up:: [[Modern Entrepreneurship Toolkit (METK)]] tags:: #on/branding #on/copywriting # Creating a Tone of Voice Guide A tone of voice guide outlines the elements involved with how to write like the brand. These elements include: - Brand Value - Audience - Tools - Writing - Examples - Modulate - Poster (Act as a visible prompt/reminder) *Aim for **3-5** brand values, it becomes difficult to write copy that has to be so many things simultaneously.* Brand often take on the personality of their founders, at lease initially. One can also think perspective. E.g. Nike is always positive. Some examples for brand values can be: - Considered: We weigh every word. Every one we add is a considered, defendable choice that earns its place. - Harmonious: Everything just works in unison - creating an overall harmony that captivates the reader *Brand values should be **specific and explained**. A brand value like "funny" can be interpreted in different ways and need to be further established with examples.* A list of brand values should be included with brief explanations, followed by full explanations on individual pages. Audience can be assessed with demographic and psychographic profiles. Get a sense of their age, role, location, pain points, and what their day looks like. Brand values can be used on their own, or packaged in tools like brand identity/philosophy, or a brand persona (this includes internal persona and external persona). For instance, start with "We write with a brand philosophy", and then point out questions a writer can ask in order to sanity check if their copy sounds like what the brand would say. *Brand values can be further elaborated using specific explained examples, following a **like-this, not-like-this, because** formula.* - Like this: ... - Not like this: ... - Because: ... Having the "because" section is important to help reduce the guesswork involved. A technically intensive tool would be the Iambic pentameter - a traditional poetry metric line and Shakespeare's favourite meter. It is defined as five sets of two-syllables alternating between unstressed and stressed syllables. There are some debate around if a brand should have a different tone of voice for different social platforms. The perspective taken here is subtle: using the same tone of voice, but modulating it by the context of the subject. *Think of modulating as **fine-tuning** the dials of your brand values in the copy.* Let's investigate an example of a bank communicating to a customer about a missed payment, where the bank incorporates the brand values of "open", "honest", and "daring". > *This is an **overly daring** example: "Yo, you missed your payment, yeah? Get in touch with us and we'll get is sorted. Sweet."* > *This is a **dishonest** example: "We think you might have missed your payment, so you might want to give us a call. And hey, it's not going to be a problem. We can sort it out and everything will be amazing".* Why is this dishonest? The message isn't very clear, there's no ambiguity about the missing payments, and it is unlikely that the experience will be amazing. A better tuned example would be the following. > Hi. Really sorry to let you know, but it seems like you've missed one of your payments. But don't worry, get in touch with us, and we'll help you resolve it, no problem. Thanks. The openness of the message is dialed just correctly; it is honest and also daring in saying "we'll help you resolve it, no problem." Include a section in your tone of voice guide addressing modulation with examples. Start with "We always sound like us", and elaborate. For example: We speak with the same voice in everything we write. But, we'll occasionally talk in a different accent by modulating different elements of our brand value. Finally, summarizing key elements of the guide into a poster can act as a visual reminder of the brand's tone of voice. This can be placed on office walls or as the background of your browser new-tab page. The poster should have 4–5 highlights, and have brand values clearly identified.