Whether you’re a pro at the marketing game or are new to this exciting element of promoting your business, you probably already know that your brand’s voice sets you apart from your competitors. Unfortunately, in today’s day and age, there are a lot of competitors vying for your customer’s attention, so having a strong and clear brand voice becomes all the more critical.
How do you stand out in a crowded market? How do you show it? The answer to that question is what will set you apart from your competition and help you earn fans, followers, and customers: it’s your brand voice.
What Is A Brand Voice?
Before you can determine how to create a strong brand voice for your business, you need to know precisely what a brand voice is. A brand voice is many elements rolled into one ‘persona’ for your business. Brand voice encompasses your tone (cheeky, serious, etc.) and your visual style, e.g., what you hope to showcase on social media (photos, infographics, text).
Now that you know your brand voice, how do you strengthen it to make a lasting impression on your audience?
Steps To Strengthen Your Brand Voice
Know Your Audience
Knowing your target audience is the first step to building your brand voice. Conduct market research, or peruse data from your current customer base, including their interests, pain points, age, and other preferences. After all, you can only market to them if you know who they are and what they’ll respond to.
Example ideal customer showing the target audience
Once you know this information, you can move on to the next step.
Make It Official
Once you know your target audience, it’s time to define your brand’s personality. Remember, this is the part where you determine how your brand speaks to its audience. Whether you are serious and authoritative or more fun and whimsical, now is the time to decide. Once you choose, you’ll want to stick with that voice, so make sure it’s the right one.
Example brand personality
Get A Guiding Light
If you haven’t already, now is the time for you to develop your brand guide. A brand guide is a document that houses all the pertinent information about your brand and its voice, including fonts, logos, colors, and of course, your voice. This guide will serve as the guidelines for anyone working on your brand and is handy for use in many applications, not just marketing. For expert help creating your brand guide, visit our blog or contact our branding experts for more information.
Example elements from a brand guide
Keep It Consistent
When customers ask you for help, they want to know who they’re talking to. That’s why it’s essential to pick a voice and stick with it. After all, it’s confusing if your email marketing is silly and fun, but your social media posts are serious. Consistency helps cultivate trust with your customers and is easier for your marketing team to maintain.
Show and Tell
Your brand is unique, and you should be bold in sharing why. This is why you want to tell your story to your customers. Sharing your story can include your reason for doing what you do, your values, and what makes you different from every brand vying for your customers’ business.
Also, be sure to put some thought into your content. Ensure you use high-quality photography that truly showcases your business or product. Your brand guide should establish photography guidelines or a mood board. Consider using UGC (user-generated content) in addition to your own professionally shot photography.
Example photography style guidelines
Don’t Be A Stranger
Now that you have a voice in the marketplace, it’s time to use it. Don’t just show; talk to and engage with your audience regularly.
Social media can be a great tool for strengthening your brand. Regular engagement can not only prevent embarrassing problems that may come up, but it increases customer loyalty and engagement rates. You want your customers to interact with your content, so make sure it’s fun, and you respond, for better or worse.
Example social media post showing a brand engaging with fans
Now that your brand voice is nailed down, it’s time to test the waters and see what works. Completing some marketing testing can be helpful in these situations. Marketing testing is typically done with A/B testing and through regular reporting from your marketing team and customer feedback. If you notice something isn’t working, now is the time to fine-tune it.
Make your Brand Voice Shine
To truly stand out in the crowd, being consistent with your brand voice is the best way to engage customers and create a strong following. Customers want to know who they’re doing business with, and they want you to be responsive to their needs, whether through the problems solved by your product or through your communication with them on social media or other marketing channels.
If you need help with any aspect of your marketing communications, including making your brand shine, let the experts at ELMNTL help.
