Creating a Strong Brand Voice: Expert Advice and Best Practices

Every successful business needs a strong brand voice. It's how your company talks to customers and stands out from competitors. A well-crafted brand voice creates emotional connections, builds trust, and shapes customer loyalty.

Your brand voice must align with your company's mission and core values. This alignment helps define your brand's personality and builds a unified strategy. Marketing authority Seth Godin demonstrates that brand personality development requires consistent messaging across all channels.

But what makes a brand voice successful? How do you create one that connects with your target market? This guide explains why having a clear brand voice matters and shows you how to build one that captures attention.

Brand Voice Definition

Brand voice is your brand's personality and character. It's how your company speaks to customers, the language and tone you use, and the values you share. It shows what makes your business unique and gives it an identity customers can connect with.

Creating a strong brand voice takes careful planning. First, you need to understand your target audience. Who are you trying to reach? What do they care about? You should also consider your company's core values so they come through in your communication.

Consider the tone that best suits your business. Should it be professional or casual? Formal or informal? Serious or playful? David Aaker, a leading brand strategy expert, establishes that successful brands choose tones that match their audience's expectations.

Creating Brand Voice

Your brand voice isn't fixed. It grows as customer needs change and your company develops. You should regularly check and adjust it to stay relevant and meaningful to customers.

Why Does Brand's Voice Matter?

Brand voice shows how a company chooses to communicate with its customers and how customers respond to that communication. A company with a strong brand voice will tell a story and build relationships with new customers.

This will increase loyalty with existing customers. A company that demonstrates a strong brand voice will help differentiate itself from its competitors.

A strong brand voice will build new relationships, a new strategy, and promote confidence to business owners in a new way. A strong brand voice shows a company's beliefs, defines the company, and tells customers how it is different from competitors.

Nike, Apple, and Coca-Cola are examples of leading brand voices. Apple uses a consistent, simple communication style. Nike shows how brand voice can increase sales through value and constructive words. Coca-Cola focuses on building an emotional connection with all customers and maintains strong brand value worldwide.

Developing emotional connections through communication will help customers identify the brand voice. This will help a company stand out from its competitors.

A strong brand voice gives the company the freedom to engage customers in new ways, such as retelling the story in different ways or through humor, to capture their attention.

A clear brand voice will help customers identify the company's messages. The more they need the company's products and its messages are remembered, the more sales will be.

Examples of Brand Tone of Voice

Brand Voice vs Tone

A brand's voice is a style of communication that remains consistent across platforms and helps customers understand who the business is, ensuring they embrace the brand's values.

In comparison, brand tone refers to the company values that will affect the brand voice. If you think of a conversation with a close friend, you likely have a way of speaking (your voice), but the tone is altered based on the situation. If they are having a high moment, the tone is likely to become excited and high-energy.

If a brand is lively in a general sense and more playful, some examples would be a more playful tone:

• Playful and lively about product launches
• More reassuring and precise with customer support
• More sincere and warm when something more serious comes up.

Brand Voice vs Brand Tone

A powerful brand maintains an appropriate balance between constancy (voice) and variability (tone). This means that when choosing a tone, the most important thing is that it is appropriate to the situation and matches the brand voice.

What Does It Mean to Have a Good Brand Voice?

A brand voice is not just about what you say, but also how you say what you say. The personality behind the words impacts how the audience feels about interacting with the brand,

It doesn't feel like a facade.

A strong brand voice aligns with the brand's core values, mission, and audience. If the brand is casual and friendly, there's no need to be overly corporate in the messaging. If the brand is premium, overly relaxed messaging won't work.

The audience knows what to expect.

A strong brand voice is unique enough that the audience can identify the brand without seeing the logo, whether it's quirky like Duolingo, bold like Liquid Death, or sophisticated like Aesop. The focus and objective should be to ensure that it remains distinctive.

It understands the audience.

A good brand voice knows the exact language to capture the audience. It can identify the audience's challenges, interests, and even their sense of humor. A strong brand voice makes the audience feel like they are speaking to a friend and not a salesperson.

It's the Same Across All Channels

When you write a tweet, an email, or web copy, your tone and style should stay the same. An example of this balance is Mailchimp's playful yet professional B2B brand voice. If your brand voice is warm on Instagram but cold in the email customer service, it is contradictory. Building consistency creates trust.

