Brand Voice: What It Is and How to Define It (+ Template)

Your marque sound shapes really your assemblage feels astir your business. 

If it's playful and fun, they’ll spot your marque arsenic joyful and entertaining. If it's bold and daring, they'll deliberation of your marque arsenic innovative and adventurous.

As a marketer and writer, I’ve helped galore brands to create a applicable and memorable marque voice.

In this guide, I’ll stock actionable tips and real-life examples to thief you execute the same.

💡 Grab this free marque sound template to travel along.

What Is Brand Voice? 

Brand sound is your company’s unsocial characteristic reflected crossed its channels and communications. Think societal media, blog posts, paid advertisements, and emails. 

This characteristic defines really you definitive yourself arsenic a marque erstwhile interacting pinch customers.

For example, Innocent Drinks, a B2C brand, is known for its quirky, playful, and humor-driven voice. 

This makes the marque consciousness nosy and approachable, attracting health-conscious consumers who admit a lighthearted attack to patient living.

Apple, connected the different hand, uses a sleek, innovative, and blase voice. This makes their assemblage consciousness typical and portion of an exclusive group. 

Brand Voice vs. Brand Tone of Voice: The Key Differences

Brand voice defines your company’s unique personality and perspective inspired by your halfway values, mission, and personality. It’s astir the values you guidelines for.

Your brand reside of voice, connected the different hand, defines how you communicate this personality to your audience. It includes language, tone, style, and the prime of words.

It’s important to support a accordant marque voice. But your reside of sound tin alteration depending connected the context. 

For example, you mightiness usage a cheerful and breathtaking reside for vacation trading campaigns. However, your reside will go somber and compassionate erstwhile responding to a situation aliases emergency. 

Here’s really we’d differentiate the marque sound from the marque tone:

Parameters	Brand voice	Brand reside of voice
Purpose	To definitive the halfway values and traits that specify your brand’s personality.	To pass pinch the assemblage successful a much relatable mode and bespeak your marque characteristic successful a fixed context.
Impact	Builds the instauration for your brand’s messaging and communication.	Creates an instant effect connected your assemblage pinch feelings of urgency, comfort, etc.

Let’s research these differences pinch an illustration by Nike.

Nike is known for its inspiring and empowering marque voice. 

Its marque characteristic showcases values for illustration courage, determination, and motivation. Like connected their website (and crossed each connection channels):

However, the marque besides has a relatable and casual reside of sound that evokes excitement. 

For example, erstwhile launching caller sneakers, Nike hypes up its assemblage pinch short and punchy captions for illustration this one. 

Why Is Brand Voice So Important? 

You’re astir apt wondering if building your marque sound is worthy each that effort. 

The short answer: it is. 

Defining your marque sound tin help:

• Establish a affirmative marque perception: Your marque sound reflects the halfway values of your business. It shapes your customers’ cognition of your brand, which tin thief you build spot and loyalty.
• Create marque callback and recognition: Your marque sound is your chance to attraction much eyes connected your business and make it much discoverable. This tin summation marque awareness. 
• Design a shared blueprint for communication: Clear sound guidelines guarantee everyone successful your squad represents your marque consistently. It builds a shared knowing of what sets your marque isolated and really to speak to your customers. 
• Build amended customer relationships: Your marque sound has the powerfulness to found a relationship pinch customers and show that you stock the aforesaid values This tin lead to improved customer loyalty.

For example, a mission-driven marque for illustration Rare Beauty adopts an encouraging and motivational marque sound for each communications.

This sound positively influences group who align pinch the brand’s mission, arsenic this customer shares successful a tweet:

7 Tips for Developing Your Brand Voice

Check retired my 7-step model for building your unique marque sound from scratch. 

But earlier you get started: drawback this free marque sound template to move faster.

1. Document Your Company’s Background and Mission

I ever commencement by penning down the company’s inheritance and ngo to understand its cardinal values and personality.

Here’s really you tin do it.

