Timesaving tips for developing a tone of voice

“Tricky” – the word my 3-year-old uses to describe any situation or task that he finds difficult.

“What you talking about?” – means, what are you thinking.

“Dobadee” – the name he gives to his Peter Rabbit comforter.

This is his language. His quirks. His brand.

It’s the same with your business’ tone of voice. What you say and how you say it becomes an essential part of your brand personality. If you’re regularly sharing content across various mediums and channels, you need to be consistent, distinctive and memorable.

Tips for small to medium businesses to discover their tone of voice

There are some lengthy steps that you can go through to uncover your brand’s tone of voice. If you lack the time and resource, then try this instead:

1. Imagine your business is a person. What are your core values? Describe what this person stands for.

2. Think about the key messages you want to share with the world. For example, you care about your community. Or, you want to make it easier for business owners to have an online presence.

3. Write a “we’re this, but we’re not that” list. For example, we’re laid back but not lazy.

4. How does your audience talk? Look for inspiration. Where do they hang out? What do they read? Give unnecessary jargon a wide berth.

5. Make a style checklist. Do you speak in 3rd person? Do you use slang? What are your preferred terms and can you simplify any of them?

6. Create a tone of voice guide for internal and external use that includes the following:

a. The guide is written in your tone of voice.

b. It gives examples of specific words and phrases that are appropriate and ones that aren’t.

c. It gives examples of how to write copy for different mediums or channels.

7. Share your tone of voice guide with everyone who writes communications for your business.

8. It’s your voice. Own it. Be sure to weed out the copy that doesn’t meet your standards and fix it. Perhaps you could set up a process whereby someone’s in charge of editing copy before it reaches your ideal clients.

So, in summary, be natural, establish your unique sound and stand out from the crowd.

For help developing your tone of voice, please contact me. We can go through the process together. And, you can use my copywriting services to shout your new-found voice from the rooftops.