In this episode of frankly…
Is your brand voice more than just a vibe?
Our frankly… duo unpacks how to define your brand voice and build a messaging strategy that truly supports it. Follow along as Rachel and Dan share practical tips and strategic insights, exploring how to turn tone into a powerful tool – one that shapes not just what you say, but how your brand shows up in the world.
Let us know what you took away from this week’s conversation, and, as always, be sure to rate, review, and subscribe!
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The transcript below is AI-generated and may contain minor inaccuracies. Tune in to the episode audio to hear the full conversation!
Transcript
Rachel
Hello, welcome to frankly.
Dan
Welcome.
Rachel
We’re going to talk today about two things really. It’s just Dan and I.
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
And we’re going to go through brand voice and how it actually is a strategy and not just a vibe that we want to feel and create. And then we’re going to work through kind of playing off of that once you have. Your you know, brand voice. What are you saying? So think messaging, messaging framework. What is that? What does that look like? How do you create it? How do you take the brand and give it messaging behind it? You know what you want people to know about your brand
Dan
Right. Yeah.
Rachel
But there is a formula per se that can help you kind of iron that out.
Dan
Yeah, iron it out. And then what do you kind of where do you take it from there? Once you’ve got this voice, once you get this messaging identified, how do you take a look at what’s already out there for your company and make sure that things are aligned.
Rachel
It fits, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. All right, Dan, start with brand voice.
Dan
Yeah. So I, I mean, I feel like a lot of times people can, or companies can get less strategic about this when they’re thinking about content for a specific channel or for a specific platform and you know, we always talk about, you know, I’ll use social media as an example,
Rachel
Sure.
Dan
Platform specific strategies are great, they’re needed. They are an important piece of an overall marketing and communication strategy because you want to be, you know, connected with people who are reading it on that network. But I think sometimes brands can take that a step over the line and trying to just be a fun brand on social.
Rachel
Even if that’s really not their ethos.
Dan
Right.
Rachel
And brand, not even just brand voice but that’s just not the type of company that they are, and not to say that you can’t find that voice and and something that I think is important is this voice versus tone.
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
Like voice is consistent. The way that you’re talking about things in your company needs to remain the same. Tone is context based, so you would use a different tone whether you were talking to a client versus talking to your best friend, right? But at the end of the day, your personality and who you are remains the same.
Dan
Yeah
Rachel
I think that’s like the easiest way to think about it. So yeah, be you might be able to be a little bit more fun on social media. But you don’t have to be the Duolingo owl either.
Dan
Right, right. And I think that’s like kind of combining that personality and the why behind it is what gives you your your voice and and you know we think about it from like a B2B versus a consumer angle like your voice is going to be very different if you’re talking. If your main goal is to reach engineers and call it science scientists versus your general overall consumer who’s just looking for things in their daily life.
Rachel
Well, and the level of depth you need to go in topics then matters too, right?
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
As a consumer, if you’re pushing a product that is maybe. Just a little bit different, something that already exists or it’s, you know, making it better. People have a better general knowledge and understanding of those things versus a topic that’s a lot more complicated that you have to talk to engineers. Are you talking to engineers that know about those topics or are you trying to reach the marketing people there that might be a little bit different?
Dan
Yeah, yeah.
Rachel
Or, are you trying to reach, I mean that could go 100 different directions, but it doesn’t mean that the voice changes.
Dan
Right.
Rachel
It really is is that tone, and I think it’s important that you’re constantly reviewing those materials and the consistencies and inconsistencies, right, if you talk about a strategy, yes, your brand’s going to evolve but if it’s done well, that voice should remain relatively the same over time. It should stand the test of time.
Dan
Yeah, I think you know, taking a look at everything that you have out there like say, you’re coming into a new strategy project for your company or for your client for whoever does, you know, I think something that we always start with as a communications audit or if we like to start with.
Rachel
Yes.
Dan
Kind of take a look at the big picture. Everything that’s available within reason of yeah, communications materials, whether that be web content, brochures, 1 pagers, social content, press releases and kind of lay those out next to each other to think about where they’re consistent, but also where there there may be some inconsistencies.
Rachel
Well, yeah, because you might create those in a vacuum.
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
At some point and not realize that until you look at it all together.
Dan
Ohh yeah, it’s only natural that like sales teams will develop one pagers that maybe haven’t gone through marketing.
Rachel
Yeah
Dan
Or haven’t been vetted in in some way or another. So I think there’s always going to be some, some level of inconsistency, but trying to like identify those and then compare and contrast to find out who you actually want to be and understand which of these messages or which of these styles are resonated most with the people that you’re trying to reach.
Rachel
Yeah, cause that’s gonna change over time. Industries change. Topics of interest change and not that your product does, but how you talk about them will.
Dan
Yes.
Rachel
Based on current events, the current marketplace, the industry change, your challenges. So yeah. And then once you capture that It’s important to have then a guidelines document that everyone can go back and reference so that if things are being created a little bit more in a vacuum just because and naturally that happens, are we all at least talking the same talk and walking the same walk as we’re putting those together.
