7 Steps to Build a Brand Voice for Small Businesses
Your brand voice is how your business "speaks" to customers - it’s your personality in words. A strong, consistent brand voice helps small businesses build trust, stand out, and connect with customers. Here’s how to create one in 7 steps:
Define Your Values: Identify what your business stands for and create a values statement that guides all communication.
Know Your Customers: Build customer profiles to understand their needs, preferences, and pain points.
Review Current Messaging: Analyze all communication channels to ensure consistency and identify gaps.
Develop Your Brand’s Personality: Choose traits and align them with a brand archetype to create a relatable identity.
Set Voice Guidelines: Define tone variations for different scenarios and create clear do's and don'ts.
Write a Voice Guide: Compile a detailed guide with examples and platform-specific instructions.
Use and Improve: Apply your voice consistently, track performance, and update guidelines as needed.
A clear brand voice makes your business recognizable and helps build loyalty. Start with these steps to create a voice that resonates with your audience.
Step 1: Set Your Brand's Main Values
Your brand values are the backbone of your brand voice and shape how you communicate with your audience. Research indicates that 77% of consumers prefer to buy from brands that align with their values. This makes it critical to define principles that resonate with your customers.
Identify What Makes Your Brand Stand Out
Take a closer look at what makes your business different. This isn't just about product features - it’s about the qualities that make customers choose you over competitors.
Here’s where to focus:
Customer Feedback: What do long-term clients consistently praise about your business?
Market Position: What gaps in your industry does your business fill better than anyone else?
Internal Culture: How do your team’s values shape the customer experience?
"Small business owners need to clearly communicate their value proposition. What is it that they offer to a client that a larger competitor does not? Why would a client choose them over someone more established? Without a clear differentiator, the smaller business will almost always lose out."
Theodora Jean, Coldwater Communications
Crafting a Values Statement
A values statement outlines the beliefs that guide your decisions. Studies show that 75% of shoppers stop supporting brands due to value conflicts, underscoring the importance of aligning your values with your audience.
When writing your values statement, include these key elements:
"When a business is driven by its core values, everybody can see it and feel it. Once you align your values with your business, everything will fit together seamlessly, and you'll garner respect and credibility. After all, you've proven that you stand by what you said."
Narcisa B
Your values statement should reflect principles you’re committed to, even when it’s tough. For example, if you prioritize "Customer First", this could mean bending return policies to do what’s right for the customer.
To ensure your values are genuine, ask yourself:
Do these values guide our decisions?
Can we show how we live these values every day?
Would we stick to these values even if it cost us money?
These well-defined values will serve as the foundation for your brand voice. With them in place, you’re ready to move on to refining your communication style in the next steps.
Step 2: Know Your Customers
Did you know that 71% of consumers expect personalized interactions? On the flip side, 76% feel frustrated when they receive generic communication. This means understanding your customers isn’t just nice - it’s necessary.
Build Customer Profiles
Creating detailed customer profiles helps you understand your audience and communicate effectively. Here’s what to focus on:
"The more you come to know your ideal client, the easier it will be for you to create content that speaks directly to them. You become magnetic. When a potential client feels like you 'get them,' your offer becomes so much more appealing." - Rebecca Patterson
Here’s how to start building these profiles:
Review Customer Data: Dive into sales records, website analytics, and customer databases. Look for patterns in engagement and preferences.
Conduct Customer Research: Use surveys, interviews, and social media monitoring to gather insights. Fun fact: 79% of customers are happy to share data when it leads to personalized experiences.
Monitor Competitor Activity: Keep an eye on what your competitors are doing to spot opportunities and understand industry trends.
Study How Customers Respond
Customer feedback is your secret weapon for refining your brand voice. It’s not just about listening - it’s about acting. Positive experiences matter, with 94% of customers saying they’re more likely to make repeat purchases after a good interaction.
A great example comes from the Atlanta Hawks. During their All-Star Weekend, they used sentiment analysis to figure out what content resonated most with fans. This gave them a roadmap for future content strategies.
Here’s how to track and analyze customer responses:
Across Multiple Channels: Keep tabs on social media, review sites, and customer support interactions.
