As a marketing executive, you want your brand to stand out, build trust and help you connect with your target audience. But how do you do that in a world full of competition, noise and change? One way to differentiate your brand is by developing a brandvoice: the tone, style and personality with which you communicate with your audience.But how do you create a brandvoice that fits your brand and connects with your target audience? In this blog, the first four steps to get you started in developing your brandvoice.

A brandvoice, what is it?

A brand voice helps you be consistent, authentic and recognizable in all your expressions, from your website to your social media posts. It also helps you communicate your values, vision and mission and make an emotional connection with your customers.

Step 1. Analyze your brand identity

Before you can develop a brand voice at all, you need to know who you are as a brand. What is your purpose, what are your core values, what makes you unique, what do you promise your customers? These are the building blocks of your brand identity, and they form the basis for your brandvoice.

A good way to analyze your brand identity is by creating a brand persona: a fictional character that represents your brand's traits, characteristics and personality. For example, you can think of questions like: what would your brand sound like if it were a human? How would it behave, what would it say, how would it react to different situations? Thinking of your brand as a person makes it easier to give voice to your brand.

Step 2. Research your target audience

In addition to knowing yourself, you also need to know who you want to appeal to with your brand voice. Who is your ideal customer? What are this person's needs, wants, problems, interests, preferences and expectations? How can you respond to that with your brandvoice?

A good way to research your target audience is by creating a buyer persona: a fictional profile of your ideal customer, based on market research and data. You can think about questions such as: what does your customer's daily routine look like? What channels does he or she use to seek information, communicate and buy? What tone, style and words appeal to him or her? By empathizing with your ideal customer, you can more easily find a voice that resonates with him, her or them.

To inspire you: above this blog you'll find part of Comrads' buyer persona. If you recognize yourself in Willemijn - or Willem, that's also possible, of course - feel free to contact us for further sparring.

Step 3. Define the characteristics of your brandvoice

Now that you know who you are as a brand and who you want to reach with your brandvoice, you can determine the characteristics of your brandvoice. These are the characteristics that describe how you want to sound in all your communications. For example, you can think of adjectives such as: professional, friendly, humorous, inspiring, informal, formal, enthusiastic or serious.

A useful tool for determining the characteristics of your brandvoice is to use a brandvoice chart: a table in which you define four or five characteristics of your brandvoice, explain them and illustrate them with examples. You can also indicate what does and does not fit each characteristic. This way you can paint a clear picture of how you want to sound in different situations and channels.

Step 4. Implement and test your brandvoice

Finally, it is important to implement your brandvoice in all your communications. Next, you need to test your brandvoice, to check if you are really consistent in using it in all your expressions.

A good way to test your brandvoice is by using a brandvoice quiz: an online tool that asks you questions about your brand, your target audience and your communication style, and then gives you a score based on different characteristics of your brandvoice, such as professionalism, friendliness, humor, inspiration, informality, formality, enthusiasm and seriousness. This allows you to see how consistent, authentic and recognizable your brandvoice is, and where you could possibly improve.

An example of a brandvoice quiz is The Free Brand Voice Quiz, which you can complete in ten minutes and which sends you a personalized report with tips and examples to strengthen your brandvoice. Developing a brandvoice is an ongoing process that should be repeated regularly to keep your brandvoice up-to-date with changes in your market, your customers and your goals.

Your brandvoice and marketing automation, the perfect combination

In a previous blog, we already told you how a DAM system supports you in storytelling and establishing a strong brand story. Of course, a DAM system also helps you monitor your brandvoice. It provides structure and efficiency, so you can focus on telling the right story in the right tone to the right audience.

Getting even more out of your content creation?

Looking for tips to make your online content creation scalable? In our white paper, we give you helpful tips.

Want to know more about our solutions?

Then request a no-obligation demo of our Brand Management solutions. Would you like to talk further about the benefits of marketing automation for your organization? Of course, that too is always possible! Give a call to (0)20 820 83 82 or email to info@comrads.nl. We would love to get to know you.