When people read your content, can they instantly tell it’s you? Whether you’re writing a blog for your website or a LinkedIn post, a consistent Tone of Voice (TOV) throughout all of your company’s written communications helps to build recognition and trust. If you haven’t given much thought to your company’s TOV and your writing seems a bit all over the place, then this article is for you.

What is Tone of Voice? Why is it important?

Tone of Voice is the way in which a person speaks to someone. This involves factors such as choice of words, pitch, volume and speed. In copywriting and marketing, TOV is the way in which a company speaks to its audience across all of its communications. It shows the personality of the brand, which helps people to relate to the company.

Words and images help to shape how people view a brand. They make a company recognizable and set them apart from their competitors. For example, Oatley (who make oat milk) is known for its humorous TOV on their packaging copy.

Recognition helps to build trust in a brand, which helps to generate more sales, as demonstrated in the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer, where 88% of respondents rated trust as critical or important when deciding which brands to buy or use. Trust was more important than simply loving a brand (81%).

Having a clearly identifiable Tone of Voice will help you to build a recognisable brand, reflect your company’s core values and build trust with your audience, and thereby increase sales.

Interesting note: Tone and voice are different, so while you want a consistent voice, sometimes you might need to change the tone to the occasion. Simply put, tone changes and voice stays the same. You have the same voice everywhere you go. However, the tone you use changes depending on the situation, mood or emotion. For example, you would use a different tone when socialising at the pub with your friends than you would in the office with a client.

The same principle applies in your company’s written communications. The tone of your writing may change depending on factors such as mood, medium and audience. For example, you may write a witty social media post, but adopt a more serious tone in an email replying to a complaint.

Tone of Voice Guidelines

There are many nuances to writing, for example in tone, grammar or style, thus, every writer has their own way of writing. This can be a problem if there are different writers writing for the same brand, as you want to have a consistent TOV across all of your written communications and platforms.

Therefore, it’s a good idea to have some written guidelines to help everyone write in the voice of your company. These are known as TOV Guidelines and can be a standalone document or part of a wider Style Guide.

Even if it’s just you, it’s still handy to have these guidelines written down for reference so that you can easily check during the editing process to see if you’ve stayed within your own guidelines.

Identifying your tone of voice

Not all brands sound the same, which is why when working with a copywriter, one of the first questions they’ll ask is what’s your business’ tone of voice? That’s so they can get an idea of the writing style that is needed.

Defining TOV makes writing consistent, and a consistent TOV helps people to relate and builds trust and rapport with customers.

Consider your industry

The industry you operate in will affect your Tone of Voice to some extent. For example, in some industries customers expect a certain level of formality or sensitivity. (E.g. you don’t want a funeral home to be cracking jokes!)

You need to take the industry you operate in into consideration when deciding on your TOV. What do your customers expect from you? You don’t always need to be quirky or different to everyone else. Consistency in your communication is more important.

Know your audience

Knowing your audience is also a key factor to consider when deciding on your TOV. Questions to consider include:

• Who are your ideal customers (i.e. who are you talking to)?
• What are their wants and needs?
• What are their expectations from you as a business?

Be Yourself

While you want to meet the demands and expectations of your customers, it’s also important to be yourself. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not because people will know, which isn’t good for building trust in your brand. So, while I’d love to be the funniest copywriter on the block, I’m not really all that funny, so I stick to being friendly, approachable and informative – which is much more in line with my personality and comes more naturally to me than trying to force humour.

Practice makes perfect

Don’t feel pressured to get your TOV right straight away. It can take trial and error to find the right tone, and may even evolve over time as your business does.  Try out some different tones and see what works for you.

Examples of different tones

Is your brand:

• Formal or chatty?
• Serious or humorous?
• Laid-back or lively?
• …or somewhere in-between?

Examples of TOV Guidelines

If you’re in need of some inspiration, check out how other companies sound. What is it about their TOV that makes them stand out? What do you like/dislike about it? How would you like to come across to your customers?

Not sure where to look? Here are some of my favourite TOV examples:

Monzo

Monzo has a friendly tone of voice which is straightforward and not too long – my favourite kind of content!

Mailchimp

Mailchimp’s tone of voice is conversational, clear and genuine. They avoid jargon and like to use humour in their writing, which they define as “straight-faced, subtle, and a touch eccentric.”

Microsoft

Microsoft define their voice as “Above all, simple and human” . Their writing is clear, to the point, conversational and optimistic.

In Summary

✔ Tone of voice is how your company speaks and TOV guidelines are where you document your company’s tone of voice.

✔ Voice always sounds the same and tone varies depending on the situation.

✔ Clearly defining your tone of voice helps you to remain consistent throughout all your written content, making you recognisable and helping you to build trust with customers. Trust is a key factor in generating more sales.

✔ Not all brands sound the same and there are various elements to consider when thinking about your tone of voice, so it’s worth taking time to consider this.

✔ If you need some inspiration, check out TOV Guidelines by other brands and think about what makes them stand out and how you would like to come across to your customers.

So now you know what Tone of Voice is, get out your review specs and have a look at your website, social media, printed materials, and any other marketing channels you use. Do you have a consistent voice across all your platforms?