How Do I Maintain a Consistent Brand Voice?

If you want to maintain a consistent brand voice, you’ve got to identify the qualities you want people to recognize in your communication and document them with real examples.

And you should share those guidelines with everyone representing your business, so they can make sure they keep your underlying personality and message consistent while adjusting tone for different audiences and situations.

What’s more, you should review your communications regularly as your business grows, so you can ensure things stay consistent.

Key Takeaways:

• Study real examples of your best communication.
• Define your voice characteristics in practical terms.
• Adapt your tone without changing your underlying personality.
• Give contributors approved wording and messaging examples.
• Review customer interactions and update your guidelines periodically.

 
Have you ever reviewed something written for your business and thought, “Well, that’s technically correct, but I would never say it that way.”?

The information was accurate, and the wording was professional, but it sounded like it came from a completely different business.

This can happen quite easily as your business grows, especially when you have less and less time to write everything yourself, and other people are helping you get it done.

If you don’t provide direction for everyone involved, then your communication can gradually lose the qualities people associate with your brand.

But if you take the time to learn how to maintain a consistent brand voice, you can ensure your business remains recognizable, even when you’re no longer writing every word.

What Does it Actually Mean to Have a Consistent Brand Voice?

Your brand voice is the personality and point of view people come to recognize in the way your business communicates.

It comes through in your choice of words, how you explain things, the opinions you’re willing to express, and the way you treat the person reading or listening.

Tone is how that personality comes through in a particular conversation.

For instance, a consultant who’s warm, clear, and straightforward might share a lighthearted observation in her newsletter, then use a calmer, more reassuring tone when a client is worried about a project delay.

The situation calls for a different approach, but her underlying way of communicating remains familiar.

And the same applies when you’re talking to different audiences.

Someone encountering your services for the first time may need simpler explanations than a long-standing client who knows your process.

Luckily, you can adjust your vocabulary, level of detail, and formality without adopting a new personality each time.

In any case, when you have a consistent brand voice, it gives people a familiar sense of who they’re dealing with, and that matters far more than making sure every message follows the same script.

Why Your Brand Voice Can Get Lost as Your Business Grows

When you’re the only person communicating on behalf of your business, your voice tends to come through naturally. You know the stories behind your work, the promises you’re comfortable making, and the language your clients understand.

But when you hire an assistant, start working with a marketing agency, or bring on another team member, each person involved will have their own way of writing and speaking. And they may also have ideas about how a business in your industry is supposed to sound.

When this happens, the differences are often small at first.

For example, a typically friendly email may become more formal, a website update might use jargon you’d never use in conversation, and a proposal can make claims that sound more ambitious than anything you’d say to a client face to face.

Over the years, I’ve seen how easy it is for a business to accumulate marketing materials that look fine individually but communicate slightly different impressions.

In these cases, oftentimes the owner has been so busy running the business that no one has stepped back to do a comparison.

Usually, nobody intended to change the brand. People were just doing their best with the direction they had.

And that’s why maintaining your voice needs a little more thought than simply asking everyone to “keep it on brand.”

Identify What Makes Your Voice Recognizable

Before you write brand voice guidelines, you should look at the way you communicate when you’re at your best

 You probably already have some useful examples sitting in your sent emails, presentations, videos, or past articles.

So, choose three to five pieces that genuinely sound like you. If you’re leading a team, you should include examples of communication from other people that you feel represent your business well.

At this point, you should take some time to read all of it, pay close attention to the details, and ask yourself:

• Do I use practical examples to make a point?
• Am I candid about what I can and can’t promise?
• Do I get straight to the recommendation, or explain my reasoning first?
• Are my explanations conversational, or do clients appreciate a more formal approach?

Notice the qualities that repeat and then think about how those qualities relate to the position you want your business to hold.

If clients choose you for thoughtful, honest advice, for example, then a pushy sales message is going to work against the experience you’re trying to create.

It can also help to ask a trusted colleague or long-standing client how they’d describe the way you communicate, as their description may be more revealing than the adjectives you’d choose for yourself.

Create Brand Voice Guidelines That Others Can Actually Follow

I’ve come across brand documents that describe a voice as “friendly, professional, and authentic.”

To be fair, that could be an accurate description, but what can the person who’s writing your next newsletter actually do with that?

All things considered, useful brand voice guidelines will take the time to explain what those qualities sound like in real communication.

