Discover Your Own Brand Voice Before It’s Too Late
Brand Voice,
How can you identify your brand voice?
- Defining your voice
- Distinguish yourself from the rest
- Listen and provide
- Embrace change
Every kind of engagement that a company says a little about their culture and what they are as a business. Everything that is either read, watched, or listened to that is released by the company showcases their brand voice. But not every business understands its importance.
Digital marketing in the Philippines makes use of a company’s brand voice to fully supplement their marketing efforts. Things like social media engagement and advertorials are just a few things that need the brand voice to be determined in order to be fully effective.
The brand voice is the purposeful and consistent expression of the brand through the words and writing styles that they use to engage their market and motivate their people. You can say that the brand voice and the personality of your brand should go hand in hand.
Having a brand voice makes many marketing, PR, and sales efforts a lot easier and consistent. It works with the visuals, digital presence, and basically all of the marketing fundamentals that a brand does.
With that being said, every digital marketing company in the Philippines will recommend that you find your brand voice as soon as possible. Here are a few tips to help you find your brand voice!
Define Your Voice
Consider your brand, your market, and the style of content you want to put out. Think of what you want the market, and the general public to think of your brand. Once you have a clear idea, put it into words by simply describing your brand. Choose at most three words to associate with your brand. Take into account all of your departments, their opinions, suggestions, and recommendations—your brand voice encompasses the whole company, not just the top brass.
When you have your three main descriptors, you should then limit them with three other words. Restricting your brand voice will make it so you won’t go too far. As with most things in life, being too much of something can become harmful, and the same goes with your brand voice.
For example, you can describe your brand voice as:
Loud, but not bothersome
Casual, but not spontaneous
Lax, but not lazy
The thing is, you don’t have to limit your brand voice to the holiest of descriptions. Take inspiration from your market, and see where it gets you!
Distinguish Yourself from the Rest
Consider the things that will make you stand out. It’s expected to have competitors. But the important thing is what makes you unique from them. Reflect on the tone and the attitude that you want to showcase. Having a few similarities with a competitor is alright, but stepping up and selling yourself is what will make you noticed!
In the Philippines, digital marketing companies are probably your best option when it comes to learning how to differentiate yourself from competitors that are similar in almost every way. Take note that an outside perspective is instrumental in learning what makes your company unique!
Listen and Provide
Keep in mind what your target market is doing and how they communicate with one another. You should cater to what they primarily sound like, particularly in the way they interact with other individuals. If they’re the type of people who are sophisticated and formal, center your voice around that. If they’re very casual and conversational in their interactions, then follow through!
The best way to think of this is by relating it to music. Everyone has a genre that they prefer to listen to. Find the genre that will best fit and attract your target market! Remember that your goal is to find a brand voice that’s appealing to your audience and true to what you’re providing!
Embrace Change
Think of your brand as a person. And your brand voice as simply the voice. Your brand grows, it goes through puberty, some phases it’s not proud of, and then ends up becoming a fine upstanding citizen. That can be likened to the brand voice as well. In some cases, you won’t be aware that you had a brand voice. Once you learn about it you’ll frantically try to use it in every place you can, sometimes experimenting new things—often resulting in great practices, with a few failures now and again. Eventually, you’ll find the best one for you, and you’ll stick with it for a long time.
All of it is true for the brand voice except the last part. Take note that your brand voice is not fixed. Rather, it constantly evolves with your audience. You have to keep up with your target market across a handful of different communication channels!
The grind never stops in improving your brand voice. You’ll continuously study your market, you’ll analyze the voice of your competitors, and you’ll always learn something new along the way.
Key Takeaway
Your brand voice is a big part of your company’s presence. It’s something that is fixed and in some ways constantly improving. Keep in mind that coming up with your brand voice is not as simple as it seems. You have to consider your target market, your industry, your products and services, and the personality that you want to emanate. But once you have your brand voice ready and waiting, it will bring you a number of benefits, especially in all the digital marketing efforts you do!
