Three Easy Steps to Developing Your Brand Voice
So, you have a business. Do you have a brand voice? This step in your business development is imperative – a solid brand voice sets a concrete foundation for your company’s success across media. It allows you to sound consistent, while permitting for nuance (nobody wants to sound the same on social media as they do in a press release). It’s an incredibly rewarding process, and all you need is a little structure. Here’s a sneak peak at my Brand Voice pyramid – keep reading for three easy steps to perfecting your brand voice.
Step 1 - Building a Brand Voice Foundation
Everyone starts at the beginning. A key step in the brand voice development process is identifying your brand values. What are the three to five most important things to you and your company? Answer this and you’re well on your way. From there, you can refine, tweak, and elaborate to build a solid foundation of values, mantras, and messaging concepts.
Step 2 - Fleshing Out Brand Voice Creative Muscle
Once you’re standing on a solid foundation, it’s time to get creative. When we build out Creative Muscle, we’re shaping your brand’s true identity – attitude, pop-culture, messaging nuances and more all come into play. Don’t be afraid to look for real-world inspiration as you develop your Brand Voice Creative Muscle. Tap into characters and other influencing brands to start piecing this together. If you work with me to develop this, we’ll participate in some messaging exercises to really dive deep.
Step 3 - Getting Down to the Brand Voice Nitty Gritty
Now you can really see your brand voice taking shape! It’s time to polish things off with what I call the Nitty Gritty. The top of the pyramid is important to sharpening your voice and ensuring consistency. Here is where you can focus on developing rules, do’s and don’ts by platform, and even a glossary of commonly used terms. Think of this section as one you’ll proof your work against!
Now that you have a brief overview on how I develop Brand Voice, go forth and conquer! Want to know more of my secrets? Ready to work together on developing your brand voice? Still not sure where to begin? Sign up for your free thirty-minute brand voice consultation today!
I’m Kyle Reinsfelder, a freelance copywriter from St. Louis. Currently living in Denver, I’m proud to bring my clients and other budding copywriters the tools they need to take their brand voice development to the next level. By cementing a solid foundation for your brand, we can move forward developing content across media with confidence!