Every organization has a story to tell, but you need a true understanding of your voice – the tone, attitude, and behaviors of your company – to tell it in a consistent, effective way. That voice is essentially your brand personality.
It’s not always easy to know how to define your customer voice, much less start using it. This guide walks through what your customer voice means and how to find it, including the key questions you need to ask yourself and a helpful worksheet to get you started.
It’s important to note that your brand voice can be used in multiple ways, and that you can have different tones in different types of content. Also, your organization is made up of multiple individuals, each of whom incorporate their own voices and tones into the overall brand voice. Consistency is key, but each person can still bring their own personality to the table. You can have multiple tones and still stay true to the brand voice.
It’s also helpful to differentiate between branding and brand. Your branding is your logo, color scheme, website design, swag, and elements like your graphics. Your brand, on the other hand, is your company’s reputation and how people view it from the outside. It takes into account how you treat customers and what your community of buyers feels like.
As FleishmanHillard put it, “It’s not just about what you sell, but how your brand and your leaders engage with society.”
Your customer voice is the brand of your organization. It’s the expectation that people have when they hear from you and tells them what it will be like to interact with you. That’s why getting your brand voice right is so important.
Nailing down your brand voice requires that you get real with yourself. If you’re not sure how to start defining it, think about these drivers of authenticity to help you stay true to your business goals and vision:
Let’s dig deeper into the customer benefits element since it’s so important. It’s no longer enough to create great products. It’s important to people that you’re trying to make positive impacts on the world around you. What you focus on with your messaging sets the stage for what you want to be as an organization.
To stay authentic:
Remember that people trust people. Mark Schaefer writes in his book, Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins, that “Studies consistently show that content about a brand created by a consumer – in their authentic voice – receives between 600% and 700% more engagement than content about the same product posted by the company.” This is why case studies and online reviews are so effective. Hearing from customers allows you to build trust with other potential customers because, again, people trust people.
You can find your customer voice in a few simple steps, but it may take you time to get it just right. Pretend your brand was a person, and start by answering these questions:
Then, you need to define your audience. This includes their:
You need to know the drivers that lead someone to make a decision or change. Think about your voice, tone, and message, and about what actually causes customers to act. Consider these keywords:
Really try to nail down the words that stand out to you before you begin formulating exactly what you want people to take away from your voice. Then, consider what drives consumers to act, which are broken down into three hierarchy categories:
You feel something and want to take action. You’re thinking about purchasing a computer, for example, so you visit Apple’s store, are blown away by their products and the thought of being in their community, and you buy one.
You want a cup of coffee. You know you can trust the quality of Starbucks and you love the experience, so you go there, order, and you enjoy the purchase.
Someone created pop-up Luke’s Diner cafes where fans of the show Gilmore Girls can visit and engage with a beloved series. This approach plays to what people know and love to give them an experience of nostalgia they’ll remember forever.
Thinking about these stages helps you nail down what drives the people you’re trying to inspire.
Remember: Keep your voice consistent. Think about where you fit on certain spectrums, like positivity versus curiosity. Do you always want to be super bubbly and positive, or are you OK with questioning things? Are you snarky or sassy? Do you see yourself as the voice of God, the one and only authority on a specific topic? What are you trying to say?
This simple worksheet with examples of potential answers will help you get to brainstorming:
At ContentBacon, we help you define your customer voice and shout your unique messages from the rooftops. We also make sure that your inbound marketing content will inspire your audiences to act and keep your flywheel spinning.
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