Imagine a world where everyone you meet sounds the same, where their words blend and fade into the background.
How would you choose your friends? Who would you decide to spend time with?
Tricky questions, right? Because how people express themselves is a fundamental part of their identity. It’s who they are.
The same principle applies to businesses: a brand voice is more than just a collection of words and phrases — it’s a reflection of your company’s essence.
And when you might be perceived as offering the same things as your competitors, it’s the quickest and most effective way to make yourself stand out.
Moreover, unless your company has no website, no social media presence, no signage, no leaflets, no emails, and no customers, having a brand voice is unavoidable. It’s not a nice-to-have marketing option — whether you like it or not, you already have one. And that voice may or may not be working well for your business.
Building customer loyalty
People have an innate tendency to humanise brands, just as they do pets, characters in books, and even inanimate objects. And naturally, they prefer to interact with those they feel an affinity with.
That’s not to say you should try to sound like your target audience — if that were even possible. People are just as likely to be drawn to someone who inspires, intrigues, or makes them smile.
What matters is showing your true personality. A consistent, authentic, and engaging voice allows your target audience to get to know you, what you care about, and how you do things — helping customers decide whether you’re their kind of company,
Done right, it sets you apart from your competitors, creates and strengthens emotional connections with your audience, and builds customer loyalty. It can also help with recruitment, as people increasingly seek roles they believe in and employers they can relate to. Employers with purpose.
On the flip side, if you give your audience nothing to hold on to — no sense of your true identity — you become just another faceless seller, with purely transactional relationships. And in today’s world, where people are often looking for more meaning, that’s a risky place to be.
Establishing your authentic voice
So, how do you go about defining your brand voice? Well, it’s certainly not about plucking a great personality out of thin air or simply copying another brand you like — it has to feel true to you, or trust goes out the window faster than you can say “bullsh*t”. Nobody likes a fake.
Finding your authentic brand personality requires some honest soul searching — and it’s generally best not to rely on just one or two people at the top to decide on their own. This isn’t a question of personal opinion or whim but the result of a clear, structured process.
Gathering insights from different areas of your company can prove valuable, as can seeking objective input from outside experts. They can ask the right questions to help you uncover who you are and articulate it in the most compelling way.
Then comes the most important part: putting your brand voice into action consistently across your business, which means developing and agreeing on a set of tone of voice guidelines.
The good news is that there are straightforward, proven methods for achieving all this — and the potential benefits are vast.
Making an impact
Consider the most popular brands — the likes of Coca-Cola, Nike, McDonald’s, IKEA — they each have a distinct voice and clear persona that mark them out, and that’s no accident.
Or think about your friends. What attracts you to them? Would you still want to hang out with them if they stopped being themselves, their personality kept changing, or worse still, everything they said was so bland you instantly forgot it?
By identifying and expressing your brand voice, you’ll be taking a big step towards growing your loyal customer base, attracting top talent, and gaining an edge over the competition.
Ready to discover your unique voice? Let’s talk.
Read more: Discovering your brand’s true self: Insights from Pixar’s Inside Out 2
Read more: Turning innovation into investment: Anaphite’s success story