Most companies are aware of the value of branding.
The reputation of a firm may make or break it, after all.
Without a strong brand voice strategy, it may be difficult to sell people the worth of your products or services, and it will be difficult to develop customer loyalty and generate revenue.
On the other hand, when a company’s branding is strong, it frequently results in easier market recognition of the business and its products, as well as happier consumers and brand evangelists.
But what happens if you examine the idea of the brand more closely and how it applies to your company?
What precisely happens when you apply the concepts of authenticity and personality to your brand identity?
Let’s quickly review what a brand is to better understand the significance of authenticity in your brand voice approach.
Describe A Brand
For those of you who don’t know, a brand refers to a company’s personality or the “face” it portrays to the outside world. Simply put, a brand is what clients envision when they think of your business.
The stronger your brand, the simpler it will be for people to recognise and relate to your business, your offerings, and your products.
In this way, your brand lends your organisation a distinct identity, or “thick,” that is entirely particular to your business.
You have a natural interest in enhancing your brand’s identity whether you are a business owner, brand ambassador, or just care about the organisation.
Why Do Brands Matter?
When it comes to how customers perceive products, brands are everything.
In a world filled with rivals, standing out from the crowd is crucial.
Customers have more options than ever in today’s dynamic digital environment, and as a business owner, your brand voice strategy is your key to winning their trust, loyalty, and, ultimately, their business.
Customers frequently form opinions about a brand even before they test the actual good or service.
This is why brands voice strategy is so crucial: they inspire customers to try your goods or services before they even know what they are because they provide them the assurance that you will deliver value.
You can use this critical idea in your business and obtain a competitive advantage by comprehending the psychology behind why brand voice strategy is so important.
Building a brand requires a lot of work, and it frequently begins with determining your target market and the unique qualities of your goods or services.
How Does It Function?
You may start figuring out the kinds of information and materials your target audience, or potential customers, is most likely to value or appreciate once you’ve identified them.
From there, you can create a content plan that will aid in the long-term development, strengthening, and evolution of your brand.
All of the following should be part of this content strategy:
- Materials for Traditional Marketing (e.g., PR, Advertising, etc.)
- Marketing Resources (e.g., Brochures, Posters, etc.)
- Tools for Social Media (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)
- Websites
While each of these marketing strategies has its place, it’s important to bear in mind that the overall objective is to develop, establish, and strengthen your brand.
You should ask yourself, “What is my aim here?” before creating any new content.
Am I attempting to increase brand recognition?
Am I attempting to increase website traffic?
What outcomes do I hope this content will produce?
And how will I know if this information is effective?
Also, keep in mind that not all content is made equally by a marketer.
Simply, different types of content will have different effects.
As a general rule, the effect of content increases with its sophistication.
For instance, because they are more susceptible to contextual changes than billboards or radio advertisements, blog entries or micro-blogs are often less compelling.
In other words, if the subject or language utilised in a blog post is different from what the reader is accustomed to, it could not appear to be as successful.
Why Must Customers Connect Your Brand Voice Strategy to Honest Communications?
Montgomery asserts that consumers are rejecting the idea that advertising provides a true representation of the brand.
The idea of “truth in advertising” is in opposition to the majority of marketing strategies that try to deceive people into thinking a product is something it is not.
According to Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, “you can’t change people’s behaviour through advertising.
You must stick with something sincere.
The truth is that when customers interact with advertisements, they are fully aware of what they are getting into.
They know exactly what to anticipate whether it’s a sponsored tweet from a well-known business or an article posted on social media.
This kind of literature occasionally even contains misleading information.
For instance, a company might utilise humour or a unique spin to communicate a critical message.
All of this can be a component of a clever marketing effort, but the central message must still be based on reality.
You will be evaluated as a brand based on your deeds, not your words.
Customers may get confused and distrustful if they see an advertisement or hear a promotional message that is inconsistent with your brand’s image.
Your product or service could fall short of what your clients are expecting, even if your intentions are genuine.
This might even cause the brand loyalty that we’re starting to see more and more of to break down, harming your relationship with that customer.
The Brand Voice Strategy Must Be Genuine
In the previous part, we discussed what a brand is and why it’s important.
Now let’s look at how you could leverage your brand to set yourself out from the competitors.
We’ve already proven that consumers build ideas about a brand even before using real products or services.
In other words, your customers are already aware of, or at least have a perception of, your brand.
This suggests that you have the opportunity to influence or even modify how they perceive your brand before you even start selling to them.
One of the most obvious differences may be found in the area of brand voice.
Simply said, brand voice refers to how a company’s marketing communicates with its target market.
For many years, advertisers and other media outlets have depicted strength and assurance.
The new brand voice guidelines (4Ts) from the 2020 Marketing Standards group instruct marketers to utilise marketing materials, including ad language, that represent a more human-like approach, despite the fact that this plays a part.
Consumers might question your genuineness in the same way that they might question the dependability of a company or brand voice strategy they have never dealt with.
Because of this, being honest is essential for creating, maintaining, and growing your brand voice strategy. This will give you the confidence you need to persuade others that your service is valuable or that you are deserving of their trust.
To be more exact, the content you create to promote the identity of your organisation must represent your personality—or the “real” you.
If, for instance, your brand’s logo is youthful and exuberant yet your material has a more somber tone, customers may mistrust your sincerity or at the very least be upset.
