How to find your brand voice and inject personality into your launch copy
“This copy doesn’t sound like me”
These words are uttered so much by business owners who struggle with their brand voice (and it’s no surprise that ‘brand voice templates’ is widely searched on Google).
When business owners reach out to me for help with their copy, they’ve usually struggled to find a copywriter who can capture their brand voice. And I see so many frustrated copywriters who have no idea how to sound like their clients.
But before we get into how to find your brand voice and why brand voice is important. Let’s dig into what it actually is.
What is brand voice?
Voice is your brand personality and it can be your biggest differentiator from your competitors. For example, I didn’t want my website to sound like every other launch copywriter online...so I wrote it in my personality to make my brand stand out.
Because no-one else can sound like me.
Your brand voice is how your brand or business communicates with the audience, everywhere from emails, website, launch copy.
In terms of what voice consists of, you’re looking for 4 core things:
Tone, sentence length, language and style.
TONE
What tone do you use in your copy? Then look at the context, you’ll find the tone will change depending on what you’re talking about or who you’re talking to.
For example, you might find your copy takes on an angry tone when you’re arguing against or for something. Or that fear creeps in when you’re reflecting your audience’s pain points.
So list out the tones and then when they’re going to be used.
SENTENCE LENGTH
Shortening the length of sentences increases the pace of the copy. Like this. Or this.
LANGUAGE
What language do you use? Does it match the language your audience uses?
TIP: Your audience probably isn’t using your industry words. When I wrote for the national newspapers, we intentionally used simpler language so that more people could understand it. This is why the newspapers have such a huge readership.
STYLE
How is the copy written? Do you use swear words? Emojis?
How do you use italics and bold? For instance, one of my clients uses italics to add in personal details. Another uses italics for emphasis.
This is just the beginning of style. To figure out my client’s style, I analyse their copy and then compare it to others in the same space to see what makes their copy different.
Why is brand voice important?
Your voice is your most powerful tool.
For 6 years I worked as a journalist helping victims of crime to speak out against their attackers after they’d gotten justice.
These women had been attacked and demoralised.
Yet speaking out was incredibly powerful for them. They used their voice to regain control.
By creating a strong brand voice and highlighting your personality (or parts of your personality), you’re fostering trust and better connections with your audience which usually means more sales and easier launches.
How to find your voice
Introducing my Brand Voice Detective method to reverse engineer voice.
👉 STEP 1: RESEARCH
It’s not sexy but every successful project starts with research.
An authentic brand voice starts as an extension of your personality. You can pick out certain qualities you have and bring that into your brand.
Ask your friends and family how they would describe you. What adjectives would they use? Which ones can you replicate in your brand?
Look at your competitors: how would you describe their brands? Is there an obvious gap in the market?
👉 STEP 2: COMPILE
Compile a list of copy you have written: emails, social media captions, podcasts.
(If your copy doesn’t represent the voice you want to sound like, then look at your texts with your friends or even your DM conversations with colleagues, prospects, and your audience).
👉 STEP 3: ANALYSE
What phrases, language, slang do you use? What topics do you consistently talk about? What stories do you talk about? What references do you make?
What do you argue for or against? Are you on the same side as your audience?
👉 STEP 4: CREATE A CHEAT SHEET
List your findings in a Google Doc. We’re creating a vault of copy ideas, phrases, and language you can use.
[TIP: Hand this over to your VA or copywriter so you can outsource with less training].
Need a brand voice guide template? Grab the Brand Voice Buddy for a quick ‘n’ dirty way to capture your client’s voice 👇
Advanced tips to elevate your brand voice
Be this, not that
When crafting a brand voice, use comparisons to explain how your voice will sound. For example, you can say my brand is confident not arrogant.
My brand is bold, not brash.
My brand is confident, not not arrogant.
My brand is sensitive, not emotional.
Your voice won’t attract everybody
Remember that a compelling brand voice doesn’t attract everyone, and that’s OK.
By repelling those who aren’t a good fit for you, you’ll reduce time spent handling their enquiries, and reduce refund requests.
Some people will hate that I swear on Instagram and on my website, others will find it refreshing.
Some people might have an aversion to Fireball whisky and so hate my branding.
However I always get on well with my clients because my branding does a great job of filtering out the right people.
The right people will want to work with you.
Add in your personality
GIFs, emojis, slang, stories…
There are so many ways you can add in personality to copy.
I always transcribe client calls and see how they talk about themselves or their business. Are they self-deprecating? Do they swear like a sailor?
And that’s how I drop their personality into their copy. I ask them what their favourite TV shows are and add in GIFs with their favourite characters.
When you’re adding stories to your client’s copy (or your own), be strategic. Use stories that will resonate with your audience by highlighting a characteristic they see themselves as or who they aspire to be.
And if you’re stuck on stories….my favourite tip to ask myself this:
What questions would you ask your grandparents about their life?
Because nobody would ask boring questions. They’d be juicy things like where did you fall in love, what’s your favourite memory? When were you happiest?
Then make the story come to life with extra details - sounds, smells, textures - and boom, you’ve got fun copy that will resonate with your audience.
And finally…
Always use your audience’s language (also known as voice of customer).
VOC is key to getting conversions because it’s matching your audience where they are and showing you understand them. Use your audience’s language in your copy because they’re probably not calling things the same things you are.
