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Hot take: Every biz should have a tone of voice document in their brand kit 🧰
Tone of voice guidelines are the foundations of a solid tone of voice, which is why we think every business needs ‘em. Good copy can transform a business from “why no sales” to “woohoo we’re killing it”. This might sound like an exaggeration (or propaganda from an overenthusiastic copywriter), but nailing your messaging really is that important.
Language is one of the most important elements of creating different types of tone of voice. It plays a big part in how your overall tone of voice will be perceived and can forge those dreamy connections that every business owner wants to make with their ideal customers.
However, language can often feel like the most confusing part. The way we use language often doesn’t feel like a conscious decision — we just speak how we speak, right? This means it can be tricky to pinpoint how we’re actually using language when we communicate.
But trust us; we’re using language with more purpose than we often realise, and delving into this is an important part of creating your business’s tone of voice guidelines.
Want to jump straight in and start working on your tone of voice guidelines?
If you’re reading this thinking, how the heck am I supposed to know what language to use in my tone of voice, keep reading for the Good Egg guide that’ll take you from 🤯 to 😎
Your brand voice is how you express yourself and communicate your business’s core personality with your ideal customers. This, along with a logo and other visual branding elements, is how you show your business’s personality.
You’ll want to have your tone of voice guidelines to hand when you’re developing your marketing and content strategy. This will be a massive help for creating content that builds connections with potential clients via your website, social media content, email marketing, etc.
When we were creating our Good Egg tone of voice guidelines, we found it easier to think of our business like a person — how do they speak? Are they casual and jokey, or serious and straight to the point? Are there words or phrases that they love to sprinkle throughout their sentences*? How does the way they speak make you feel?
*For us, that’s pizzazz, dreamy, and all the Millenial-coded language you can think of, with a few Yorkshire-isms, like ‘pal’, thrown in for good measure
Tone of voice guidelines are often overlooked as an important element of a company’s brand guidelines, but they’re just as important as having a logo (hands up if you have a logo but not brand guidelines 👀).
Full disclosure, we only did our tone of voice guidelines very recently, so we’re definitely not throwing shade.
What you write is the main way that your audience gets the information they need to decide whether they want to work with you. When you think of it like that, it becomes ultra-clear why a strong tone of voice is hella important.
When we say language, we aren’t talking about language as in choosing between English and Spanish, but about the words you use when you write.
When we speak, we automatically use words that best communicate what we want to say. We also use language that fits who we are as individuals — this is a huge part of what makes us who we are. It’s the same with your business: It isn’t enough to communicate clearly — your business also needs to demonstrate its personality whenever it’s speaking.
This is where language comes in handy. Language is one of the four key elements of a tone of voice (alongside brand personality, characteristics, and grammar/syntax), and using it consistently and authentically will help you develop a recognisable brand voice.
If you’ve read any of our other tone of voice blog articles (you can find them here if not), you’ll know that we talk A LOT about the importance of consistency.
A consistent tone creates a sense of trust and authenticity that potential customers typically need to see before they’re willing to send their hard-earned ££ your way.
Choosing a set of language guidelines is a big part of creating a tone of voice document for your business. To do this, tap into the following three handy resources:
The language you use in your tone of voice can be determined by answering three questions — we’ve listed them below, along with a few tone of voice examples:
Everyday language replicates how you speak IRL, whereas a formal tone is more ‘traditional business’ vibes.
This is the difference between buy (informal tone) and purchase (formal tone). A friendly tone uses colloquial language to sound more like how we typically talk in day-to-day life. Formal content typically uses words that can only be found in the dictionary… which is why we could never 😉
Example:
Chatty language forges deeper connections with your audience, but direct language is great for getting straight to the point.
Chatty language creates a conversational tone that puts you on the same level as your target audience — this is a great way of building a connection. Instructional tones of voice, on the other hand, prioritise language that creates a sense of authority.
Example:
Clear language and an informative tone are great for explaining difficult concepts, and emotion-led language evokes feelings in your audience.
Clear language is handy for complex topics that your audience needs to fully understand (e.g if you’re a financial advisor explaining your investment services). Emotional content is a great tool for selling the benefits of a product or service (e.g. how a gorgeous new website will make you feel super proud of your business).
Example:
Hint: If you’re feeling stuck while answering these questions, look through all your communication channels, aka your business convos, web copy, blogs, emails, or social media posts, and see if there are any words you regularly use that feel very “you”.
Side note: If you’re one of the procrastination gang and want to add more joyful productivity to your work days, sign up to our newsletter to get your free Good Egg Guide to Building a Feel-Good Business.
So, now you (hopefully) have a good grasp of language and the different types of tone of voice you can use in your business. But how do you go about putting that knowledge into action?
Good Egg can help!
Whether you want to save time and have us create your tone of voice guidelines or save money and create them yourself, we’ve got a service to suit…
📓 Good Egg’s DIY Tone of Voice Workbook — six simple steps to creating a dreamy tone of voice document, including a free tone of voice template.
🧠‘Done For You’ Tone of Voice Development — get your tone of voice guidelines created for you without having to figure it out for yourself.
Wanna pick our brains about writing for your biz? Pop us a message to schedule your free 15-min call, where we’ll help you get unstuck with that tricky writing task on your to-do list.
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