Oh, the irony. Tone of voice is all about making a brand’s communication as effective as possible, and we’ve gone and confused the whole thing by talking about it in lots of different ways. Turns out the brand world has as much of a jargon problem as any other specialism. Let’s sort through it all and see what’s what.
First up: is a brand’s tone of voice about speaking, or writing, or what?
Good question. Given the word ‘voice’, you’d think it would be about speaking. And yet, brand tone of voice mostly refers to words that are written down. That could be words on packaging, or websites, or in stores, or on Apps. It might be on social media. It might be words that are written down as scripts or prompts, then used by people talking (for example, customer service people).
⁂
Are we talking about ‘tone of voice’, ‘brand voice’, ‘brand tone of voice’ or what?
You’ve noticed. Yes, this thing – a brand’s ‘voice’ has a few names. Originally, it was called ‘verbal identity’ (to make a nice pairing with ‘visual identity’). Over time, ‘tone of voice’ became the more usual term, particularly in the UK. ‘Brand voice’ is now more usual in the US. Personally, I’ve started using the phrase ‘brand tone of voice’ – because it ticks all the boxes! (I know, I’ve probably just made things worse. Sorry.)
⁂
What’s the difference between a brand’s ‘content’ and ‘tone’?
One way to think about ‘tone’, is to think of it in relation to ‘content’.
It’s common to talk about it like this:
There’s content (That’s what you say)
And there’s tone or voice (that’s how you say it)
So, different brands will say the same thing in different ways.
· A formal brand might say ‘let’s commence’.
· An energetic brand might be more ‘let’s go, babyyyy!’
But! In reality, it’s rarely just about ‘swapping out one phrase for another’. What we say and how we say it are often much more subtly woven together. That’s because your brand’s content and tone is also linked to:
· Your overall worldview
· What details, metaphors, or stories you draw upon
· The kind of relationship you have with your customers
· Lots of other subtle and contextual things
⁂
I’ve heard some people talk about ‘Brand Voice’ and ‘Brand Tone’ together. What’s that about?
Yes. There’s a bit of nuance – in the US, particularly in tech, people sometimes draw a distinction between ‘voice’ and ‘tone’. The ideas is that ‘Brand voice’ is the overall expression of your brand’s ‘personality’, and ‘brand tone’ being how that might flex depending on the particular situation.
This is how Mailchimp define it (Mailchimp were one of the first brands to make this voice / tone distinction. Their writing guidelines were public on their website, which meant lots of other tech companies copied them.)
‘You have the same voice all the time, but your tone changes. You might use one tone when you're out to dinner with your closest friends, and a different tone when you're in a meeting with your boss.
Your tone also changes depending on the emotional state of the person you’re addressing. You wouldn’t want to use the same tone of voice with someone who’s scared or upset as you would with someone who’s laughing.’
Which is true enough. But it does tend to over-complicate a straightforward idea. And it can quickly lead to brand guideline over-complication. Guidelines might talk about ‘sliding scales’ or have complex matrices that are supposed to help you know when to ‘turn up’ or ‘turn down’ the voice.
And in practice, they inevitably come out as ‘do more’ when things are fun (you’re doing things like advertising, persuading or being enthusiastic), and ‘do less’ when things are serious (you’re saying sorry, breaking difficult news or writing legal stuff).
But the truth is – you can’t ever really know ahead of time or out of context. For example, sometimes an apology is an excellent opportunity to turn your personality up to the max. (Remember when KFC ran out of chicken?)
The most effective guide you have is: your empathy with customers and the context, your understanding of your brand’s voice, and your instincts as a communicator.
Which is connected to our next question:
⁂
Should you have different brand tones of voice for different places and situations?
My honest answer is – mostly, no. It’s much better for a brand to have one voice and put its creative efforts into making that voice shine through in everything. Creating a truly stand-out brand is hard work, the world is noisy, and even your most loyal customers are not paying that close attention!
So, don’t confuse people or dilute your efforts by dividing your brand into different personalities for different contexts. Yes, you’ll need to modulate your voice depending on context. But much better for everyone’s attention to be on having a strong, coherent, easily-recognisable voice across everything. (Even in your small print and your out of office replies.)
I’d love to hear your voice
If you’d like me to help you find your brand voice? Hit me up.
-
Read Tone Knob:
My Substack newsletter that unpacks what the world’s best brands do with their language.
Take my short course:
Say Hello to the 11 Primary Voices - A way of thinking about ‘the whole landscape of possibilities’ for brand voice
Buy the ‘ultimate approach to creating brilliant brand voices:
Voicebox - Everything you need to define and bring to life your brand's tone of voice. A complete method. In a box.