Breathing Life Into the Voice of Your Brand

This post is sponsored by Method.

As a brand, your voice is one of the most important ways you connect with your community. Think of the most beloved brands and blogs you know. They don’t all sound the same, but they communicate with authenticity and with a voice that aligns with their mission and values.

Your voice should reflect the unique qualities of your brand. At Method, that means playing with words, dispensing delightful quips, and telling short stories. We describe it as being like a conversation with a funny friend—if your friend only talked about cleaning products.

Put stakes in the ground and be consistent

The same informal tone and quirky humor can be found on our packaging, website, advertising, and marketing communications. Maintaining consistency doesn’t mean having a formula for developing your voice, but creating guidelines can go a long way. For example, we define the Method voice by what it is: witty, without airs, chatty. And what it is not: crass, highfalutin, preachy. This allows us to think of each new product or message within these parameters and let it speak for itself. Whether you’re just starting out as a blogger or you already have a readership of millions, creating a simple two-column list of what your voice ‘is’ and ‘is not’ is a worthwhile exercise. This is especially important if you are considering adding contributing writers to your community.

Instead of trying to be everything to everyone, be authentic

People make meaningful connections with brands and bloggers they trust and whose values align with their own. Instead of trying to appeal to the masses, we seek to connect with those who also believe that cleaning can be fun, perfect is boring, and being kind to the planet is of the utmost importance. This would be an impossible task if we were trying to be everything to everyone.

Make them fall in love

In that same vein, you don’t have to be fun or unconventional to win the affections of your audience. The Method brand is strong, not because we tell a good joke, but because it’s genuine and our voice reflects our beliefs. Our lightheartedness and cheeky asides work because that’s who we are, and who we’ve been from the start. If your brand thrives on being chic or geeky or bold, your voice should grow naturally out of those values.

So ask yourself, what do you offer that no one else can? Start there. Then you can:

1) Craft an authentic voice that reflects the mission + values of your brand

2) Maintain a consistent tone across channels

3) Make a meaningful connection with your community

Comments

[Shelley Cordes]

Whew! Connect, connect, connect...I can spend all my time trying to find where I should connect. Are we losing our ability to breathe the air in the same room with the people we want to connect to? All I see are messages, "likes", invites, that are endless, and for the most part mindless. Is HTML our only means of communicating? I want inflection, excitement, and warm hand shakes. Am I destined to live in cyberspace? Is the force really with me or just out there. Can you really fall in love with Embroidery Stitch Nitch in plain or colorful text or am I looking for love in all the wrong places. My voice is screaming for real contacts. Anyone listening?