Tone of voice guidelines are important to consider when developing your marketing campaign if you want to establish a strong brand identity. When your brand has its own character and operates like an individual person, it is more likely to connect with your audience and gain their trust and loyalty.

To reliably achieve this, you should create clear tone of voice guidelines so that no matter the author or subject, the brand tone is consistent. You will likely also be asked to provide tone of voice guidelines if you are outsourcing your marketing to an agency such as GIANT.

Creating your brand’s tone of voice guidelines

To nail your brand’s communication style, it’s good to know specifically what you want. Undertake research on your competitors and their tone of voice, your target audience, and the company values that you want to promote. Do you want to seem professional and reliable? Friendly and conversational? Fun and quirky? Try to understand the core voice that your brand should project, and how it relates to your product or service and company values.

Your guidelines can be in whatever format works best for you and your business, but keep it simple and accessible so anyone can understand it. Start by briefly outlining your overall desired tone and style and the values you want to promote in your written content.

tone of voice guidelines
Tone of voice guidelines are important to consider when developing your marketing campaign.

Stating why you are choosing this tone and how it relates to your audience can help the copywriter adapt their writing according to your goals. For example, a law firm may want a professional and transparent tone, so clients see the brand as trustworthy and knowledgeable. Whereas a new and alternative clothing brand might want to foster personal customer connections by including pop culture references and using a conversational tone.

Then make a list of all the communication channels you use, from website blog posts to email lists to social media posts. For each of these, create specific guidelines and brand tone of voice examples. You want consistency across your channels but bear in mind the situation may call for different tonal needs. An error message on your website shouldn’t sound exactly like a fun social media post.

Alongside your examples, reiterating your intentions and explanations of why these examples work well can also help people to understand the exact brand requirements and how they can be adapted based on context.

Share your document in a place that is easily accessible to your staff or outsourced team and stay up to date with current trends and communication channels. Every few years, try to update your tone of voice guidelines to ensure they are relevant, and include any new social media channels you’re using.

To learn how GIANT can help you improve your marketing plan and ace your tone of voice, speak to our team on 01604 250900. Or head to our outsourced services page for more information.