How to Nail a Distinct Brand Voice for Your Creative Business
Before my first photoshoot, I wasn't sure what to wear. I wanted to look professional enough to avoid alienating corporate clients but still casual for my independent ones.
I ended up choosing a white collared shirt.
Looking back, I cringe. What was I thinking? A white collared shirt isn't me at all! Not to mention, corporate clients aren’t really my bag.
I guess I was trying to figure out how to present myself as a professional but I wasn’t sure who “Naomi Faye the writer” was yet.
Now I find brand decisions like this easy. I’m clear on how to present myself and know exactly what to wear (nineties grunge meets art teacher by the way). But I’m also clear on other things, like what kind of content to share and how to share it.
How did I achieve this clarity? I know who “Naomi Faye the writer” is now because I created a brand voice to follow — and you can too!
But before I give you some tips on nailing your brand voice, let’s define exactly what a brand voice is.
What is Brand Voice?
Your brand voice is what you’re communicating to your audience. It’s kind of like if your brand was a person, who would you be? What’s your vibe? How do you speak?
Brand voice establishes how you’re different from everyone else. It dictates your brand colours, the kind of photos that will reflect your values and what content you share on social media.
Brand voice gives you a purpose. And this makes every marketing decision easier, like wearing a white collared shirt for your photoshoot, or using the hashtag #GIRLBOSS on Instagram. These decisions become easier to make.
The 7 Elements of Brand Voice
When I create brand voice guides, I want it to be a compass for my client. I want it to guide them on their brand journey and give them clarity moving forward.
But how do you create a brand voice? Well, here are seven vital elements of a brand voice that can help:
Target market: Your brand voice is no good if it doesn’t resonate with your audience. What kind of people are you targeting? What do they value? How do they speak?
Brand purpose: Your brand purpose defines what you do and how it helps. It’s your guiding light for everything you do.
Brand positioning: Your positioning shows you how you compare to your peers. Are you the moody alternative to the light and bubbly photographer?
Brand narrative: Your brand narrative captures your personality in a story. You revisit it when you need a refresh or send it to your designer so they get your vibe.
Brand values: What does your brand stand for? What do you deem important? Your values are your compass. They help you make decisions.
Brand messaging: Every brand has a message. What do you want to get across to your audience? Your brand messaging is all about the value you bring.
Tone of voice: Your tone of voice expresses your personality and differentiates you from everyone else. Do you use the word “yasss” or prefer to just say “yeah”? These distinctions are important!
Example: Squarespace
“The city has inspired our attitude, our aesthetic, and our mission to democratize good design for every ambitious entrepreneur, artist, or visionary with a dream.”
Do you get a sense of Squarespace’s brand voice from this quote?
Squarespace is a D.I.Y website platform for small businesses, especially creatives. The platform uses words like “visualise”, “grow” and “big ideas”. Words aligned with creativity and potential.
These words make you feel like you can do anything. And because the platform allows you to create your own website, it almost feels like you can!
Squarespace is about living life on your own terms and going against the status quo. You never see stuffy corporate types in Squarespace campaigns. You see successful creatives doing their thing with their cool, customised websites.
I connect with Squarespace because I’m its ideal customer — an ambitious creative who wants a website that will make my dream a reality. Oh, and I love NYC.
5 Ways to Nail Your Brand Voice
Now you know a thing or two about brand voice, let’s create yours. Don’t know where to start? Here are 5 ways to nail your brand voice.
1. Define Your Ideal Client’s Personality
The most important part of brand voice exploration is getting to know your ideal client — because they’re the ones you’re trying to attract, right?
So, what makes your ideal client tick? What do they love doing, reading, watching? What do they like? What do they dislike? Defining their personality will help you create yours. The more detailed, the better!
2. Decide on Who You *Don’t* Want to Be
"No #GIRLBOSS vibes, please.” This is what I told my designer, and it helped us both define the brand identity for me.
Knowing what you are not, allows you to define who you are. Take notice of brands that irk you and think about why.
3. Look at Brands You Love
What brand do you follow? What do you like about them? This exercise isn't so you can copy people (not a good look). It's to brainstorm brand vibes that feel right for you.
As I mentioned before, I love Squarespace because they empower creatives to do what they love to do. This gives me a hint about how I want to show up, too.
4. Describe your brand with adjectives
What words come to mind when you think of your brand? Use adjectives (describing words) e.g. adventurous, bold, thoughtful, supportive, edgy — the more words, the better.
These words will guide you when you’re making decisions. If you wrote down “adventurous”, posting a story of you climbing a mountain makes sense.
5. Think of Your Favourite Famous Person, Movie or TV Show
Are you a Rachel, Phoebe or Monica? Defining brand voice can be as simple as making a mish-mash of your fave vibes in pop culture.
For example, I *love* the musician and model Lou Doillon. I love her style, interests and music. Obviously, she’s not a copywriter, but she expresses a vibe I love. She inspires me!
What famous person do you love? Why do you love them? Is it because they’re clever and funny? The way they show up on Insta lives? Can you incorporate some of their vibes and make them your own?
Brand voice is really just about getting to know your creative persona and getting it down on paper so you have guidelines to follow.
