Brand Tone of Voice: Examples and Consequences / ITech content

This article represents the author's personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editorial position, the brand philosophy, or even the author's opinion in the future. All incredible stories presented in the text are based on real events.

As a company grows and becomes a serious business, a Tone of Voice or brand tonality is formed. This set of rules determines the approach to communicating with consumers, partners, and the general public. This guide specifies what is acceptable to say or show, and what may lead to severe punishment from the brand department. Correct use of brand tonality helps create a unified communication style, increase trust in the company, and improve the perception of its image in the market.

ToV Skillbox establishes a rule according to which authors of articles in the media cannot use vulgar words such as "ass". We will follow these standards and avoid such language. This is one of the principles of working with content.

In theory, this may be the right solution. However, in practice, problems often arise that can outweigh the expected benefits.

This article represents the personal opinion of the author, which may not coincide with the position of the editorial board, the tone of the brand, or even change over time. All the amazing stories described in the text are based on real events.

The bastard son of branding

Tone of Voice is an important element of a broader set of principles known as a brand platform. This aspect determines how a brand communicates with its audience, forming a unique style and character of interaction. Proper use of Tone of Voice helps create a memorable image and maintain consistency in communications, which contributes to increased brand recognition and trust.

Until you've saved up for a smoothie machine and are pursuing other, more risky projects, branding is usually not on the agenda. While it does add value, it's often not a priority. You can focus on branding later: after you've relaunched, developed style guidelines, defined the tone of communication, and established internal policies. This will prepare your company for scaling, as successfully entering new markets requires a strong, thoughtful brand, not a hastily created temporary solution.

As you age, you'll begin to understand the importance of financial stability. Understanding the importance of big money raises the question: should you also support relevant social movements, such as Black Lives Matter? It's important to remember that companies like Promgaz actively participate in public debates, and their actions can influence the selection of contractors. Supporting social initiatives can be not only a moral but also a strategic step for your business reputation.

You hire an agency to develop values ​​and guidelines for your brand's communication with consumers. Like a law, the purpose of these principles is to streamline a complex system of interactions, allowing the brand creator to avoid interfering with every step of the process. This ensures consistency and harmony in communication, which helps build consumer trust and loyalty to your brand. Well-formulated values ​​and guidelines help create a clear image that is easily perceived and remembered by the target audience.

Interesting situation. Sales specialists will not use a capital letter to address "you" in their emails, and outsourced SMM specialists will not create a corporate style for you. So why does this plan fail?

Open up, morality police

Laws inevitably generate controversy and debate, as there will always be those among us who take them too literally. These sensitive individuals are willing to go to extreme measures to ensure that their notions of morality and values ​​are upheld. If they could, they would probably advocate for a ban on Photoshop, seeing it as a tool that promotes distorted beauty standards.

At large companies, there is a paradox: brand champions are hired and trained specifically. Brand managers perform many tasks, one of which is to ensure the correct communication of brand messages. They are also responsible for maintaining the appropriate tone of communication, which is critical for shaping the company's image and its interactions with the target audience. A sound brand management strategy helps create a lasting connection with consumers and build their trust.

The brand department is often the main obstacle to productivity, efficiency, and consistency. Here are a few examples that illustrate this problem. They don't provide clear answers to the question of causes, but they provide interesting food for thought.

Story 1. "Don't poke me"

My content team and I created posts for a well-known taxi service. At the very beginning, we were provided with all the necessary guidelines, including rules for logo use and tone of communication. As with most such documents, the instructions were standard: write in a friendly, simple, and formal manner, and demonstrate concern for the customer.

We created a new post, the contents of which are a bit hazy in my memory, but it presented a certain key point. In this material, we covered important aspects that could be useful to our audience. We emphasized how these aspects impact everyday life and interactions with the world around us. The post was written with the intention of providing readers with valuable knowledge and practical tips to help them better navigate the chosen topic. Don't forget to stay tuned for new interesting publications.

Have you ever experienced this feeling? You wake up in the morning and immediately pour yourself a large mug of energy drink mixed with a double espresso. It's a familiar morning ritual that many use for a quick energy boost. However, such a dependence on caffeine and energy drinks can negatively impact your health and well-being. Perhaps it's time to consider more natural ways to wake up and boost your energy. Proper nutrition, physical activity, and adequate sleep can be a great alternative. This way, you can not only improve your well-being but also increase your productivity throughout the day.

The client also expressed a desire to mention the brand in every post, which created additional requirements for ordering a taxi. This requirement became an important part of the content strategy aimed at increasing brand awareness and attracting new customers.

We completed the development of a full content plan and passed it on to the producer of the agency that handled marketing for the client. We received the following comment:

Everything is great, but instead of "wake up" you should use "wake up," and instead of "pour" you should use "pour," since we address you formally.