A strong brand voice makes people feel something. It converts casual visitors into loyal customers and elevates your brand beyond just another name in the market.

The 3 C's of Brand Voice

Your brand voice is more than just words. It's your brand's personality in writing. It's how people recognize you, connect with you, and remember you. To make sure your voice stands out, keep these 3 C's in mind:

1. Clarity – Say It Like You Mean It

If your audience is confused because your writing is unclear or your point is unclear, they are going to lose interest in your brand. It is difficult to read content that is unclear and lacks a strong brand voice. Whether you use a social media post, an email, or a tagline, make sure your audience gets your point instantly. No nonsense.

2. Consistency – Keep It Familiar

It's a branding issue if a follower sees a sponsor sounding enjoyable and friendly on one social media channel but quite formal on another. Your approach and tone should remain the same across every channel you use to communicate with your audience.

3 C`s of Brand Voice

3. Character – Make It You

What is your brand's identity and personality? Is it classy? Is it warm and motivational? Exactly. It is the right approach. People will build lasting relationships easily with you and your brand if your approach is inviting.

When you brand yourself, it should be obvious to everyone that you are a great voice and image. This means it should not be difficult to see if your brand lacks the ingredients to create a great image and voice.

How to Develop Your Brand Voice

Creating a strong brand voice requires understanding several key factors. These include your target audience, core values, language and tone for communication, and storytelling abilities. All these elements help build trust and relationships with customers, leading to increased sales over time.

Ann Handley from MarketingProfs demonstrates that effective content marketing relies on consistent brand voice development. Kristina Halvorson from Brain Traffic establishes that content strategy and voice guidelines must work together for success.

Companies like Skittles, Harley-Davidson, and Spotify show how unique and consistent brand voices help connect with audiences and stand out in the market.

Elements of Brand Voice

Research Your Target Audience

Creating a strong brand voice starts with thorough research on your target audience. You need to know who you're trying to reach, their needs, wants, and interests. This helps you create content that connects with them.

You can do this through surveys, interviews, focus groups, or other research methods. You should also analyze existing customer data to understand what types of language they respond to best.

For example, if your target audience is millennials, you need to know their preferred communication methods, like social media platforms or video content. You should also consider what topics interest them, such as technology, sustainability, or social issues. Tailor your messaging accordingly.

Understanding customer habits and preferences helps you create content that speaks directly to them. This captures their attention and encourages them to engage with your business.

Source: Unsplash+

HubSpot exemplifies comprehensive brand voice implementation across CRM systems. Hootsuite demonstrates effective social media brand voice management. Grammarly Business provides tools for brand voice consistency across teams.

Research can also give you valuable insights into the words customers use when discussing products or services like yours. This understanding can inform your messaging tone so it aligns with how customers talk about similar items. Paying attention to these details helps ensure your brand voice connects with customers and creates emotional bonds.

Establish Your Brand's Tone and Style

Once you know your target audience and what they like, you can develop a distinctive brand voice. Select a tone and style that best reflect your brand personality and core values, and that resonate with your customers.

While developing your tone, consider which language resonates with customers. For example, if your audience is casual, they would respond better to informal language as opposed to stiff, professional language.

Pay attention to the terms and phrases your audience uses when discussing similar products. The more you use them, the more genuine your message becomes.

Canva is a good example of how to maintain brand voice consistency across design tools. WordPress offers tips on using a consistent brand voice in your content.

Consider the overall communication style of your message. Do you want to be more conversational or more formal? Is there a specific jargon of the industry that you can use to show that you are an expert?

What kind of topics can you discuss to show that you are a thought leader? These questions hit the bottom line by ensuring your content's tone and style meet the needs of the target audience and industry.

Four Dimensions of Tone of Voice

How can storytelling be used to engage customers? Storytelling has the potential to create emotional ties to customers. This is coupled with explaining the value of the product/service and how to best utilize its potential.

Refine and Adjust as Needed

After settling on a tone and style for a brand voice, the next step is to refine and adjust it as desired. When a message is refined, it aligns with the overall business goals and customer requirements and maintains a connection with the customer over extended periods. This could mean using different content types or formats to find the best solutions.