Dan
Yeah, and and and something like brand voice or messaging is something that inherently just should live under the marketing arm of the organization.
Rachel
Yeah, yeah.
Dan
Everybody can have input. Everybody can, you know, give their two cents and feedback and it’s important to understand how different teams are using it and what works for them, but marketing should be the one to kind of bring that together and create this kind of overarching guideline and that gives you and your team the kind of backup that if somebody comes to you with a with a 1 pager that they’ve created that’s off the wall, crazy, you know?
Rachel
Right. It gives you something to stand on to say like, hey.
Dan
Yeah. You’ve got some back up there.
Rahcel
Yeah. And encourage people that like, yeah, we want you to, you know, create materials that you need and we understand that it’s pertinent for the work you’re doing, just run it by us.
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
Come back and check in. We’re we’re more than happy
Dan
Yes.
Rachel
To review it and make sure it aligns, it’s in their best interest too.
Dan
Right, right. So. I think maybe a natural like second piece of this is you understand the need for all of these materials, you understand the need for consistency in a voice. But like, how do you actually go about developing a messaging framework or building that kind of backup document behind your couple of voice pillars or voice styles for your organization? So how do you fill in that meat on the bones, I guess.
Rachel
Yeah.
Dan
I think a lot of that starts with, you know. We talked about the audit before, but you have to start with your audience. You have to start with .
Rachel
You have know who you’re talking to be able to understand what you want to say.
Dan
Who you’re talking and what they care about.
Rachel
And again based on in an overarching document, you need to understand that there are groups of people, yeah, and that is important because each individual piece that you create is probably going to be for one of, I don’t know, four or five audiences. And how you talk to those people, that tone will change, right? If you talk about voice and tone, the voice remains the same, your tone will be different because what they care about is different.
Dan
Yes.
Rachel
So making sure that your messaging is split amongst those and how it kind of starts to ebb and flow is going to be important as you start to understand your messaging and put it together.
Dan
Yeah, getting specific there is is so important.
Rachel
Yeah.
Dan
Like you said, and I think you know, maybe an example to to think about, think about this is you know if you’re a medical technology company for example and you want to target you say I need to target surgeons. OK, we need to get laser specific
Rachel
Yeah Break that down further.
Dan
Or are we looking at cardiology looking at what are we looking at because like you said, each one of those very specific niche areas within a hospital within an automaker within a whoever it might be has a very specific goal in mind that they’re working towards and a very specific need for the product that you’re you’re selling, even though it might apply to several of them.
Rachel
Yeah, I think something that we do a lot in B2B when we do messaging or we look at the marketing and like sales processes is look at decision makers versus influencers is what we call them. So in your situation, the decision maker is probably going to be the head of a department, right? Not necessarily even the surgeon themselves, even though they’ll be the end user of it.
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
Yeah, it’s like a tool for us, right? We want the tool we’re going to use it and not our executives. But the executives have to be the one to approve that change.
Dan
Sure. Yeah.
Rachel
That message for arming those influencers, so if you’re going to target, if I’ll go back to like a, you know, a reporting tool or something or a research tool in our situation. That’s who you want to make the case of like you need this because it’s gonna do this and this for your everyday process.
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
So that then we can go and say like, hey decision maker, this is how it’s gonna improve my processes. This is why that matters to you. So the content and message that you give should support that influencer that can take it to the decision maker, and maybe you then can reach the decision maker but understanding that that message for the influencers and versus decision maker is even going to be a little bit different,
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
But both are critical in conversion.
Dan
Yes. Yeah, it’s, I mean it could be as as easy as you know, simplicity of work for the user.
Rachel
Yeah.
Dan
You know greater efficiency for the decision maker within your team.
Rachel
Yes, that’s you said that much more eloquently than I did.
Dan
It’s just, you know, and but I think like you said, both are equally important and both are something that you need to think about and kind of segment out as you’re as you’re building this kind of building these branches of messaging.
Rachel
Yeah. And if you create messaging for one specific use, great. Make sure you then put it back into some like overarching master messaging document.
Dan
Right, right.
Rachel
I think that’s like one thing that you have to stop and think about and can be easily missed is like, don’t lose that, don’t only use it once if you’re using it for that, there’s probably another case that’s going to work for you again.
Dan
Right.
Rachel
And if it’s a part of a larger campaign, don’t do all that work and strategy for just that one using that message one time. So just, I think everyone could be better about that is like make sure that that master messaging is being updated as things are evolving and more things are being created.
Dan
Yeah, save yourself the time for next time around.
Rachel
Yeah
Dan
But also, just make sure you’re never using anything once because.
Rachel
Right.
Dan
It won’t sink in, and it won’t make your life easier either.
Rachel
Right.
Dan
And and I think that’s kind of you know we talked about branching out we talked about. We talked about kind of being able to look at all these different audiences, what message best resonates with them, but I think there’s also the flip side of that is understanding what is your top line one to three key key messages that everything else branches out from so kind of building this up.
Rachel
Yes, if you confuse the audience, then they’re. They’re not going to come back or ask more questions, right? If you’re not clear and concise from the jump of exactly what you want them to walk away with, you’re leaving room for confusion or misinterpretation.
