Developing an intimate relationship with language. Honing in on brand voice to bolster brand relevance.
A common misconception when building [or birthing] a brand, is that a brand is defined by its name, logo, palette, personality and visual aesthetics. Whilst visuals and identity facets are an essential supporting structure of a brand, the linchpin of brand architecture is language.
Language is the seat of the soul of a brand. It is the brand’s verbal identity, otherwise known as the brand’s voice. The brand voice is how a brand expresses its personality. It represents the brand’s unique perspective, the values it stands for, and discernibly sets the tone, communication style and language used to communicate with it’s audience.
The brand voice is the personality, the attitude, the emotion interwoven within a company that aims to invoke. It separates signal from the noise , creates consistent communications across all channels, and plays an important role in maintaining brand relevance.
Brand relevance in a time of constant change, emerging trends, and heightened customer expectation, is the new differentiation. Relevance is the personal, emotional, fundamentally different from brand to brand. It is an intrinsic, emotive connection attributed to a company’s product, service, or brand. Essential to brand success, relevance retains esteem, perceived quality, potency and influential levels of trust.
When a brand navigates by way of emotional gravity, and quests after intention and meaningful positioning through personal relevance, it comes into being by means of discovery. Through the agency of soul searching and excavation, focusing on the potency of words, the language utilized becomes the wardrobe for the brand. When a brand creates a relationship with its words, it becomes a walking conversation with resonance that creates a relationship with its world.
The emotions evoked shape brand identity, creating a structure that consciously and subconsciously dictates brand relatability, recognition, and impression, which consequently conditions power of appeal.
Bolstered Brand Voice + Emotion Evoking Tone + Transportive Narrative = Brand Relevance
Identify the audience & listen to them. Perform in-depth research to gather consumer data, human behavior patterns, and identify the demographics and psychographics that define key customer personas.
Develop the brand’s personality and distinguish the brand archetype. Brand Archetypes were developed by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung in the 1940’s. They are a projection of a person that transcends language, culture, and time. Intrinsic and hereditary, archetypes are constructs that play a role in influencing the collective unconscious.
For more information on our brand archetypes take a peak at our psych-driven brand strategy.
Help the brand use a consistent, on-brand voice by developing guidelines around what is acceptable and unacceptable. As voice, tone, and style are an extension of the brand, it’s important to define the linguistic nuances, vocabulary, and speech patterns to be applied across all channels and platforms.
Note* This guide is a living, breathing document that should metamorphose in tandem with the brand. Make sure to update, reference, and keep it up to the minute.
How your brand sounds is how your brand will be received.
Be distinct. Be authentic. Bring clarity to brand voice and style by being direct, and easily identifiable to create connection.
Perform extensive A/B testing with written copy to understand what language resonates with the audience. With the understanding that change is constant and customer expectation is ever-escalating, continuously test, iterate, and optimize for impact and performance.
In summary, defining the brand voice is one of the most important aspects of creating a strong and consistent brand identity that resonates. It is what makes the brand memorable because it is the medium through which the brand can communicate with the outside world. It is the gateway to fostering emotional connection, empathy and understanding.
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