Brand Layers

To adjust your messaging, consider customer feedback and observe how your audience interacts with your content. Knowing how to direct your focus when creating new content and how to edit existing content to attract customers helps you keep your content relevant and valuable. Adjusting content also helps you keep your customers engaged and build your relationships with them.

Tailoring Your Tone to Different Content and Channels

Tailoring your tone to different content and channels is crucial for maintaining consistent brand voice. While your brand voice stays the same, your tone can adapt to different contexts and audiences.

Adapting Your Voice for Various Formats

Different types of communication require different tones, such as social media posts, blog posts, and customer interactions. Take a social media post, for instance, which needs a friendlier, more relaxed tone. In contrast, a customer interaction response needs a warmer, more formal tone.

An upbeat, friendly tone in a social media post can pull in viewers, and even better, spark their interest in the post. Responses in customer interactions should be warm and formal. They should state the customer's issue and address their concerns.

The Content Marketing Institute conducted a study that showed the effectiveness of a brand's voice increases when the company uses the persona development strategy. Marketing engagement can be more effective when brands know how to structure their communication to fit different personas.

Ensuring Consistency Across Platforms

Developing a brand's voice relies heavily on consistency. Remember to carry the same tone across the board, including social media, blog posts, email communication, the websites, and advertising.

Creating a brand style guide is the first step toward ensuring consistency in brand post writing. This should include personality types, a structured, shared lexicon, common poses, and an overall summary of the expected brand voice. Including a list of dos and don'ts with examples can further clarify how to capture your brand's voice accurately.

Contently studies demonstrate that brand voice consistency measurement directly impacts customer recognition. CoSchedule data shows that consistent brand voice significantly improves engagement across all marketing channels.

Consider making your brand style guide public so external contributors can also capture the brand voice. Outline what not to do and what to aim for, making it easier for everyone to create copy that aligns with your brand's voice. This consistency builds trust and strengthens brand recognition across all touchpoints.

Best Practices for Implementing Brand Voice

Implementing a strong brand voice requires careful planning and execution. Here are the best practices to help you get started:

Integrating Voice into Marketing Strategies

Capture your brand voice. It acts as a framework for your entire organization's marketing, including social media, ads, and website copy. Creating an emotional connection with your audience will help sell your products and services.

To help your organization's messages resonate with your target audience, use terminology that is appropriate and understandable. Use an informal tone and authentic communication to build a brand personality that aligns with the organization's mission and values. Brand voice comes alive through stories and becomes memorable through experiences.

Strong brand voice development relies upon consistency. This means that all of your messaging should be consistent on all platforms.

Brand Voice Guidelines: What to Include

Strong brand voice is like your brand's personality. It shapes how you connect with your audience and makes your messaging feel consistent and authentic. To keep things clear and on-brand across all platforms, here are the key elements your brand voice guidelines should cover:

• Define Your Brand's Personality: Think of your brand as a person. Is it friendly and conversational? Bold and expert? Playful and quirky? Your guidelines should clearly outline your brand's personality traits so every piece of content feels like it's coming from the same voice.
• Dos and Don'ts: Keep It Clear: Help your team stay on track with examples of the right and wrong ways to express your brand. If your voice is fun and engaging, you might say, "We keep things light and relatable — no corporate jargon allowed." List out things to avoid, like overly formal language or phrases that don't match your brand's personality.
• Know Your Audience: Your brand voice should speak directly to the people you're trying to reach. Who are they? What do they care about? What kind of language connects with them? Your guidelines should include audience insights so every piece of content feels personal and relevant.
• Writing Style and Formatting: The Details: Even small details play big roles in shaping your tone. Things like whether you use contractions, how formal your punctuation is, or if emojis are appropriate all matter. Make it easy for everyone on your team to stay consistent by setting clear rules around sentence structure, word choice, and formatting.
• Adapting to Different Platforms: Your brand voice should be flexible enough to fit different platforms while staying true to its core personality. A social media post might be more casual and playful, while a press release or customer support message may need a more polished and professional tone. Lay out how to adjust the voice depending on where the message is going.

