According to SmallBizGenius, a consistent brand presentation can generate up to 23 percent of increased revenue. But while there’s no question that solid branding can help a business bring home the bacon, there is a catch:

Your brand voice has to enhance your brand.

Has your business been giving people whiplash when they visit your site from social media? Your brand voice could be undermining your message. Keep reading to learn how you can create and establish a voice that makes sense for your business.

What Is Brand Voice?

Sprout Social defines brand voice as the persona used by a brand when it communicates.

This might sound a little particular at first glance, but establishing a brand voice is a more important step than you think.

For instance, Shakespeare and Hemingway are both famous writers but most people wouldn’t confuse them with each other. Why? Because everything, from word choice to the way they form sentences, is completely different.

Brand voice performs a similar function for your company. When you put together your statements or post captions on social media, your voice is what lets customers know that it’s you.

It Starts With Your Brand Identity

The first step towards creating a compelling brand voice isn’t writing the copy or putting together the internal documentation – it’s making sure that you understand the type of brand you want to be. Or put another way, do you want to be cool, competent, and formal or fun, disruptive, and trendy?

Dollar Shave Club is one of the most prominent brand voice examples out there to date. And while the company’s straight-talking tone may have been unorthodox, it worked when the company founder told people that they were paying extra for shaving features they didn’t actually need.

Whatever you choose at this stage, there are far-reaching implications that you’ll need to be aware of. An old-school luxury car brand may find that a more serious tone appeals to its customers. But a skincare brand that uses a lot of pop culture references and jokes may do significantly better with millennials and zoomers.

Either way, however, you’ll have to think very carefully about not just what you want to say but how you want to say it.

Aligning Your Brand Voice With Your Brand Message

Here’s a quick branding exercise.

If your brand was a person, what would they be like?

Keeping that thought in mind, here are some practical ways that you can create a consistent brand voice:

• Create a branding style guide
• Look for words that resonate with your intended audience
• Run your messaging through a brand filter

The good news is that you don’t have to guess or rely on gut instinct to find what works. You can check out a tool like https://www.modelb.com/ or build a tech stack that will track and time your results.

Here’s How to Craft a Brand Voice That Speaks to Your Audience

From raising awareness to being memorable, it’s clear that brand voice matters to businesses. But while many startups can go with the flow, consistency and brand presentation strategy have a direct effect on the advertising methods that are available to you. If your company feels like people aren’t responding to it as strongly as you’d hoped, the issue might not be your product — it could be your voice.

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