And they should give people enough direction to make decisions without checking with you about every sentence.

Describe the Voice in Practical Terms

Start with a few characteristics that accurately reflect your business. And for each one, explain what it should look like on the page or in a conversation.

If your voice is approachable, you might prefer familiar words, contractions, and clear explanations instead of formal introductions.

Whatever the case, you should make this clear to anyone who’s creating your content or interacting with customers.

And this is also where your brand positioning matters.

As such, you should make sure the guidelines identify the people you’re speaking to, what they should understand about your work, and the commitments your business can stand behind.

Otherwise, writers may copy your tone while missing the message.

Show People What You Mean

In my experience, examples are often more useful than a long list of rules.

So, let’s consider this generic sentence from a hypothetical service business:

“We are committed to delivering exceptional solutions tailored to meet your unique needs.”

Compare that with:

“We’ll look at what’s happening in your business, explain your options, and recommend what makes sense for you.”

The second version tells the reader something about how your business works, and it also sounds more like something a person might say during a conversation.

At any rate, within your guidelines, you should include a few examples of preferred phrasing, words your business would avoid, and messages that need to stay accurate across your materials.

Real emails or other content you’ve already approved are particularly helpful for this.

Leave Room for Different Communication Styles

Your team members won’t all explain things in exactly the same way, and that’s fine.

Just provide them with the underlying principles and examples and then allow room for their own natural delivery.

You should also keep the guide short enough that people will actually use it.

A practical reference, paired with a few approved samples, will usually be more helpful than a lengthy document nobody wants to open after their first week.

Keep Your Voice Recognizable Across Every Customer Interaction

Your website, newsletter, and social media accounts may be the most visible parts of your marketing, but they’re only some of the places where people experience your brand.

Consider what happens after someone responds to your marketing.

They may submit an inquiry, receive a reply, speak with a team member, review a proposal, and then eventually begin working with you.

And each one of those interactions adds to their impression of what your business is like.

Suppose your website makes a point of being helpful and approachable, telling visitors you’ll take the time to understand their situation before recommending a service. But then the reply to their first inquiry is a stiff, generic form letter that barely acknowledges what they asked.

This response might be perfectly adequate from an administrative point of view, but it doesn’t carry through the level of care that your website led them to expect.

One way to find these gaps is to follow the experience of a prospective client.

So, take some time to read your home page, some recent social media posts, your responses to inquiries, and a proposal, in that order.

And if you have employees who communicate directly with clients, include the templates and explanations they regularly use.

Then ask yourself whether the same values and approach come through at each stage.

You should look especially closely at things like automated replies, policies, billing messages, and follow-up emails, as those practical communications are easy to overlook.

Also remember that different situations call for different tones.

For instance, a cheerful welcome message would feel out of place when someone is raising a serious concern, and a detailed explanation might suit an experienced client but overwhelm someone who’s just learning about your service.

In any case, the language that’s used can change slightly to meet each client’s needs while still keeping your brand voice intact.

How Can You Tell If Your Brand Voice Is Consistent?

If you want to ensure your brand voice is consistent, you should set aside time to regularly review a small selection of recent communications.

Choose pieces written by different people and created for different purposes, and then read them as though you’re someone who’s encountering your business for the first time.

Do they sound like they belong to the same business? Is the main message accurate? Does the tone suit each audience and situation? And would a client recognize the care and approach they’ve experienced when working with you?

And if something feels off, you should be specific about why.

“This sounds too formal for an introductory email,” gives a writer something to work with. But telling them to “Make it sound more like us” leaves them guessing.

You should also make a point of reviewing your brand voice guidelines when your services, clients, or business direction change.

Because your brand voice should always reflect the business you’re running now, not the one you were running five years ago.

Does your business still sound like you, even when someone else is doing the talking?

Book a free consultation and let’s review how your brand voice comes across and where inconsistencies may be affecting how people perceive your business.

To your business success,
Susan Friesen

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About the Author, Susan Friesen

Located in the lower mainland of B.C., Susan Friesen is a visionary brand strategist, entrepreneur, and founder of British Columbia’s premiere boutique web development and digital marketing agency, eVision Media.

With over 20 years of experience in the industry, she is an expert in helping businesses establish their online presence and create a strong brand identity.

Her passion for empowering entrepreneurs and small business owners to succeed in the digital world has earned her a reputation as a leading authority in the branding and marketing industry.

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