Step-by-step guide to creating your brand voice

Creating a brand voice is essential for maintaining consistency and personality in your content. Just like product features - the brand voice developed here will help separate you from the competition. Don’t believe me?

Liquid Death sells sparking water. The product is the same as any grocery store water. But their brand voice led to millions of sales and a 700 million dollar valuation!

If standing out in a commodity market like that doesn’t convince you I don’t know what will. So let’s get into it…

You are going to refer to the notes you compiled in the previous article on audience research.

Step-by-step brand voice creation

Step 1: Understand Your Brand Identity

You’ve already done research on your audience, competitors, and the overall market ecosystem you are selling into.

• Define Your Core Values: What does your brand stand for? Identify key values that are at the heart of your brand.
• Know Your Mission: Understand and articulate your brand’s mission – why it exists and what it aims to achieve.
• Define Your Audience: Who are you speaking to? Understanding your audience is crucial to tailor your voice to their preferences and needs.

Step 2: Define Your Brand Voice

• Choose Personality Traits: Describe your brand as if it were a person. Is it professional, friendly, quirky, authoritative?
• Create Voice Attributes: Define specific attributes of your voice, like warmth, humor, formality, or enthusiasm.
• Develop Voice Examples: Write sample messages in your brand voice to illustrate how it sounds in different contexts.

Step 3: Create a Brand Voice Chart

This is the cheat sheet you can refer to anytime you want to validate content.

• Develop a Chart: Create a visual guide that details the dos and don’ts of your brand voice. Include examples of correct and incorrect usage.
• Voice Dimensions: Include dimensions like tone, language, purpose, and audience in your chart.

Step 4: Documentation - Training and Guidelines

There’s no point in building this if you aren’t sharing it with the team or your AI copywriters.

• Create a Style Guide: Develop a comprehensive style guide that includes your brand voice chart and other writing guidelines.
• Document Everything: Ensure all guidelines and examples are well-documented and easily accessible.
• Central Repository: Maintain a central repository where team members can access the latest version of the style guide.
• Train Your Team: Conduct training sessions for your team and any future copywriters to understand and effectively use the brand voice.

Step 5: Integrate Your Brand Voice Across All Channels

• Consistency is Key: Ensure that your brand voice is consistently used across all channels – website, social media, blog, newsletters, drip emails, etc.
• Tailor to the Medium: While maintaining consistency, tailor your voice slightly to fit different platforms or formats.

Step 6: Review and Evolve your Brand Voice

• Gather Feedback: Regularly collect feedback from your audience and team about how your brand voice is perceived.
• Adapt as Necessary: Make adjustments based on feedback and changing market trends.
• Regularly Review: Periodically review your brand voice to ensure it remains relevant and effective.
• Adapt and Evolve: Be open to evolving your voice as your brand and audience grow and change.

A simple brand voice example

Pretend you work for a company, “GreenLeaf,” which specializes in eco-friendly home products. The chart outlines the important parts of GreenLeaf’s brand voice and provides examples for clarity.

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GreenLeaf Brand Voice Chart

Brand Overview

• Core Values: Sustainability, Innovation, Community
• Mission: To provide eco-friendly home solutions that contribute to a healthier planet.

Voice Personality Traits

• Friendly: Approachable, warm, and personable.
• Inspirational: Motivating and uplifting, encouraging positive change.
• Educational: Informative but accessible, helping customers understand the value of sustainable living.

Voice Attributes

Attribute	Description	Do	Don’t
Tone	Positive and uplifting, yet relaxed.	Use an encouraging and optimistic tone.	Avoid negative or overly formal tones.
Language	Simple, clear, jargon-free.	Use everyday language that is easy to understand.	Avoid technical terms and industry jargon.
Purpose	To educate and inspire sustainable choices.	Focus on the benefits and impact of sustainable living.	Don’t just sell products; aim to make a difference.
Audience	Eco-conscious millenial and Gen Z home owners.	Speak to a broad audience, keeping content universally relatable.	Don’t target too narrowly or use references that exclude groups.

Examples

• Product Landing Page
  • Do: “Discover the comfort and style of our eco-friendly bamboo sheets, designed to help you sleep better while taking care of our planet.”
  • Don’t: “Buy our bamboo sheets, made from 100% organic materials.”
• Social Media Post
  • Do: “Every small step matters in our journey towards a greener future. What’s your eco-friendly tip of the day? 🌱 #GreenLiving”
  • Don’t: “Our products are the best for the environment. Buy now!”
• Email Newsletter
  • Do: “Hello GreenLeaf Community! Here’s your monthly dose of inspiration and tips for a sustainable home.”
  • Don’t: “This month’s top products you need to buy for a greener home.”

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Simple ChatGPT Brand Voice Prompts

I know you are going to be using AI to write, edit, and review content you publish. Here are some simple prompts you can use in combination with the brand voice document you are going to upload or paste in first.

Using the brand voice guidelines I uploaded please come up with a social media post to celebrate our sale on Earth Day.

Using the brand voice guidelines I uploaded please rewrite the following content [insert non-brand-voice content]

Using the brand voice guidelines I uploaded please review the following content and make suggestions where it can be improved to follow our brand voice.

Conclusion: Keep it simple and use your brand voice

It doesn’t have to be a 30 page document. It’s as simple as the examples in this post.

The trick is making sure you use it, that the voice attributes help you stand out, and you are sharing it with anyone (or any bot) that’s writing copy for your products.

Yes - uploading this brand voice document will get you better results from ChatGPT!

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Read more Copywriting for Conversions with the next chapter: