how to find your brand's tone of voice (and actually stick to it)
Most companies do not have a tone of voice problem. They have a consistency problem. The founder writes one way, the marketing hire writes another, the agency writes a third, and the support team sounds like a different company entirely. Customers notice, even if they cannot name what feels off.
A tone of voice is simply a shared agreement about how your brand sounds, written down clearly enough that anyone can use it. It is not a personality test or a mood board. It is a working tool. Here is how to build one that survives contact with a real team.
start with who you are talking to, not who you are
Plenty of voice guides begin with adjectives about the brand: "we are bold, witty, human." That is the wrong end. Start with the reader. What do they already know? What are they worried about? What would make them trust you in the next ten seconds?
A tone that works for a first-time buyer who is nervous about cost looks nothing like one for a technical user who wants you to get out of the way. Write the reader down before you write the voice.
find your real voice in what you already say well
You do not need to invent a voice. You need to notice the one that already works. Pull together a handful of things your company has written that felt right: a sales email that got a reply, a landing page that converted, a founder post that people shared. Read them out loud. The patterns you hear, short sentences, dry humour, plain words instead of jargon, are your voice showing up naturally. Name those patterns. That is most of the job done.
make it usable with three or four principles
The most practical format is a short list of principles, each with a "we do this, not that" example. For instance:
- Plain over clever. "Start a project" beats "Begin your transformation journey."
- Confident, not loud. State things once. Avoid stacking three adjectives where one will do.
- Specific over vague. "Live in two weeks" beats "rapid turnaround."
Four principles is plenty. Ten is a document nobody opens.
write the edge cases down
Generic guidelines fall apart in the situations that matter most: an apology, a price rise, a refusal, a launch. Write a real example of each in your voice. When someone has to send a difficult email at 5pm on a Friday, a worked example is worth more than any list of adjectives.
test it on someone who was not in the room
The real test of a voice guide is whether a new writer can pick it up and produce something that sounds like you, without your help. If they cannot, the guide is too abstract. Add examples until they can.
keep it alive
A tone of voice is not a launch event. It drifts. Review it once or twice a year, fold in the new things you have written well, and cut the rules nobody uses. The goal is not a perfect document. It is a brand that sounds like one company across every email, page, and post.
If you want a second pair of hands on this, defining tone of voice and the messaging that sits underneath it is part of what we do. You can read more on our voice and messaging work or get in touch.