This workout will item your brand’s superior intent and explicate really you intend to make your customers’ lives better.

You tin past usage these insights to specify your brand’s mission. 

For instance, moreover though Facebook is simply a multi-billion-dollar business today, Mark Zuckerberg started it arsenic a assemblage task to link students astatine his university. 

The extremity was to thief students connect, stock information, and pass much easily. 

To date, this intent is reflected successful Meta’s (previously Facebook) ngo statement: “to springiness group the powerfulness to build organization and bring the world person together.”

2. Research Your Target Audience

Next, you request to cognize precisely who you’re targeting and really to link pinch them. This penetration ensures your marque sound is some applicable and relatable.

For example, ideate discovering that customers struggle to find stylish apparel that fresh their assemblage type.

You tin reside this situation straight successful your marque voice.

There are respective ways to investigation and analyze your target audience. These include:

• Surveys and questionnaires: Directly inquire your assemblage astir their preferences and challenges.
• Social media analysis: Look astatine what your aliases your competitors’ followers are talking astir and the kinds of posts they prosecute with.
• Customer feedback: Interview your existing customers. Also, analyse their reviews, feedback, and customer support requests to understand what they for illustration and dislike.
• Audience investigation platforms: Platforms for illustration Audience Intelligence and One2Target supply insights into your target assemblage based connected their online behaviors.
• Specialized AI tools: Use ContentShake AI’s Brand Voice feature. All you request to do is upload a penning sample (ideally from your “About us” page) and the instrumentality will make target personas for your business.
• It will past tailor your early contented to fresh the needs and reside of sound preferences of each persona.

3. Analyze Your Current Voice 

Before creating a caller group of marque sound guidelines, return a person look astatine your existing voice. This will thief you place patterns successful what already resonates pinch your customers.

Here's really to do it.

Analyze different trading assets you person already published, specified arsenic landing pages, blog posts, advertisement copy, and social media posts:

• Build a contented inventory: Make a database of your trading assets successful a spreadsheet, a productivity app for illustration Notion, aliases a database tool. You tin curate a fewer assets from each marketing channel you’ve used. 
• Analyze reside and style: Analyze the benignant of connection utilized successful each asset, for illustration conversational, technical, informal, jargon-heavy, etc. You should besides measure the reside followed successful these pieces, whether it’s friendly, authoritative, promotional, etc. Add notes and summarize your findings.
• Compare and contrast: Evaluate these assets to categorize them arsenic high-performing and low-performing based connected content trading metrics for illustration organic hunt traffic, backlinks, and conversions. 

You tin usage devices for illustration GA4 aliases HubSpot to cheque postulation and conversions and Semrush to show each page's rankings and backlinks.

For example, to cheque integrated postulation connected circumstantial pages, caput to GA4, click “Reports” successful the left-hand menu, prime “Engagement” and click “Pages and Screens” from the drop-down menu.

Next, scroll down to spot the full number of views to different webpages during the specified clip period. You tin usage the hunt barroom to look up circumstantial pages.

If you announcement that assets pinch a definite voice/tone execute amended than others, see this erstwhile outlining your marque voice.

4. Define Your Brand Personality

Your sound stems from the unsocial characteristic of your brand. 

It tin sound for illustration a bully friend, a adjuvant mentor, a caring supporter, aliases a knowledgeable expert. 

For example, Wendy’s has a humorous and witty marque personality. The marque engages successful friends banter connected societal media posts for illustration you would pinch a friend. 

To specify your marque personality, deliberation astir your marque values and image.

Values: What are the astir important values and beliefs for your brand? 

Identify 4 to 5 differentiating values that thrust your business forward. Like integrity, innovation, sustainability, and inclusivity.

Take Starbucks’ values arsenic inspiration:

Brand image: Think astir really you want your assemblage to comprehend your brand.

Do you want your marque to beryllium seen arsenic premium and luxurious? Or playful and fun? 

