Laura Robbins
In today’s dynamic marketplace, where consumers are bombarded with choices, establishing a distinct brand voice is paramount for standing out and building meaningful connections with your audience. Whether you’re a real estate property, a credit union, or a boutique hotel, a compelling brand identity weaves together words and emotions to convey a coherent and resonant message.
Let’s explore the art of developing a voice that aligns with your brand’s identity and strikes a chord with your target audience.
understanding your brand’s identity.
Back up, back up, back up. Before you even begin to explore your brand’s voice, you first need to ensure you’ve established your brand’s identity.
What values does your brand stand for?
What sets it apart from competitors?
What emotions do you want to evoke in your audience?
By delving into these questions, you can uncover the essence of your brand and lay the foundation for developing a distinct voice that encapsulates its personality.
Take Threshold’s brand voice for instance. One of our corporate values is that we’re both professional and playful. That value is woven throughout our voice. We like to get the job done and do an amazing job at that, and we like to have a laugh or two along the way. A witty joke or pun is welcome – and oftentimes encouraged – in these parts.
audience insight: listening to consumer needs.
Understanding your target audience is crucial for shaping your brand voice. Conduct thorough research to gain insights into your audience’s demographics, psychographics, and pain points.
What language resonates with them?
What tone elicits the desired emotional response?
Go so far as crafting personas for your brand so you can better tailor your voice and messaging to your audience. Having this distinct persona will also allow you to quality-check your brand’s messaging as it gets put into use, ensuring what you’re saying is relevant to your target audience.
maintaining your voice across touchpoints.
Remember that thing we said above, about quality-checking your brand voice? Yeah – it’s important.
Consistency is the bedrock of a strong brand voice. Maintaining a unified voice across all marketing touchpoints reinforces your brand’s identity and fosters trust with your audience. Whether it’s your website copy, social media posts, or customer support interactions, ensure that your brand voice remains consistent in tone, style, and messaging to deepen relationships with your audience.
it’s ok to be flexible.
Yeah, ok, the odd rule is meant to be broken, is it not? While consistency is essential, it’s also important to recognize that the marketplace is constantly evolving, and consumer preferences may change over time.
Your brand voice should be flexible enough to resonate with changing trends and audience dynamics. Continuously monitor feedback, stay attuned to cultural shifts, and be willing to adjust your brand voice accordingly to maintain relevance and resonance.
Threshold did just that! We underwent a brand refresh in 2023 to better align our creative direction, messaging, and services to our clients and their needs.
be yourself.
Above all, authenticity is the core of a compelling brand voice. Consumers are attracted to brands that authentically express their values and beliefs. Be genuine, transparent, and true to your brand’s identity in every communication. Authenticity not only fosters deeper connections with your audience, but also builds loyalty and advocacy over time.
to sum it all up.
By understanding your brand’s identity, listening attentively to your audience, maintaining consistency, embracing flexibility, and embodying authenticity, you can elevate your brand above the noise and leave a lasting impression on your audience.
Remember, the marriage of words and brand identity is not just about what you say, but how you say it. Let your brand voice be what captivates, inspires, and connects with your audience.
Now that you know how essential a brand voice is, let Threshold help you craft one! We use carefully curated data to deliver positioning and messaging full of strategic potential. Our experienced team weeds out stale approaches to deliver fresh perspectives and brand guidelines that empower future asset creation. And we’ll make you go wow in the process. Promise.
about the author.
Laura is the brand strategist here at Threshold (so when it comes to all things branding – take her word for it). She embodies all of the best part of what creative marketing is all about, bringing life to brands across the spectrum, and highlighting all of the best aspects that a company, property, business, or any other brand has to offer its consumers.
When she’s not bringing brands to life at Threshold, Laura loves spending time with her husband, son, friends, and family – and she’s even got a little one on the way! Whether it’s spending quality time with loved ones, traveling, trying new restaurants, or working on her novel (yep – she does it all), Laura is the definition of someone who lives to get all of the best things out of life, and we love her for it.
