How do you develop a Tone of Voice for a brand? Part 1

Tone of Voice (ToV) is the tone and style of a brand's appeal to its audience. It is thanks to a well-formulated voice that the brand becomes recognizable, the loyalty of the audience increases, and the company itself is not perceived as a faceless seller of goods or services.

Let's figure out what you need to develop your own ToV brand.

A little theory or why Tone of Voice is needed

First of all, it should be said that the time of faceless companies has long passed. In conditions of high competition, the main tasks of the brand are the development of a unique trade offer, the creation of an interesting and memorable image, the provision of useful and informative content, as well as the establishment of strong and trusting relationships with its customers.

The Tone of Voice is just the tone thanks to which the seller can build a reliable communication with the buyer. Your client can always ask a question, express gratitude or claim, communicate with representatives and joke in the comments. As with the usual face-to-face communication, the brand must first earn such trust from its client.

One of the common mistakes when thinking about a communication strategy is to assume that "let's just be polite and responsive", is a sufficient characteristic of the tone of the company's letter. It's very easy to test this error — open Instagram. There you will find a record number of brands that are moderately responsive and very polite. After a few days, you won't remember the names of these companies.

It is not enough for a brand, like a potential interlocutor, to be just "good" to be trusted. Let's find out what it takes for a brand to become a "loyal friend" that customers will want to order goods or services from again and again.

Company analysis

It's not just about the characteristics of the brand and its main directions. To develop Tone of Voice, you must conduct a large-scale "self-interview", which will allow you to choose the direction in which your communication with customers will move.

To begin with, it is worth answering the following questions:

1. Who are you and what do you do?
   2. Who do you work for?
   3. How is your brand useful for the audience?
   4. Do you have a unique trading offer and significant differences from your competitors?
   5. In which social networks do you communicate with the audience?
   6. What social issues or social trends or ideas does your company support?
   7. What values does the company adhere to?
   8. What brand values would you like to share with your subscribers?
   9. What is your brand's mission?
   10. Does your brand comply with all of the above (values, mission, unique sales offer)?
   

After you have figured out the main characteristics of the brand, you can proceed to the most interesting stage: presenting your brand as a real person and a potential interlocutor. Dealing with a character is much easier and clearer than trying to focus solely on brand characteristics.

So, to imagine the company as a person, answer the following questions:

1. What does this person look like?
2. What age does a person have?
3. What character traits does he or she possess?
4. What makes him or her stand out from other people?
5. Does this person have habits? If so, which ones?
6. What are this person's hobbies and interests? What does he or she do in his or her free time?
7. How does this person communicate with people? Is he/she cold or, conversely, friendly and sociable?
8. What is a person's social circle?
9. Why do other people want to communicate with this person?

After answering all the questions, you will see that you are no longer a faceless company but a brand with its own personality, character, and charisma. It becomes much easier to develop the tone with which this person will present his news, offers, posts, and other content.

But, as we all know perfectly well, two sides are needed for communication. In addition to analyzing the brand, it is necessary to analyze its interlocutor — a potential buyer.