We don't expect you to read something that we couldn't be bothered to write, and that's why we don't use AI to create our blogs. The info, advice, and opinions you're about to enjoy are straight from the brains of Holly and Sophie, AKA The Good Eggs.
We may include affiliate links in our blogs. This allows us to make a little bit of ££ at no extra cost to you. We promise to only spend it on good stuff.
🚨Relatable content alert 🚨
We invest lots of time and/or money in choosing the perfect colour palette, fonts, and images for our brand. We know that a strong visual identity is super important for giving our audience a glimpse into who we are, what we’re like, and what we do.
But what about your words? Do we put the same effort into making sure our messaging is equally as strong and consistent?
I’m willing to bet that the majority of small businesses don’t have a tone of voice document. Amiright? Selecting which words go where is an art form as much as it is a science, and creating a memorable tone of voice isn’t always as easy as it looks.
The power of good copy can’t be understated, and all that starts with creating tone of voice guidelines for your business. If you’re reading this, thinking, how the heck am I supposed to know what my tone of voice is, don’t worry; Good Egg has got you covered.
Here’s everything you need to know about tone of voice documents — what they are, what they should include, and why every brand should have one.
A distinct tone of voice can forge connections and make you stick in the minds of your audience. If your tone of voice ticks the following three boxes, chances are you’re on the right track.
Your business’s voice should speak the same language as the rest of your branding. If your visual branding could be described as bright, bold, and brave, a tone of voice that is formal and meek will feel jarring and confuse your clients.
Your voice should also fit with your products and/or services and the folks you’re hoping will buy/use them. If you run a waxing studio, for example, establishing your expertise and creating a sense of trust will be key to making potential clients feel comfortable. Copy littered with puns and F-bombs might not work well here, even if that’s who you are as a person (no shade, that’s who I am as a person too).
Got questions about your tone of voice? Book a free 15-minute call to pick our brains.
Opting for a tone of voice that doesn’t feel right to you is like trying to maintain an accent that isn’t yours every time you speak. Imagine how exhausting that would be. Whenever we work with clients on their tone of voice documents, we start with them. It doesn’t have to be ‘full you’ (more of that in a second), but your tone of voice guide shouldn’t feel like notes on how to play a character.
Once you have your tone nailed down, make sure it features in all your comms. The goal is for you (and your team/freelancers you collab with) to be super clear on your brand’s voice and to use it every time you speak to your target audience.
There can be a little wiggle room while still maintaining a consistent and memorable tone of voice, and flexible tone guidelines are often easier to use. Imagine your TOV on a sliding scale that you can adjust to ensure it’s fit for purpose. You might choose to tone down or ramp up individual elements depending on the piece of content — less humour in how-to blogs, and more vulnerability in newsletters, for example.
The quick answer is LOADS OF WAYS. The following are some of the many reasons we think every business needs a handy guide to how it communicates.
Do you sometimes feel like you don’t have the time or headspace to write blog posts/web copy/social posts/product descriptions, etc, for your business? We get it (and have definitely been in the same boat). Having guidelines for your tone of voice can be a huge help if you feel like this because they act as a blueprint for every single word you write.
Think of it like having your brand’s colour palette to hand when you’re making gorgeous social media posts, or a bookkeeping system that makes tax season stress-free. Having the correct tools for the job is always a good idea, and a tone of voice document is no exception.
Think about it this way — you wouldn’t hire a graphic designer without sharing your business’s style guide, wouldya? You can apply the same logic to sending your tone of voice guidelines to the admin assistants, agency copywriters, and social media managers that you work with.
Sharing your TOV document will ensure that everyone speaking on your behalf knows how to speak on your behalf. This’ll help you with that all-important consistent tone we mentioned earlier.
To be totally honest, we don’t love generative AI. That isn’t because we’re scared it’s going to replace us (although tbh, it’ll probably replace us all eventually, right?), but because it’s TERRIBLE for the environment.
A 2023 study found that writing a single 100-word email with ChatGPT uses 500 ml of water and enough power for seven full charges of an iPhone Pro Max. And more recent research has suggested that those numbers are drastically understated. When you consider how quickly that water and energy usage adds up, it’s clear to see why we use it sparingly.
We love being sustainable online so much so that our Holly wrote this mega blog on how to take care of the planet no matter how ✨chronically online✨ you are.
However, we aren’t here to demonise its use (well, not entirely). The cost of living and doing business is higher than ever and as a result, lots of us are contending with mega-tight budgets. When that’s the case, it’s understandable that it’s sometimes necessary to turn to ChatGPT instead of hiring a copywriter.
On the surface, AI seems easy peasy to use, but when left to its own devices, the copy it produces can sound… well… as bland and robotic as the machine that wrote it. That’ll make it mighty challenging for your audience to connect with your brand (because who wants to work with a robot!?).
That’s where your TOV guidelines come in. If you have a solid understanding of your brand’s tone of voice, you can use that info to train ChatGPT to write copy in your (non-robotic) voice.
Like visual brand guidelines, your tone of voice guidelines can go as granular as you’d like. Big brands with massive teams might find it useful to drill down into every last detail of how they use their voice.
Girlguiding, for example, has gone all in on creating a memorable tone of voice with five pages covering every last detail about how they speak to their target audience. These guys likely have dozens of people writing on behalf of their organisation, so providing loads of tone of voice examples and guidelines is needed to keep things consistent.
However, if you’re a solopreneur or a small business, you really don’t need to go into that much detail. A one-page PDF is a much better approach — not only is this stripped-back version quicker and easier to make, but it’s also quicker and easier to digest, which means the folks you share it with will be more likely to adhere to it.
These are the four key dimensions of tone of voice guidelines:
Start by picking your brand words. These are the words that best sum up your business’s core values (if you have a mission statement, you’ll already have determined those values), and they’ll help guide your overall branding (not just your tone of voice). If you’re already set up, a good way of doing this could be to ask your customers what words they’d use to describe your biz.
If you don’t fancy doing this, we’ve compiled a PDF list of words for you to identify your company values and personality traits instead.
To figure out your brand’s language characteristics, you need to choose its dimension:
Rather than picking one or the other from the above options, you should look at these as spectrums. For example, you can have a moderately formal tone and sprinkle a little conversational voice in your copy from time to time.
Your brand will sit somewhere along the spectrum for these four dimensions, and that’s how your unique TOV starts to take shape.
Language is the backbone of connection, so you’ve gotta ensure that you’re using words and phrases that resonate with your target audience. For example, will you use conversational, everyday language, or will your comms be more complex and elaborate? Will you be direct and authoritative in your messaging, or will you aim to evoke a sense of dreaminess? Read more here about how to use language in your tone of voice.
Contrary to what we were taught at school, grammar can be played with, and the way it’s used says a lot about a brand’s energy. Will your voice be active or passive? Will your sentence structures be short and punchy or long and flowy? Will you follow grammatical rules to a tee, or will you be more playful? Choices choices! Learn how to use grammar and syntax to give your copy some pizzazz.
Still not sure how to create a tone of voice document? Fret not! There’s a Good Egg to help you with that! Our tone of voice development service is designed to define your voice for you. You’ll receive a handy tone of voice guidelines PDF that you can refer back to F O R E V E R.
If you know you need a tone of voice document but don’t have the time to tackle it yourself, this service might be the thing to finally get it ticked off your to-do list.
Subscribe to our fortnightly newsletter for support and solidarity from two feelings-led gals gently growing a biz.
