Tone of Voice: How to Speak for Your Brand Consistently and Clearly
“That’s not how I’d put it.” Sound familiar? It’s the sentence where defining a tone of voice usually gets stuck. At the seventh Marketing Chatter, we talked about how to speak for a brand in a way that fits and isn’t boring.
TL;DR
- A tone of voice is a set of rules for how a brand speaks: how it addresses people, which words it uses and avoids, how long its sentences are and how much humor it allows.
- It works best when marketing, product and leadership define it together in a workshop.
- It only works if the team has it at hand, with concrete example sentences. Filed away in a drawer, it helps no one.
Who decides how the brand speaks?
The founder wouldn’t put it that way. Marketing wants to sound cool, product would rather keep it factual. The Chatter had a clear answer: run a workshop. Bring in marketing, the product team and, if you can, someone who runs the company. Your tone should reflect the brand’s personality, and you’ll name that personality best together.
Small team or freelancer? It still works. Set aside some time and write down what your brand should express and how it’s going to do that.
What belongs in a tone of voice?
At the Chatter, we put together an outline for a tone of voice document. Here’s what it shouldn’t be missing:
- Addressing people: formal or informal, first names?
- Signing off: friendly, short, or formal?
- Key adjectives: 5–10 of them, each with examples so everyone reads them the same way.
- Length and pace: straight to the point, or a bit of small talk first?
- Blacklist: words you never use.
- Whitelist: words you love.
- Channels: tone examples for email, blog, support and website.
- Your own jargon: the jokes and turns of phrase that make your brand yours.
- How you talk about yourself: “we as a company”, “I as a brand”…
What’s the difference between tone, voice and style?
People mix these 3 up all the time, but each means something different.
- Voice: the constant core, your brand’s personality.
- Tone: how you adapt that voice to the situation. A cheerful newsletter sounds different from a serious announcement.
- Style: language, formatting, sentence length and so on.
If you want to go deeper, have a look at Nielsen Norman Group. They break tone down by formality, humor, respectfulness and enthusiasm.
What if the client has no guidelines?
This came up a lot. You start working with a client and there’s no tone of voice guide. Or there is one, and it says “5 adjectives that everyone reads differently”.
What to do:
- Ask what describes the brand, and what it would never say.
- Look at how the brand speaks today on its website, on social media and in support.
- Suggest a simple outline: formal or informal, adjectives with examples, a few concrete sentences.
- Prepare examples of how the tone sounds in different situations.
One participant told us the Chatter on customer journeys is what got them to plan a tone of voice workshop. A tone of voice comes alive when the whole team understands it and uses it.
How do you work with your tone of voice long term?
A document you write once and nobody opens again won’t help you. Update it regularly and keep adding real-life examples. And teach your team how to use it. In Contesaur, your tone of voice lives in the Company section. The whole team has it at hand, and the AI marketing manager works from it when it suggests content.
Wrap-up
Tone of voice pays off for small companies and freelancers too. When everyone follows the same rules, your brand still sounds like itself, whether it’s writing a newsletter or answering a support ticket. So set yours up, and stop sounding like a dinosaur that just climbed down from a 90s billboard.
Marketing Chatter is a free online meetup held in Czech. See the upcoming dates.
FAQ
How long should a tone of voice document be?
1–2 pages are enough. Concrete example sentences matter more than length, because the team can follow them without anyone explaining further.
How often should you update your tone of voice?
Whenever the brand, product or target audience changes significantly. Otherwise, review it once a year and keep adding real-life examples as they come up.
Is the tone of voice different on social media and on the website?
The brand voice stays the same, the tone adapts to the channel. You can be more relaxed on social media than on your website or in support, but people should still recognize the same brand.
Who should own the tone of voice in a company?
Ideally 1 person in marketing who maintains the document and settles unclear cases. But everyone who writes for the brand has to use it, support and sales included.