It can be said that tone of voice is the character of your brand that can enter the customer's memory. If as an individual, you have your own way of communicating, so do you as a brand.
When you get a message, you might read it in the same tone as the person who sent it. It can be enthusiastic, cheerful, surprised, firm, etc. This also happens when customers read your message.
According to SEMRush, up to 65% of customers feel an emotional connection with brands that seem to care about them. Tone of voice is the key that can help you make it happen.
Understand more about what is meant by tone of voice, how to form it and its benefits for your business in the following review.
What is Tone of Voice?
Tone of voice is how the character of a brand is reflected in words, both written and spoken.
However, it's not just about what is said, but more about how to say it and the impression it makes.
Customers definitely get a variety of tones of voice from the brands they see. For example, on a billboard he sees brand A using a relaxed and quirky language style.
Meanwhile, on Instagram he sees brand B using a formal and authoritative language style.
However, these differences will not immediately enter the minds of customers. For that, learn some ways to form the following tone of voice.
How to Form a Tone of Voice
Pay attention to these things when forming a tone of voice for a brand:
Determine Core Values
The first step in finding your business's tone of voice is to determine core values.
You can start by creating a mission statement and brand message. Make sure you can answer the following questions to get the brand's mission statement:
- What is the purpose of this brand?
- How do you achieve that goal?
- Who are your targets?
- What kind of brand do you want to be known as?
Then, you can design a brand message that is in line with all types of messages and values ​​that you want to convey through content.
A brand message design usually contains a collection of terms, phrases, and statements that are the purpose of communication. For example, friendly, fun, authoritative, open to input, ready to help, etc.
Determining the tone of voice
After understanding the true identity of the brand, you can start creating a unique tone of voice.
According to Nielsen Norman Group, there are four dimensions of tone of voice that you can choose, including:
- Formal vs Casual: Formal tone will give the impression of authority but less personal. Meanwhile, casual tone will give the impression of personal but less professional.
- Funny vs Serious: In the funny tone you will add humor. However, in the serious tone there is no humor at all.
- Respectful vs Irreverent: Respectful tone will give the impression that the customer is king. Meanwhile, irreverent tone considers him as a friend who can be joked with.
- Enthusiastic vs Matter-of-Fact: Enthusiastic tone gives the impression of being friendly and fun. Meanwhile, matter-of-fact tone emphasizes honesty and what it is.
There is no right or wrong from the four dimensions above. However, you must really choose it with careful consideration, so that it does not have a negative impact on the brand image.
Know your target market
To increase engagement, you must know what your customers want and need from your brand.
You can start by using social media. Find out what social media your brand's target market usually uses. Then, observe what topics they discuss and the reactions they give to those topics.
This information can be used as a basis for forming your brand's tone of voice.
Create a tone of voice guideline
So that the tone of voice can be applied in harmony to all messages that will be issued by the brand, you must create a guideline.
The tone of voice guideline must consist of several things that we have discussed above, namely:
- Description of the target market
- Attitude towards the audience (formal or casual, funny or serious, etc.)
- Core values
- Mission statement
- Brand message
- Vocabulary to use
- Vocabulary to avoid
- Grammar usage rules
Benefits of Tone of Voice for Business
According to Albert Mehrabian, a non-verbal communication expert, good communication consists of three elements, namely:
- Words
- tone of voice
- body language used
Therefore, in order to realize good communication with customers, brands must build a tone of voice. Here are some of the benefits of tone of voice for your business.
Increase customer trust
Through tone of voice, brands can create a familiar impression with customers.
Customers will be very familiar with the brand when they consistently hear the words used in the branding process.
Through this familiar impression, customer trust arises because of the touch of tone of voice that makes them comfortable and related.
Making a difference
All businesses that are in the same industry will look boring if they only convey messages like that.
Tone of voice is the most important thing that can make you look different from your competitors and ultimately attract customers.
Increase revenue
When customer trust increases, revenue will also increase.
According to data from SEMRush, 23% of average revenue will increase when a brand builds its tone of voice consistently.
Replacing face-to-face communication
For its sustainability, brands must ensure that customers use their products or services continuously. One way to make this happen is by maintaining good communication with them.
Because it is impossible to approach customers one by one, tone of voice can be the means. With the help of social media, messages with a consistent tone of voice will create interaction with customers.
That's the information you need to know about what tone of voice is, how to form it, and its benefits for your business. In conclusion, the familiarity that arises from a good tone of voice design will increase customer trust and provide benefits for the brand.
Designing a tone of voice is one way to deal with dynamic situations in managing a business. If you want to have good business analysis skills, follow the Strategic Business Analysis short program from Prasmul-Eli.
In the three-day program, the learning scope includes:
- Introduction to Strategic Business Analysis
- General Environment and Scenario Analysis
- Industry Analysis
- Competitive Analysis
- Internal Analysis
- Core Competence Analysis
- SWOT Analysis
- Business Model Analysis
- Customer Pain & Gain Analysis
Register yourself through the following link to join this class which will be held online and offline.
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