Use Sentiment Analysis: Look for trends in how customers react to your messages.
Check Engagement Metrics: Measure how well your messages perform.
Adapt and Improve: Use feedback to fine-tune your tone and messaging.
Keep in mind, 42% of consumers spend less after negative brand experiences. By aligning your messages with customer expectations and staying true to your brand, you can avoid this pitfall and build stronger connections.
These insights will set the stage for refining your messaging in the next steps.
Step 3: Review Your Current Messages
Now that you have a clearer picture of your customers, it's time to examine how you're communicating with them. This step ensures your messaging aligns with your deeper understanding of your audience. Mixed messages across different platforms can weaken your brand's identity and leave potential customers confused.
Check All Communication Channels
Taking a closer look at your communication channels helps you see how well you're connecting with your audience. Here's what to focus on:
Tools like Brand24 can help you monitor your brand's presence and pinpoint areas that need attention. Once you've reviewed each channel, identify where your messaging falls out of sync with your brand's voice.
Find Message Gaps
Some stats to keep in mind:
92% of customers would leave a company after just two or three negative experiences.
Poorly personalized marketing can lead to losing 38% of customers.
Positive customer experiences can lead to customers paying up to 16% more for products.
To address and close communication gaps, focus on these key areas:
Customer Journey Touchpoints
Review every interaction point for inconsistencies in tone, messaging, or personality.
Response Consistency
Evaluate how your team handles customer interactions. For example, 60% of customers abandon brands with poor service.
Channel Integration
Make sure your messaging is consistent across platforms. If your email campaigns promise 24/7 support, your website and social media should back that up.
Content Alignment
Ensure your content reflects your brand values across all channels, from social media posts to customer service scripts.
Step 4: Define Your Brand's Character
Creating a strong brand personality is essential - 57.5% of customers are drawn to brands with a clear identity. This step builds on the messaging you refined in Step 3.
Choose Your Brand Traits
Did you know that 51.2% of consumers make purchasing decisions based on online communication? On the flip side, 55.7% will unfollow brands due to poor communication. That’s why choosing the right traits is key.
When defining your brand's personality, focus on these categories:
"Effective branding is less about having a strong personality online and more about having a distinct personality that makes sense, given what the product or service is selling".
Align with a Brand Archetype
Once you’ve nailed down your traits, connect them to an archetype that amplifies your identity. For example, Apple embodies the Creator, Nike channels the Hero, and Dove reflects the Caregiver. Archetypes help reinforce your brand’s story and make it memorable.
To choose the right archetype, think about:
Your Industry: Pick an archetype that fits your business niche.
Customer Values: Align with what your audience cares about most.
Competitor Differentiation: Stand out by choosing an archetype that sets you apart.
"The earlier on in your company's journey that you can uncover your brand's true identity – the character your brand is meant to live out – the sooner your team can begin living it and leaving a lasting impression in your audience's minds".
And here’s a final tip: Keep it real. About 35.1% of people favor brands that communicate in a conversational and approachable way. Your brand’s character should feel genuine and be something your business can maintain over time.
Step 5: Set Voice Guidelines
Now that you've defined your brand's character, it's time to outline how that voice should come across in different situations. A consistent approach to messaging plays a big role in building customer trust and keeping them engaged.
Choose Your Tone
Your tone is how you apply your brand voice in various scenarios. While your voice stays the same, your tone shifts depending on the context, always staying true to your brand’s identity.
Here’s a simple structure for tone guidelines:
"Brand voice is all about the words you choose, while brand tone is how you use those words", says Saina N, Junior Journalist at Brand Vision Insights.
Create Do's and Don'ts
Saint Perry’s playbook offers a great example of clear do's and don'ts.
Do's:
Use active voice for clear, direct communication.
Write in first or second person to create a connection.
Stick to consistent terminology across all platforms.
Adjust tone to fit the situation without losing your brand's essence.
Don'ts:
Avoid confusing industry jargon.
Skip trendy phrases that might quickly feel outdated.
Stay away from inconsistent vocabulary.
Never stray from your core brand values.
