Imagine your brand as a character in a story — one with a distinct personality, quirks, and values that resonate with your audience. Whether your brand is bold and adventurous or calm and nurturing, that unique voice should shine through in every interaction, from your website copy to your Instagram captions.
Here’s the catch: 81% of consumers need to trust a brand to consider buying. If your brand voice isn’t consistent across all touchpoints, your audience could start feeling like they’re dealing with a bunch of different characters, and not the one they fell in love with. That’s where the magic of consistency comes in.
In this blog, we’re diving into how to keep your brand voice strong, clear, and on-point, no matter where your audience encounters it. Whether you're posting on social media, sending an email, or chatting with customers through support, we’ll show you how to create a unified experience that feels authentic and seamless.
Key takeaways:
- Create a clear brand voice guide with tone, language, and values that reflect your brand’s personality.
- Adapt your messaging for each platform, but always keep the core tone and style the same.
- Ensure everyone understands the brand voice and how to apply it, from marketing to customer service.
What is a brand voice?
A brand voice is the unique personality and tone that a company uses in its communications, both written and spoken. It reflects the company’s values, mission, and overall vibe, helping to create a distinct identity that resonates with its audience. Your brand voice should be consistent across all touchpoints, ensuring your audience recognizes and connects with you no matter where they meet your brand.
For example:
- A fun and playful brand voice might be used by companies like Disney or Ben & Jerry’s, using humor and lighthearted language to engage customers.
- A professional and authoritative brand voice is often seen in industries like finance or law, with companies like Goldman Sachs or The New York Times using formal, clear, and expert language.
- A friendly and empathetic brand voice is common in customer service-based businesses, like Spotify or Airbnb, where the tone is conversational and supportive.
Each brand voice example shows how brand voice shapes the way a company communicates and connects with its audience.
Differences between brand voice and tone
Understanding the difference between brand voice and tone is key to creating consistent, impactful communication. While the two are often used interchangeably, they serve distinct purposes in how you engage with your audience. To help clarify the difference, we’ve broken it down in the table below. This will give you a clearer picture of how each element plays a role in shaping your brand's communications.
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Brand voice and messaging: What's the difference?
While both brand voice and brand messaging work together to shape your brand’s identity, they focus on different aspects of communication. Understanding the distinction between these two can help you craft a more cohesive and effective brand experience. Here's a quick comparison to highlight their differences.
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How to find your brand voice
Finding your brand voice is essential to building a strong, authentic connection with your audience. It’s not just about choosing a tone or style — it’s about aligning your communication with the core values of your brand while resonating with the people you’re trying to reach. Here’s how to get started on finding a brand voice that truly represents your business and speaks to your audience.
1. Understand your audience
Only around 1 in 3 consumers say they trust most of the brands they use. To create a brand voice that resonates, start by deeply understanding your audience. Use surveys, focus groups, and social listening tools to gather insights into their preferences, values, and how they engage with your brand. This helps you craft a voice that speaks directly to their needs and creates a stronger emotional connection.
2. Evaluate your internal communication style
Look inward at how your founders, leadership, and team communicate both internally and externally. Is there a consistent tone, or do different people use varying styles? Observing these patterns helps you align your brand’s voice, ensuring everyone on your team is on the same page. A unified internal communication style will naturally translate into consistent external messaging.
3. Define your brand’s core values
Your brand voice should reflect what your company stands for. Take the time to define your core values — what’s important to you and your customers? Whether it’s innovation, reliability, or social responsibility, these values should be the foundation of your voice, helping guide your communication and ensuring it always aligns with your mission.
4. Analyze your competitors
Competitor analysis is key to identifying opportunities and gaps in your industry. Look at how other brands communicate and pinpoint what works well or feels overused. By understanding what resonates with your shared audience and where others fall short, you can fine-tune your voice to stand out and avoid sounding generic.
Why a consistent brand voice matters
A consistent brand voice is essential for building trust with your audience and establishing a strong, recognizable identity. When your messaging is unified across all touchpoints — whether it’s your website, social media, or customer service — your audience begins to recognize and connect with your brand more easily. This recognition fosters trust because people know what to expect from you, making them feel more comfortable and confident in their interactions.
Beyond recognition, consistency helps maintain brand integrity. When your voice is consistent, it reflects a clear, coherent identity that aligns with your values and mission. This strengthens your brand’s authenticity and ensures that every interaction feels genuine and true to who you are. Without a consistent brand voice, your message can become muddled, leaving your audience confused or disconnected, which ultimately impacts brand loyalty and growth.
How to keep brand voice consistency
Maintaining a consistent brand voice across all touch points requires careful planning and ongoing effort. To ensure your messaging is always aligned with your brand’s personality, it’s essential to create clear guidelines, adapt your tone for different contexts, and regularly review your strategy. Here are some key steps to help you establish and refine your brand voice for lasting impact.
1. Create detailed brand voice guidelines
Don’t be like the 15% of companies who don’t have brand guidelines — document your brand so you can maintain consistency. Include clear descriptions of tone, language, and personality traits, along with examples of appropriate and inappropriate voice usage to ensure everyone on your team understands the desired communication style.
2. Build a brand voice chart to guide consistent messaging
A brand voice chart helps ensure your messaging stays aligned across all platforms. Use tools like Mural to create visual guides that outline voice features, with options for team collaboration and easy approval, making the process smoother and more efficient.
3. Adapt your brand tone of voice to fit different audiences and channels
While your brand voice should remain consistent, your tone can shift based on context. For instance, use a more casual and engaging tone for social media, a professional yet friendly tone in email marketing, and a supportive, empathetic tone in customer support.
4. Monitor, review, and refine your brand voice strategy regularly
A brand voice isn’t a "set it and forget it" asset — it needs to evolve. Regularly review your strategy, assess performance metrics, and gather feedback to ensure your voice stays relevant and resonates with your audience as trends and preferences change.
Maintain consistency in the voice of a brand with Mural
Mural is an excellent solution for ensuring a consistent brand voice across your team and communication channels. With its customizable templates, you can easily create a visual framework for your brand voice guidelines, making it easy for everyone to stay aligned. Sticky notes and visual markers help organize ideas and key messaging points, giving you a clear, structured overview of your brand’s tone and style.
The platform also offers voting and feedback tools, allowing your team to provide input and make decisions on voice-related strategies in real time. Mural’s integration with popular tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Workspace ensures seamless collaboration, while commenting and tagging features enable quick feedback and precise communication on specific elements of your brand voice.
This combination of tools helps streamline the process of creating, sharing, and refining your brand voice strategy across all touchpoints. Try Mural for free and bring your brand voice to life with powerful visualization tools.
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