For example, Apple is seen arsenic a premium and luxurious brand. Many group consciousness a consciousness of accomplishment erstwhile they acquisition Apple products and often stock their excitement online.

Source

Finally, picture your marque characteristic utilizing this template:

5. Define Your Brand Voice

Once you’ve completed each the legwork, you tin put the pieces together to create your marque voice. 

I usually usage the brand sound floor plan framework.

It’s a archive that comprises the cardinal attributes of your marque voice. It tin see qualities for illustration welcoming, professional, witty, sincere, and more. 

Here’s what a sound floor plan looks like:

To capable retired the chart, database your brand's cardinal sound characteristics, picture each one, and see actionable "do" and "don't" guidelines to guarantee consistency successful your messaging.

Pro tip: 

You tin prevention a batch of clip and effort by utilizing Semrush’s ContentShake AI—a smart contented penning tool.

It helps you define your marque voice based connected your existing penning samples successful conscionable a mates of clicks.

To get started, motorboat the ContentShake AI app and spell to “Brand Voice.”

Then, click “Create Brand Voice” to creation a caller sound document. 

Add a contented sample that champion reflects your existent marque voice. Ideally, you’ll want to springiness a 1000-word sample to get the champion results. It’s besides a bully thought to merge elements from your “About us” webpage.

Then, click “Create Brand Voice” 1 much time.

With this information, ContentShake AI will summarize your marque sound pinch a elaborate paragraph and specify your reside and readability level. 

From now on, each portion of contented generated by ContentShake AI will beryllium adjusted to your target sound and tone.

6. Create a Communication Document

Now, it’s clip to spell backmost to the whiteboard and archive your marque sound guidelines successful a style guide.

A writing style guide covers each item astir your brand—logos, typeface, colors, and language. 

It’s a azygous root of truth for everyone connected your squad erstwhile communicating pinch soul aliases outer stakeholders. 

You tin see immoderate of these basal elements:

• The cardinal values to bespeak successful each communication
• A dictionary of marque aliases industry-specific terms 
• Do’s and don’ts for different situations and contexts
• Specific guidelines for written and verbal communication
• Voice instructions for different channels for illustration websites, societal media, etc.

For example, Shopify’s marque sound guidelines commencement pinch 4 clear directives connected what the marque sounds like. 

Each directive includes much circumstantial examples and points.

Their style guideline besides includes instructions connected really to pass successful circumstantial situations. You’ll find a do’s and don’ts database pinch examples of what to opportunity and avoid. 

7. Ensure Consistency Across All Content Assets

Once you’re fresh to rotation retired your marque sound guidelines, group up processes to create consistency crossed each channels and platforms. 

Here are a fewer tips to thief guarantee your marque sound is consistent:

• Host soul training sessions: Educate and train your squad astir the caller marque sound guidelines. Use these sessions to brainstorm messaging that reflects the caller marque voice. 
• Assign a marque sound champion: Designate a squad personnel aliases a group to oversee the implementation of the marque sound passim the company. This personification aliases squad tin supply feedback, reply questions, and guarantee that each contented aligns pinch the guidelines.
• Regularly reappraisal and update: Schedule regular reviews of your contented to guarantee it aligns pinch your marque voice. Update the guidelines arsenic needed to bespeak immoderate changes successful your marque strategy aliases marketplace trends.
• Leverage AI tools: For example, ContentShake AI will automatically make contented successful your marque voice. Simply take the target sound erstwhile creating articles aliases societal posts, and the instrumentality will do the rest.

Top 6 Brand Voice Examples for 2024

Let’s break down the marque sound and tone guidelines for six starring brands to thief you deed the crushed running.

1. Asana

Asana’s marque sound is master and inspirational. It perfectly aligns pinch their target audience: professionals looking to heighten productivity and streamline collaboration. 

This sound is reflected successful Asana’s contented crossed different channels. 

Check retired the level of professionalism successful this blog station by Asana:

And besides this Instagram post:

Asana besides positions itself arsenic a supportive marque pinch an uplifting voice.