Record these rules in a style guide and review them periodically to keep your voice aligned with the times.
For instance, when Gimlet Media launched the Chompers Skill for Alexa in 2018, they maintained a child-friendly tone across all platforms, including YouTube. This consistency made their brand instantly recognizable and resonated with their audience. With this structure in place, you’ll be ready to move on to writing a detailed voice guide in Step 6.
Step 6: Write Your Voice Guide
Once you've nailed down your voice guidelines, it's time to compile them into a guide your team can easily follow. This document should clearly outline the essentials:
Make sure this guide is stored in a central, easy-to-access location, like an internal knowledge base. For instance, Starbucks has detailed voice guidelines that explain when to use a "functional" versus "expressive" tone. Their ordering instructions are simple and clear, while their storytelling content brings out the personality and passion for coffee.
"Brand voice must be consistent across departments and beyond the tenure of any one person at your company. To ensure everyone in your organization aligns on voice, they need to be easily accessible." - Parse.ly
With the guide in place, the next step is training your team to use it effectively.
Teach Your Staff
Creating the guide is just the start. You need to ensure your team knows how to apply it. Here's how:
Initial Onboarding: Set up an onboarding program with practical exercises and examples to introduce new team members to the brand voice.
Regular Workshops: Host periodic training sessions where staff can practice applying the voice in various scenarios. These sessions help reinforce the guidelines and address any issues.
Ongoing Support: Appoint a tone-of-voice champion to provide guidance and ensure consistency.
A great example of this in action is HubSpot. In 2023, their social media team revamped the brand voice and earned a 2024 Webby nomination in the Social, B2B category. This success stemmed from consistent training and clear guidelines, which allowed them to adapt the brand voice to fit social media's unique style.
"Tone guides are all about making communicating in your brand voice easier." - MOO Blog
Step 7: Use and Improve Your Voice
Once your brand voice guide is ready, the next step is to apply it consistently while making adjustments based on performance data.
Track Results
To see how well your brand voice connects with your audience, keep an eye on specific metrics across various communication platforms:
Use tools like social listening to track brand mentions, gather feedback through surveys, analyze performance by channel, and run A/B tests to fine-tune your approach.
"If a potential customer feels like you're talking directly to them, then your brand voice works. If not, it is time to revisit and alter it to make it resonate better with the audience." – Ramotion Agency
A great example of this is McDonald's 2002 brand refresh. By adjusting their tone across advertising, employee interactions, and more, they created a personality that felt more relatable and approachable, boosting customer appeal.
Once you’ve collected performance insights, focus on keeping your voice guidelines updated.
Keep Guidelines Current
Your brand voice should adapt as your business grows and the market evolves. Here’s how to keep it relevant:
Schedule Regular Reviews: Conduct quarterly audits to assess how well your voice is performing across communication channels.
Monitor Industry Trends: Stay informed about market changes while maintaining your brand's core identity.
Update Based on Data: Use feedback and performance data to refine your voice guide and share updates with your team.
By following these steps, your brand voice will stay aligned with your goals and audience preferences. This ongoing process strengthens your brand’s ability to communicate clearly and effectively.
If you’re looking for extra help refining your brand voice or boosting your online presence, consider partnering with experts like Striking Alchemy (https://strikingalchemy.com), a digital marketing and web design studio offering tailored solutions for small businesses.
Conclusion: Making Your Brand Voice Work
Creating a strong brand voice takes effort and regular fine-tuning. For example, Merriam-Webster achieved a 456% increase in their Twitter audience by using a consistent and engaging tone.
To make the most of your brand voice, focus on these strategies:
Your brand voice should grow alongside your business. As Emily Kearns, HubSpot's Senior Manager of Social Media, puts it:
"Would a real person say this? Is there something in here that is relatable, and that someone can connect to?"
To maintain relevance, schedule regular audits - quarterly is a good start. Review metrics like engagement rates and customer feedback to see what’s working and what needs tweaking.
"Your brand voice isn't something you set and forget - especially not as a small business. As your customer base grows, your offerings evolve, and market trends shift, you might need to refine your voice to stay relevant."
