May 31, 2023

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Tone of voice: what is it, and why is it so important?

How do you address your target group in written communication? It’s a seemingly simple question. But you might have trouble coming up with a clear answer. Perhaps we should be more specific. We want to know what your tone of voice is. Or, in other words – your writing style and brand personality.

If you’re doing it right, your tone of voice is consistent throughout all your communication, whether it’s a job description or content for your social media or website. Your tone of voice is an essential part of your image – it’s what makes you recognizable to readers and reflects your brand’s personality.

 

How to find your tone of voice

Have a look at the content you’ve published so far. There’s certainly a tone of voice there. But is it one that truly reflects your brand’s personality? Or did you simply copy the tone of voice of your target group? Because that’s not the way to go.

You should always choose a tone of voice based on what’s a good fit for your business and brand. You can find the best fit by answering the following questions:

 

  1. Who is your target group?
    Your tone of voice depends largely on your target group. Are you writing for the B2B or B2C market? For a B2B audience, the tone of voice will be more formal than for a B2C audience. And if your customers are consumers, you’ll need to ask yourself who they are. Are they people of all generations, older people, or youngsters? Your tone of voice needs to appeal to the age groups your customers belong to.
  2. What characterizes you?
    Your tone of voice should reflect the personality of your brand. You have to consider what characterizes you. Are you trustworthy, cheeky, serious, respectful, or fun? Do you want to promote your product with a lot of enthusiasm, or does sticking to the facts fit your business better? Should your writing elicit a great deal of confidence, or does respect reflect your brand personality better?
  3. What is the main purpose of your communication?
    Why you wish to communicate with your target group also influences which is the best tone of voice to choose. Do you write mostly to inform, convince, or amuse readers?

 

Of course, the purpose of your communication isn’t always the same. If you mostly write to inform, but occasionally you wish to amuse, you can change your tone of voice a little – as long as it’s consistent at its core.

 

How to guarantee consistency

So, consistency is key. But how do you guarantee consistency when different people in your company publish written content? You can provide training on the subject, but with a changing workforce, it’s not always easy to keep everyone up to date.

How convenient would it be if writers could get some help from technology? That’s what we offer at Textmetrics. A simple approach to a complicated task. The text optimizer on our platform for text improvement gives you suggestions for improving the quality of your content. Does what is written reflect your brand’s personality? Or are changes needed? By implementing the suggested changes, you’ll end up with high-quality, consistent content with just the right tone of voice to appeal to your entire target group.

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