In contrast, you might be able to convince others to agree with you if your content is consistent with your brand’s identity yet expresses a distinct position.
It’s crucial to understand that, in theory, content can be used to your advantage.
Naturally, this is based on the strength of your case.
The Customer Experience and Branding
You need to have some understanding of your consumers’ lives in order to interact with them effectively.
As a brand manager, one of your duties is to make sure that every aspect of identity serves to advance both our objectives and those of our target demographic.
For instance, if we want to expand our company in France, creating a luxury brand or having a premium product that will please our clients inspires me to work harder and come up with innovative plans to reach our objectives.
The psychology of my target market must also be understood for me to connect with them and influence their decision to purchase our goods or service.
This is why you make it a point to research both consumer behaviour and how businesses just like ours run.
I can discover important performance indicators and decide on product development, pricing, positioning, and other factors after conducting in-depth research.
Creating A Brand Voice Strategy Rather Than Simply A Product
A problem was brought to me by one of my clients.
Although they had created a product, they were unsure of how to promote it or who they should market it.
Marketing managers are responsible to assist in creating a brand voice strategy for this incredibly inventive and one-of-a-kind product.
They are able to create a positioning statement and a unique selling proposition that would make this product stand out once the marketing plan is defined.
We then created a list of keywords and several pieces of supporting content.
We also created a website, blog, and social media accounts on sites like Facebook and Twitter as part of our social media strategy.
The vast majority of firms stand to gain from this.
While a lot of work is put into developing new products, too few companies think about the marketing work needed to increase sales.
Everything else falls into place once you are clear on who and why you are aiming your message at.
Finding the ideal balance between marketing expenditure and return on investment is made considerably simpler as a result.
Also, it implies that you may create strategies for several markets or industries while ensuring that they all remain consistent, even when used in conjunction with distinct goods or services.
What Will Marketers Do Next?
Marketers need to act now more than ever.
Consumers now have greater access to information than ever before, and they are more conscious of the importance they attach to authentic brands.
Smart marketers are adjusting in this age of information overload to make sure they maintain their authenticity while also broadening their audience.
For instance, a lot of marketers use websites like TikTok and Instagram to promote their brands.
Both platforms, which have respective user bases of around 200 million and 500 million, are ideal for marketing initiatives.
Additionally, marketers are leading the way in the adoption of cutting-edge technologies like blockchain that give customers more power over the brands they contact with.
Consumers will be able to select the brands they interact with starting in 2023, and it will be up to marketers to ensure that these selections are advantageous to customers.
Tamara Montgomery’s debut book is still regarded as a groundbreaking work on brand identification.
Montgomery’s counsel, which was published in 1968, has never been more timely than it is right now:
“Be an excellent role model for people to aspire to. Make use of your business to further the common good.
Always behave in an honest and up-front manner.
“Listen to your customers and act on their behalf to demonstrate respect for them.”
“Be generous with your praise and voice sincere, objective judgments.”
Strive to act a little older and wiser than your age would indicate.
“Dressed appropriately” refers to both your appearance and your body language.
The requirement for a distinctive brand voice strategy hasn’t changed, even though the tools have.
As customers can be fickle, building a long-lasting relationship with them requires more than technology.
When Tamara Montgomery began her marketing career 40 years ago, an authentic brand voice was still essential.
She continues to hold the opinion that “a brand’s identity is strongly based in the ideals it establishes for others to follow.
Get Motivated
You must allot some time to just think if you want to create a brand plan.
You can’t always be anticipating client needs or giving in to their expectations.
Spend some time being inspired and reflecting on what makes you proud of yourself and what you have always wanted your brand to represent.
You will begin to perceive the forest, with all of its subtleties, rather than simply the trees, after writing down your thoughts.
Customers should always come first when we interact with them, and business expansion should always come second.
We must pay attention to small aspects, such as the language we use and whether we listen more often than we speak, in order to achieve this.
Your website should convey professionalism and knowledge, just as your brand identity should reflect your company.
Making your website more appealing and establishing your authority as a brand may be accomplished with the use of the appropriate typeface, colour, and graphic design.
Use the appropriate keywords while creating your website to ensure that the intended audience can find it quickly.
Your brand voice strategy must include the development of your brand voice.
Be sure that your marketing and communications, as well as every other aspect of your company, contribute to the identity you are attempting to build.
You will be better able to interact with your customers and build trust in both your brand and yourself as a result.
Regularly considering branding and taking the time to create a strategy will only enhance your company and assist you in achieving your objectives more quickly and successfully.
Wishing you luck in your endeavours.
Takeaway
Being real may also provide you with a competitive advantage, which is another benefit theoretically at least.
This is due to the fact that purchasers, or future clients, may more readily relate to and trust your brand than a company they have never heard of.
Of course, there are benefits to anonymity as well.
You don’t have to worry about your rivals learning your winning formula, and you may adjust the messaging and content to your needs.
This allows you the chance to precisely target a niche market or ride the tide of a changing market.
In conclusion, the success of your brand voice strategy depends on it being genuine.
The authority and duty to direct the course of your brand and its content rest with you as its creator, owner, or stakeholder.
As a result, you need to make sure that every piece of material you produce, promote, or otherwise use to represent your business is genuine—or at least plausible.
