Let me set the scene <<Name>>...
It was a warm, breezy Saturday morning in early 2017 when I first realised that a great brand voice doesn’t necessarily sound like you think it’s going to sound.
Our little village newsletter, a curiously enjoyable homage to Comic Sans and early 2000s Clip Art, had just dropped through my letterbox and I’d spotted this ad 👇on the back cover.
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After I’d skimmed it with a mixture of horror and amusement (😱it’s all in bullet points... the writing is clumsy... there’s no punctuation… and oh the random capital letters 😱) I summed it up to myself, “Bless their hearts - obviously a small, family-run business, owned by guys who might know a lot about carpets but don’t know anything about marketing. It’s kind of endearing almost, they seem like good, earnest, no-nonsense people, but boy this ad is a mess.” 🙄
But then it hit me. If my summary of the business was accurate, then the ad wasn’t a mess at all - it had more than done its job. It was actually an exemplary lesson in brand voice, because the way it was written had perfectly conveyed what these guys were like!
And, as I asked around the village, it became clear to me that it was their very lack of polish and marketing savvy that was exactly why they were trusted. Their customers - mostly people aged 60+ who’d lived in the area for a long time - were suspicious of smooth-talking ads with big promises. They valued this company precisely because they knew more about carpets than clever writing 🤓
So it’s easy to think that a ‘good’ brand voice has to be cool or clever or funny - like Innocent maybe, or Brewdog, or Oatly. But if this carpet company’s ad had been written in any of those styles I bet they wouldn’t have got half the business they did.
Because at the end of the day what’s important is that the way you communicate with people does two things - 1) authentically represent who you are and 2) resonate with and helps you connect to your audience.
And the way this ad is written ticks both those boxes ✅
Can you say the same about your brand voice?
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P.S. If I read an ad, or an email, or a bit of your website, would I get such a crystal-clear sense of what your company is like? Feel free to send some of your stuff my way and I’ll give you a few thoughts on how your voice is doing. Maybe you’ll even make it into the next Joy Journal! 😎
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ARR
While I’m sure we’ve all come across this classic piratical exclamation (officially defined as a humorous representation of the speech of pirates: expressing approval, triumph, warning, etc) you might not have been aware that it’s status as an actual word is now confirmed - it was just added to the Oxford English Dictionary this year 🏴☠️
Exactly what inspired its sudden inclusion I have no idea 🤷since presumably pirates have been under the same lockdown restrictions as the rest of us and therefore not particularly arring any more than usual. But I now feel validated in embarking on a zealous mission to work it into as many of my comms as possible!
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Want a quick run down of the current trends in brand voice, the best time for a business to develop their voice, and how brands in more traditional and ‘serious’ sectors can still sound friendly and relatable? Look no further than this little interview I did with Imperial Enterprise Lab last week 👇
(Plus you can enjoy the brilliant moment where #lockdownbrain clearly kicks in and I forget the name of my own brand voice resource. You know, the only one I have. That I came up with the name for. That I promote all the time. 🙄)
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Since adventures abroad don’t seem to be on the cards this year, try out this marvellous secret door - it will transport you to a whole host of intriguing, exotic, and beautiful spots around the world...
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“Beth really has a knack for explaining why brand voice matters in a simple but super fascinating way - and all with such infectious passion and personality! And then when it comes to putting it all into action for your brand her smart insights, creativity, and love of words are just what you need to nail it.”
Samantha Sanders-Mansfield
Director of Customer Experience at imaginative product design company Triteq
*Just to be clear, this is a figure of speech. My clients aren’t horses. They’re people.
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Want to be gettable and irresistible?
Just shoot me a message at beth@bethanyjoy.org
and we’ll chat about how I can help.
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