We might hate to admit it, but at some point in our marketing careers, we have all questioned what our brand stands for, or if what it stands for is still the best way to go. As the marketing landscape changes, as more and more channels become available for our message to be broadcast, the more we should double down on keeping a consistent identity when it comes to our communication.
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According to a report from Lucidpress, brands that have consistency in presentation are 3 to 4 times more likely to experience brand visibility. Furthermore, brand consistency is also attributed to increasing the revenue of brands by 23% on average.
The secret to keeping this consistency is developing your organization’s brand voice. Or, if you’re more established, re-assessing if your brand voice is still relevant. (According to Unilever’s David Porter, if your company is 10 to 15 years old, it’s built wrong for today.)
But what is a brand voice? In a nutshell, it is your company’s personality and culture, your sense of being, imbued into your brand communication. It is different from tone, as tone is the emotional inflection applied to your voice per communication material. Tone is adjustable, but your brand voice MUST be consistent.
So how do you determine your brand voice?
The first thing you have to do is reflect on who you are as a company.
The video went viral a decade ago, and you may already have heard of it, but Simon Sinek’s TED talk on “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” may be worth revisiting.
The main takeaway of the talk: A solid voice emanates from a clear purpose.
As an exercise, try whipping out a paper or a whiteboard and try to describe your brand based on what you deem it to be. Describe your brand in one sentence. (This should be able to answer the “Who are you as a brand?” question and should be useful for elevator pitches.)