customer touchpoints too. From signage to the labelling on company packaging, email signatures, how you communicate your cookie policies, down to a creative 404 error message on your website – they all add up to represent you and can leave a lasting impression.

A range of AI tools like Typetone and ContentShake are available which can help you to maintain your brand identity by assessing whether your copy uses a consistent and relevant tone of voice. Whilst these tools can make communications activity more efficient, any content that AI produces should be refined, ensuring it has the human touch and always puts your audiences front and centre. Care and judgement also needs to be taken on issues such as bias, copyright and duplication of material.

Review and adapt

Developing your brand voice shouldn’t be a one-off focus. Pay attention to how your audience responds to your communications. Use customer and employee feedback to adapt your tone of voice as needed. As your brand grows and evolves, periodically revisit, and refine your guidelines, to ensure they remain relevant, and content continues to resonate with your target audiences.

If you’d like help exploring, establishing, and refining your brand voice, get in touch!