Reign in Your Scattered Brand Voice with a Brand Voice DNA Guide

A smooth and unified brand voice may result in higher employee satisfaction, increased brand recognition, and a spark-inducing connection with your audience.

Get ready.

Imagine a brand voice so smooth it makes Matthew McConaughey jealous.

It’s what all the biggest brands have - from McDonald’s to Nike - and you can have it, too.

Content that sounds like you want it to. A brand voice that matches your values. And a company culture that isn’t a surprise because everything is aligned.

Picture this

Your team sends you copy for a sales email. You cringe as you open the document, but as you read, you start to smile. The language is spot on, the format is right, and there’s no, “this doesn’t sound like us” aftertaste.

More importantly, you don’t need to do any editing. Everything is there - from correct industry language to how it flows right into a dazzling CTA.

It’s beautiful.

But how do you make this a reality?

The truth is, you’re here because things are a mess.

Your brand voice is so scattered it makes my ADHD look as calm as glass.

You have multiple people responsible for content - maybe even people who shouldn’t be - and they’re all putting their own touches (read: their own voice and preferences) into the copy.

They’ve had no directions to follow. No guide to show them what they should (and shouldn’t) do. So your marketing is filled with inappropriate references, strange memes, and absolutely no consistency.

It’s ok. It’s no one’s fault. They’ve done the best they can and so have you.

But now that you’re ready for more growth, you’re realizing this doesn’t cut it. You need marketing that pulls people in.

How can your team match the style, tone, and vibe of your business?

With a brand voice DNA guide.

What is a Brand Voice Guide?

A brand voice guide describes how your company sounds just like a branding guide lays out how it looks.

If you removed the logo, colors, and graphics from your page, brand voice is what’s left behind.

It goes beyond messaging and positioning, though. It’s not just WHAT you say…it’s HOW you say it.

But Sandra, I’ve tried to explain our brand voice to people before and they just don’t get it.

You’re right. It’s not an easy thing to explain.

Unless you have the right language to explain it.

Brand voice isn’t this airy-fairy thing that only celebrity copywriters and 100K branding pros can pull out of the atmosphere.

It’s measurable. It can be captured, documented, and repeated.

Brand Voice is

TONE

Tone describes a feeling. It includes brave, empathetic, surprised, candid, gentle, or pensive. Brands should have more than 10 very specific tone words. And they don’t have to be complementary. A brand can be both anti-establishment and nurturing.

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TEMPO

Tempo is the rhythm. It’s sentence length plus punctuation and is the most subtle and difficult part of voice. Dramatic shifts in it are like hitting a pothole on a new road — you’re riding along smoothly when suddenly there’s an unexpected jerk. When something is “off” about voice, it’s usually tempo.

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TERMINOLOGY

Terminology is the grade level, length, and origin of the word. Do you use “question” or “inquiry”? Do you talk to moms of toddlers or college administrators? What do you call your audience? These form a library of terms your brand does and doesn’t use.

Our Brand Voice Architecture

  • Measure

    Using advanced tools and decades of experience, we measure cadence, tones in different situations, vocabulary, and styling.

  • Identify

    Your brand voice is identified and described in detail, revealing all the nuances you’ve never noticed that can make or break your customers’ experience.

  • Codify

    Using a proprietary framework, we document everything from brand voice values to industry lingo in a Google Doc that evolves with your brand.

  • Coach

    We review the guide with you and your team and offer tips for how to use it effectively. We also offer a customized training program and scoring rubric.

Our Process

A Brand Voice Guide is a process done with you and your team. It is an intentional and curated activity that will engage multiple roles across your company. We interact with anyone from the CEO to customer service representatives to create a guide that is accurate and useful.

  • We sign a contract and you pay your invoice. We’ll also collect some contact information for your team and schedule our first interview.

  • You’ll receive a short Google Doc asking for key content that reflects the brand voice you want. You can work with your team to compile this, and it must be completed at least 3 days before our first interview. You will also begin to make decisions for what team members will be involved in each stage of the process.

  • Our first interview is with key leaders of the company (CEO, Chief of Communications/Content, Marketing Lead, Operations Officer, etc.) and takes 1-3 hours depending on how large your company is.

    Additional interviews will be conducted with writers, customer service reps, social media coordinators, HR, etc. and are usually 20-30 minutes each.

  • We’ll look over the draft guide together to ensure everything is on track and there are no “brand voice surprises”. This is usually 60-90 min in length.

  • A final celebratory call about 60min long with anyone from the company. We’ll break bread, answer any final questions, and hand over the Google Doc controls to you.

Why is Brand Voice so Important?

Builds Recognition and Brand Loyalty

Differentiates You from Competitors

Attracts the Right Customers

Increases Revenue

Growth and Scaling is Easier

Communicates Your Values

Serves as Your Verbal Identity

Your Team Knows How to Represent You

Influences Company Culture

Are You Ready for a Brand Voice Guide?

  • No More Experimenting

    You know what your product or service is, why you exist, and how you’re different from the competition. Your messaging works, even if it’s inconsistent or not well-documented.

  • Leadership is Ready to Hand It Off

    A brand voice guide is for the team, not the leaders of the company. If you are in senior leadership, you are ready to step back from day-to-day content creation or approvals and let your team and your systems go from here.

  • You Understand the Value of a Good SOP

    You love systems, procedures, and SOPs. If you don’t have many yet, you are actively building them. In fact, you’re looking forward to tying together your brand culture, HR practices, brand voice, and brand identity.

  • You Have a Brand Voice

    Even if it’s inconsistent, wobbly, or in the hands of too many people, you can point to specific content that you want to mirror going forward. You need someone to quantify and codify it so it sounds like you and no one else.

Let’s Tighten Up Your Brand Voice

Your Brand Voice DNA Guide is a step-by-step guidebook for how to represent your brand on every platform (styling and all) complete with samples and team bios.

With one of our voice guides,

even your biggest fans will think everything is written by you.

There’s no trail of messages that make your readers question what website they’re on.

No unexpected GIF that contrasts with your values.

No PR nightmares because someone wrote off-brand.