We are trying to explain to the producer that the current version of the text meets all requirements and respects established standards. What he proposes looks unnatural and does not meet writing standards. However, our arguments fall flat because the producer is being overly cautious. He's likely following previously read recommendations and is worried the client might express dissatisfaction.

We've replaced the offending post with new content. This incident was so localized and minor that we can forgive the producer's overstimulation. However, there's a more serious issue that requires attention.

Does this feeling sound familiar? Your morning begins with pouring yourself a large mug of energy drink mixed with a double espresso. It's a familiar morning ritual for many seeking a boost of energy and focus for the day. However, it's worth considering whether such drinks are truly the optimal solution for maintaining energy and focus. Perhaps you should pay attention to alternative methods of waking up, which will help not only to invigorate but also to improve the overall health.

Everything is great, but instead of "waking up" you should use "waking up", and instead of "pouring" - "pouring", since we address "you".

Story 3. "This is not our Tone of Voice!"

In business, situations often arise that require advertising integration with famous personalities. In such cases, the star will not write the text themselves, and our task is to create content that would match their style. The main goal of the marketer in this situation is clear: to ensure high conversions and reach the thousandth sale mark through this channel. The content maker should analyze in detail the features of the celebrity's style: the number of exclamation points, the emoji used, the text structure and paragraph division. This will allow the creation of material that will easily fit into the brand's image and attract the attention of the target audience.

The brand manager's job is to ensure that a product or service aligns with the company's strategic goals and consumer expectations. However, at first glance, it may seem that brand managers create obstacles to the creative process. Often, the brand department acts as a "receiver" rather than an active participant in the initial stages of development. As a result, when the team receives a concept, they often face criticism and comments: "This won't work." Texts passing through the brand department often undergo significant revision, which leads to a loss of naturalness. However, in this process, they acquire the necessary characteristics that meet brand requirements. It is important to find a balance between creativity and adherence to brand standards to achieve a successful result.

As a result, a celebrity known for their vulgar language suddenly begins to behave with refined intelligence in a new story. This is because using obscene language in the same sentence as our brand name is unacceptable. We cannot allow such associations and strictly limit such instances.

When creative blocks arise, one possible solution is to turn to post-irony. This approach allows for the advertising integration to become an ironic farce, which becomes a form of self-mockery. While not every brand is ready for this step, AviaSales demonstrates successful examples, creating original "What Happened Next" videos and earning audience trust.

Rules are made to be hated

Participants in the process experience similar feelings, which leads to the launch of a negative chain reaction.

Ultimately, what should have formed the uniqueness of the brand becomes the guarantee of its mediocre perception. In an environment of dominance of censorship and self-censorship, creativity and innovation are threatened. This is unfortunate, since the potential for development and self-expression remains unclaimed.

Exit Sign

Brand guidelines are an important tool for brand protection. They ensure clarity and consistency in communications, whether from email newsletters or social media management. Having clearly documented guidelines ensures that communication with the audience meets quality and professional standards. This is especially important in a context where different people may represent the brand, and their approaches to interactions may vary greatly. The rules help minimize risks and ensure a consistent style and tone in communications, which helps strengthen the brand image and increase customer trust.

The issue of conflict between the brand department and marketing remains relevant. Both departments should be working toward shared goals, but they often operate as separate units. The brand team may feel isolated, ignoring other teams' concerns until their work needs to be assessed. At that point, they may become overly strict and critical. Closer collaboration between these departments is needed to ensure harmonious brand development and effective marketing strategies.

This problem could be solved if the brand department agreed on non-standard tasks in advance. When responsible integration is carried out and marketing strives to make it more natural, brands must consider the situation, listen to the arguments, and decide to change their standards. This will lead to higher quality results and more effective collaboration between departments.

Some believe that the main cause of dissatisfaction is the lack of real solutions. Brand representatives carry out their duties according to established rules and, if problems arise, take legal action against those responsible. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to include a clause in the brand platform regarding the right to make decisions in order to improve the situation and increase work efficiency.

Protecting the integrity of the brand is an important task. Increasing sales and ensuring wages and bonuses for the company's employees are also important goals. It is important to understand that we are all surrounded by good intentions. The reasons for some people's dissatisfaction with others are often related to the lack of effective communication. I encourage everyone to engage in open and constructive dialogues.

• Introduce the brand platform and Tone of Voice to everyone who works with the brand.
• Consider these recommendations something important, but not sacred.
• Put the decisions of competent people in a specific situation above abstract laws.
• Learn to make decisions and take responsibility.

If the brand team believes that Khovansky's advertising does not match their image, they can openly express this opinion. It's important to understand that finding a new blogger with a similar audience will be a more effective solution than trying to change the style and approach of an existing partner. The team should strive to ensure that advertising fits organically into the overall brand concept.