Finding your brand voice is one of the fundamental keys to building a strong audience. In today’s über-connected world, people are constantly bombarded by images, messages, ads and content at every corner and on every screen. The brands that break through the noise have worked hard to create their own unique voice. So how do you do that with your own brand?
- Start with the customer in mind. Put yourself in the shoes of your target demographic—gather information about their age, gender, geographic location, likes, reading habits and more. Once you narrow it down, find people in this exact target and get to know them. Talk to them and get a feel for who they are as people. The better you know your consumers, the easier it will be to hone in on the best way to talk to them.
- Pretend you’re writing a song. If you were writing a song for your target demographic, what kind of song would it be? An upbeat pop hit? A twangy country tune? A deep and soulful acoustic number? Music has the ability make people feel a certain way. If you can match your brand’s voice to a certain type of song and elicit that feeling in your customers, then you’ll have an automatic hit and rise above the noise.
In 2015, we found brand voice for a local makeup company that specialized in cosmetics for tweens that dance and cheer. We started by doing a ton of research on this demographic (girls ages 7-12) and then set up focus groups of tweens that fit this profile. We asked them about their favorite tv shows, what they did for fun, who their best friends were and more. We then spent time listening to the music they liked and watching the tv shows they loved.
If this company were a pop song, it would be a poppy radio hit with a catchy bridge and a spunky lead singer. Our messaging mirrors this tone–we’ve created a fun, casual and peppy voice for the brand. To this end we use words such as “like” and “whatever” and “totally” whenever possible. We also use as many exclamation points and tell stories that appeal to tweens’ favorite things.
By finding their brand voice as a company, we helped differentiate them from competitors and created a solid foundation that they are now using as they grow and expand into new markets!