Dan
Right. So thinking about these different groups as kind of branches off of the all off of the same tree of you know, what’s your, what’s your user message that ladders up into the overall, what’s your decision maker message the letters up into, into the overall, but making sure that everything that you deal, whether it be kind of at that high level or down at the product level, you can draw a line back to that key theme or back to your overarching kind of brand.
Rachel
Pillar.
Dan
Brand Pillar.
Rachel
Yeah, cause those always exist for sure.
Dan
Yes.
Rachel
And then one thing too that I think can be easily missed following like you know developing that message and that clear thing is the proof. So what backs that up? Right. Where’s the testimonial? What data do you have? What are the actual proven benefits, right? I think marketing language can get fluffy.
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
And it definitely has that reputation of, you know, just not being as straightforward or twisting the truth a little bit. And there’s a time and place for everything, but when you’re really delivering a clear message, it should have somewhere to point back to, you know, if it’s a value proposition and you’re saying, like, this is why us, it’s a, you know, it’s a competitive advantage.
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
You’ve got to be able to prove that. You got to be able to point back to something.
Dan
Stats testimonials whatever it might be, if something that connects you to the real world.
Rachel
Mhmm.
Dan
And actually makes this seem like it’s a viable option.
Rachel
Yep.
Dan
I think back to the episode that we did going back aways here.
Rachel
The Wayback machine. Yep.
Dan
But with with Miranda. Yeah, maybe a year ago, I don’t know. But it’s there’s so much more that goes into that social proof than what you think of at the surface. At the surface you can say, oh, we can just grab a stat from one of our customers. It’s like OK.
Rachel
Yeah, but.
Dan
Yeah, but then you have to go through sales team. Then you have to work through that companies marketing team. Then you have to work through that spokesperson. Then you have to get the quote, then somebody actually has to send it to you and there’s a lot pf boxes to check there.
Rachel
Absolutely.
Dan
And I think that’s that’s something that a lot of organizations overlook or don’t think about is having that customer marketing person dedicated to mining that content because it makes your story so much stronger.
Rachel
Well, and understanding that depending on what your product or service is that your customer, having your company and do that might be their value proposition.
Dan
Right.
Rachel
or competitive advantage and they might not want to talk about that. So that makes this part even harder, yet still so critical.
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
So in those situations, is it, you know, say you’re it’s a bank that’s your customer and it’s like large national bank. Like is that as good as saying exactly who and someone recognized the name? No. But there’s also only so much that you can do, and it’s still worth having something if you can get it. So keep that in mind.
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
And then, really, I think the last step is, OK, we’ve told you everything, but what do you want them to do with that?
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
What’s the call to action? What do you want them to take? So you know they’re going to take it away, but what action is behind it? What next step is there and make that easy and clear.
Dan
Yes.
Rachel
Is it schedule a demo? Is it follow us on the social channel? Is it, what is it?
Dan
Subscribe.
Rachel
Yeah. I mean, make it very clear at the bottom what action you would like them to engage with based on what platform you’re pushing the message on?
Dan
Yeah. And I think one important consideration and call to action is like building in call to actions that can that help ensure that they’re re engaged down the line, so it’s not something where it’s just like a read more. That’s great if you’re trying to get one point across.
Rachel
Yes, yes.
Dan
If you’re already have an audience member kind of like within your network.
Rachel
If it’s in an e-mail and you’re linking them out to a blog and you only have part of it and yes, read more is what you want them to do. It’s sending them to your website, right? That’s the action you’re having them take. But you’re right, if they’re not already locked in some other, you know, ongoing communication channel that is absolutely.
Dan
Yep. Get them into your database in one way or another so you can continue to reengage.
Rachel
Exactly. Exactly. So that’s kind of it. So right, identify your audience. Understand what is the insight, right? So what do we know that this audience can leverage? Is it an influencer? A decision maker?
Dan
What do we know about their needs?
Rachel
Yeah. What’s their challenge? What? That we can solve. So, what’s that insight, then? What’s the message? That clear message you want them to walk away with? That is memorable. It’s really focused finding that proof that then backs that message up and giving them that call to action. Yeah, those are those kind of five big pieces of developing messaging, which should then align with your brand voice.
Dan
And your guidelines.
Rachel
And your guidelines.
Dan
Full circle.
Rachel
Love on that have. Just a little playbook for you on putting together brand voice guidelines and messaging.
Dan
Yeah.
Rachel
That’s what we got this week.
Dan
Let us know in the comments if there’s anything that you know you like to start with when you’re developing messaging. If there’s, you know.
Rachel
Yeah.
Dan
If there’s, you know if there’s a certain, if you’ve got different thoughts on on how to build a brand voice, we’d love to hear.
Rachel
Yeah,
Dan
Love to hear some differing opinions too.
Rachel
I think there’s not a perfect formula for what to do differently, but if you’ve got some ideas, we’re always welcome to hearing them.
Dan
Yeah.
Speaker
And otherwise, we’ll see you next time. Bye.