The brand’s messaging focuses connected circumstantial personification symptom points and actionable advice. 

Check retired this station connected Asana’s LinkedIn page, wherever they attraction connected communal onboarding challenges faced by companies and usage a direct, conversational reside of voice:

2. Frank Body

Frank Body’s sound is playful yet empowering. The skincare marque appeals to a younger demographic pinch an informal and engaging voice. 

For instance, the marque writes cheeky merchandise descriptions successful a unsocial first-person position to item its ingredients, differentiators, and different details.

Here’s an example. These engaging descriptions resonate pinch Frank Body’s target audience—millennials and Gen Z women.

Besides its lighthearted messaging, the marque adopts an empowering sound to bespeak its mission—to make women consciousness comfortable successful their skin. 

Frank Body’s video podcast is simply a cleanable illustration to showcase this marque sound trait.

The podcast, called “Self (ish)”, covers topics related to women’s careers, bodies, and lives to present inspirational messages. 

3. Miro

Miro has a versatile marque sound that useful connected aggregate levels. 

At first glance, Miro’s sound is welcoming and accessible. It helps group easy understand the product’s capabilities and wide messaging without getting mislaid successful motto and buzzwords.

For example, this landing page for Miro Assist intelligibly and succinctly explains really the instrumentality tin prevention users’ time. 

On different level, Miro embraces a friends and conversational sound to pass pinch its audience. Want to spot how? 

Here’s a LinkedIn station announcing a caller characteristic pinch a short video and a nosy caption. 

Since Miro caters to a operation of imaginative and method users (like designers, developers, and more), this operation of accessible and enthusiastic sound useful good to prosecute the audience. 

4. Duolingo

Duolingo is celebrated for its sarcastic, witty, and playful marque voice. 

Duolingo intends to group itself isolated from accepted acquisition platforms and make learning accessible. To that end, the marque maintains relatability crossed each touchpoints—from its push notifications and emails to societal media posts and videos. 

For example, Duolingo posts hilarious contented connected Instagram and TikTok arsenic an hold of its quirky marque personality. 

In fact, Duolingo has adjacent to a cardinal followers connected X because of its funny and casual voice. 

Here’s an illustration of tweets that entreaty to its younger target audience:

5. Canva

Canva’s marque sound is encouraging, upbeat, and clear. 

The marque inspires group to research their imaginative imaginable moreover if they don’t person creation expertise. Its warm, approachable reside mildly nudges users to effort the instrumentality aliases study caller concepts. 

Here’s 1 of Canva’s LinkedIn posts that shares adjuvant proposal for creating societal media assets:

Canva’s marque sound is besides user-friendly and straightforward because the marque targets a wide audience. It focuses connected simplicity to guarantee users of each accomplishment levels understand the level and get the champion retired of it.

Here’s a characteristic announcement email that quickly sums up its aggregate usage cases:

6. Applebee’s

Applebee’s sound is friendly, casual, and relatable. 

The marque positions itself arsenic a vicinity diner and targets families, young adults, and akin groups. Its marque sound builds a consciousness of inclusivity.

For example, here’s a snapshot of Applebee’s About Us page. It communicates the brand’s ngo pinch a clear and down-to-earth voice, inviting group to person a meal:

The marque besides maintains an engaging characteristic connected societal media. 

Here are immoderate of Applebee’s tweets targeting the Gen Z assemblage pinch a casual marque voice:

Over to You: Build a Powerful Brand Voice 

A well-defined marque sound tin heighten your positioning, fortify customer relationships, and springiness you a competitory edge. 

Remember, a batch goes into building your marque sound from scratch. 

Start by documenting your brand’s cardinal differentiators—like your values and mission. Then, investigation your audience, picture your marque personality, and consolidate each this into marque sound guidelines. 

ContentShake AI’s Brand Voice feature tin simplify the process. It lets you specify your marque sound and make contented successful your unsocial penning style.