How To Define The Tone Of Voice For Your Business?
Article by Clement Español
Graphics Design by Vargheese Martin
To succeed as a business, you need to attract customers. One way to ensure this is to use the right tone of voice for your campaigns or project. This can make or break your business when your target audience finds your tone unrelatable or alienating. On the other hand, a tone of voice that appeals to your target customers can lead to more sales.
What Is Tone of Voice?
In marketing, tone of voice refers to how your brand sounds when communicating with your audience. Finding and keeping a consistent tone of voice matters when running an online business because your customers will make first impressions based on which tone you use for your website or social media posts.
This is not to say that you will have to use your chosen tone of voice all the time. You can use various ones depending on a project or campaign you might have. Factors may change with each purpose, like your audience or the type of content to be produced. Whether you aim to go from families to yuppies or from news pieces to lifestyle tips, consider these elements to determine your tone of voice.
Formality
If you aim to be acknowledged as a reliable thought leader in your industry, use the formal tone of voice. Those who go for formal are usually on the corporate side, in which target audiences include business executives who prefer or are accustomed to formal language.
Still, don’t feel obliged to stick to formal if your business specializes in what people perceive as “serious” topics. You can go for a casual tone that can make your product or service more relatable.
If you offer online payment services, using a casual tone to help people get interested and understand how such a payment type works. One example would be CliQQ by 7/11 stores, which attracts customers by casually explaining how easy their process is.
Humor
Another aspect would be humor, which can either be subtle, obvious or in between. The funny tone of voice has played a large part in many viral memes of today.
A post that readers find funny can last as something memorable to them, helping them recall your brand when they think of a product or service you offer. Examples of funny ads include Samsung vs Apple comparisons or Wendys’ Twitter posts.
If your brand doesn’t really fit being funny, a serious tone works just fine. This helps especially if you are discussing customer safety. An example would be motorcycle manufacturer Harley Davidson’s website: the copy is in a serious tone and assures customers that they are free to pursue adventure with the brand’s motorbikes.
Enthusiasm
If you are officially launching your business, a major event, or a brand-new product, using the enthusiastic tone of voice can benefit your campaign. Such a tone can arouse interest in what you are about to offer or unveil to the public.
An enthusiastic voice usually includes action words, supported by exclamation points, bright colors, and similar elements. Popular examples include annual sales or holiday promos.
Respectfulness
You can use a respectful tone of voice for touchy subjects such as historical figures, civic movements, sexual health, and more. By talking about something or someone in a respectful manner, you can share information about them without the need to make fun of them or trivialize the situation.
Your business might specialize in upcycled products made by an indigenous tribe. If so, let your copy market the products in a way that respects the people involved with creating them.
Determine Your Tone of Voice with Gotafflair
Now that you’re aware of the tone of voice for businesses, do you have an idea what yours would be? The sooner you determine this, the better you can prepare for your future campaigns, online websites, or other types of content. Let Gotafflair help you figure out the tone of voice for your business. Our team of professional copywriters can work with you in determining the tone that best reflects your brand identity.
Interested? Get in touch with us via sales@gotafflair.com for a free consultation!
