Most of the time people judge a book by its cover or brand voice. If the cover does not capture someone’s attention immediately, then whatever is inside the book – no matter how intriguing – becomes irrelevant because of their initial perceptions.

Your firm’s brand is the cover page of your company’s “book”. It’s where the connection between your client and service begins.

Unfortunately, many professional service firms spend more of their online marketing resources and time on the visual aspects of their brand and pay little or no attention to their voice and tone.

If you continue to market across different channels without a well-developed brand voice and tone, you will confuse your clients and followers each time they see your messages. Also, your target audience may lose interest – and that’s not easy to get back.

Having a strong and unique brand voice is one of the most important elements in building a successful online business.

Your “brand voice” is how you, as a professional service marketer, express your business personality in your writing style, language, and tone. It is the distinct persona or identity of your company that shines through in the words and phrases you use, which allows you to stand out from other firms. If your brand voice is distinct enough, your followers should be able to recognize you in your writing even if there is no name or logo on messaging.

In other words, the voice of your brand is determined largely by the words you use and the sentences that you write. Your words create a consistent persona in the minds of your audience. This is true whether or not you consciously take control of this tone and purposefully decide what it will be – so make sure you create a brand voice that is beneficial to your professional service company. In other words, everyone who sees your messaging will form an opinion of your firm – it’s up to you to craft the narrative.

The Benefits of Creating and Maintaining a Brand Voice

Consistent experience

First, a brand voice offers a consistent experience across all of your business touchpoints with the client. This is absolutely necessary when creating a brand image. It lets your audience know who you are and instills trust. Consistency is what builds your brand personality. It is the element that creates the image in the minds of your audience; whether it’s very formal, sophisticated, casual, fun, highly technical, or even humorous.

Brand recognition 

Your brand voice should enable clients to subconsciously connect certain words or phrases, ideas, and emotions with your brand. Changes in brand voice might cause confusion about your brand’s identity, preventing your clients from ever making that emotional connection. Whereas, a consistent brand voice and tone makes a firm more memorable, sticking in the minds of clients until they’re ready to choose your services.

A competitive edge 

Digitization has leveled the playing field but businesses face ever more competition for client attention, interaction, and loyalty. Your brand voice provides an opportunity to quickly and persuasively tell current and prospective clients why your offerings are different or better than every other brand in your niche.

Customer loyalty 

When a brand voice changes frequently, it loses the opportunity to prove to clients that they can trust the company to understand their pain points and reliably deliver solutions. Your brand voice needs to be consistent to convince clients that the brand is living up to the firm’s mission and following through on its promises to its clients.

Company confidence

Having an authentic and dependable brand voice can inspire employees to fully commit to the firm’s culture and vision. In addition, maintaining a clear and consistent brand will give your b2b marketing team more guidance and confidence in your brand strategy over time and across channels.

While it’s important that a brand should have a clear self-image and convey consistent ideas about its values and what it has to offer, it’s acceptable to change or adapt your brand’s tone to be appropriate to the situation. In fact, it’s often necessary to be flexible with your tone, depending on platforms and channels (for some examples, check out our other blog in this series).

Varying your brand tone from one media channel to another can keep your content on point without appearing to be on the verge of an identity crisis.

There is certainly a strategy behind crafting a strong and effective brand voice, along with other elements that build your overall brand. Learn how to personify your brand voice by subscribing to our newsletter for free.