Writing Style and Formatting

• Real-World Examples: Show, Don't Just Tell: The best way to ensure consistency? Give real examples! Include sample headlines, social media captions, email intros, and customer support responses that show your brand voice. This helps your team understand exactly how to bring your brand's personality to life in everyday communication.
• Keep It Real and Evolve Over Time: Great brand voice feels natural, not forced. And just like people grow, brands do too. Make sure your guidelines stay flexible and open to adjustments as your brand develops and connects with new audiences.

3 Great Brand Voice Examples

Slack: Clear, Human-Centered, and Friendly

Slack’s brand voice is designed to make workplace communication effortless and engaging. The company prioritizes clarity while maintaining a warm, approachable branding tone of voice that makes collaboration feel natural. Their messaging avoids corporate jargon and leans into conversational, easy-to-understand language, making Slack feel more like a helpful teammate than another tool.

A key aspect of Slack’s brand voice is its ability to balance professionalism with a touch of personality. The brand maintains a reassuring and friendly tone in product announcements, onboarding emails, or error messages. Their use of subtle humor and informal language helps reduce friction in communication, making work feel less like, well, work.

Netflix: Entertaining, Conversational, and Immersive

Netflix’s brand voice reflects its mission — delivering engaging, diverse, and on-demand entertainment to audiences everywhere. The company communicates in a casual, witty, and culturally aware way. Its messaging is always viewer-focused, using conversational language and timely references that make its content feel personal and relevant.

Beyond clarity, Netflix infuses its voice with a sense of immersion. Whether crafting show descriptions, promoting upcoming releases, or sparking conversations on social media, Netflix’s tone draws audiences into the experience.

This engaging style makes the brand feel like a savvy friend with great recommendations, reinforcing its identity as a platform that understands what people love to watch — and why.

Duolingo: Playful, Engaging, and Witty

Duolingo stands out with a brand voice that is fun, lighthearted, and sometimes even cheeky. Their messaging is designed to make language learning feel less intimidating and more like a game.

Whether it’s their quirky push notifications, humorous social media presence, or the legendary “Duo” owl gently (or aggressively) reminding users to practice, the brand keeps engagement levels high with personality-driven communication.

Duolingo Example

Duolingo’s brand voice effectively motivates users while maintaining a sense of fun. They use gamification elements in their app and messaging, reinforcing the idea that learning should be enjoyable. Their branding tone of voice is casual, energetic, and full of personality, helping them build a strong emotional connection with their audience.

Read more

• What Is Brand Experience? Crafting Unique and Impactful Touchpoints
• What Are Visual and Non-Visual Brand Guidelines?
• Power of Rebranding: Why To Redesign Your Business
• Why Should a Brand Name Be Distinctive? (And How to Make It Stick)

FAQ

What Is Brand Voice vs Messaging?

Brand voice is the consistent personality and style you use in all communication — the tone, language, and character that make your brand recognizable. Messaging is the actual content of what you say — the key points, value propositions, and stories you share. Voice is how you speak; messaging is what you say.

What Is an Example of a Friendly Brand Voice?

A friendly brand voice uses warm, casual language that feels personal and approachable. For example, Slack’s tone is upbeat, helpful, and conversational, making complex tools feel easy and inviting for everyday users.

How Do I Find My Authentic Voice?

Identify your core values, understand your audience, and define how you want them to feel when they interact with your brand. Then, choose a tone and style that naturally reflects your company’s personality and use it consistently across all channels.

What Are the 5 Main Brand Personalities?

The five main brand personality types, based on Jennifer Aaker’s framework, are:

1. 1.

   Sincerity – Honest, friendly, and genuine

2. 2.

   Excitement – Energetic, playful, and daring

3. 3.

   Competence – Reliable, professional, and skilled

4. 4.

   Sophistication – Elegant, refined, and charming

5. 5.

   Ruggedness – Tough, strong, and outdoorsy

Conclusion

A unique brand voice is essential to a successful marketing strategy. Use language that resonates with customers, add industry terms to signal expertise, and lean on storytelling (and occasional humor) to stand out from competitors.

Refine your messaging over time using customer feedback so it stays relevant and speaks directly to real needs - driving stronger results and, ultimately, more sales.