Tone of voice

The tone of voice you use when you are writing is critical. It plays a vital role in the way people perceive you, understand you, and the way you make them feel. And as you know by now, “how you make people feel” is the true heart of branding.

As with everything else we’ve done, consistency is key when it comes to developing a clear and memorable brand. The tone of voice you choose in this exercise will be something you will roll out across everything you write or say.

It’s the language and style you’ll use on your website, your newsletters and blog posts, your sales pages, social media captions, how you respond to and engage with people in your community (both online and offline), interviews you give, videos and podcasts you make, any teaching material you write or workshops you deliver, and speeches and presentations.

To help you understand how tone plays into our communications a little better, I’ve shared some examples below. Each of them are about food, but are written in very different tones.

Tone: INTELLIGENT, COLLABORATIVE, ASPIRATIONAL

“Culinary artists have an inclination to improve dishes with their creativity. But the greatest skill is knowing when something is enough. When you’re a chef, it’s not enough to taste the food you’re cooking: you should taste it the way your diners and guests taste it – seated at the table, perhaps with a glass of wine, definitely with conversation.”

- Financial Review magazine

Tone: YOUTHFUL, IRREVERENT, HUMOROUS

“No offence, fairy bread, but we think we’ve uncovered some carbs that are a little more deserving of the title. These baked goods by American food blogger Must Love Herbs look so magical that we wouldn’t be surprised if an actual fairy (or some other kind of mythical woodland creature) had cooked them up in their teeny-tiny toadstool kitchen. Catch us serving a colourful garden focaccia or fungi-laden forest cake at our next fairy party (adults can still throw fairy parties, right?).”

- Frankie magazine

Tone: INFORMAL, SENSATIONAL, OUTRAGED

“An Aussie mum has left parents divided after she shared a photo of her teenage son's school lunch. Sharing the photo to the Aldi Mums Facebook page, the Victorian woman revealed that her 17-year-old boy is 'always hungry’. The seemingly-innocent image was posted to a private Facebook group where Australian mums share their finds from the budget supermarket chain ALDI. However, many users were quick to comment that the mum was over-feeding her child.”

- That’s Life magazine

So: let’s talk tone!

Workbook instructions

  • 1. Writing practice

    To practice writing in different tones of voice, I want you to imagine that you are a potter and you are about to launch a new collection of handmade cups, bowls, plates and vases for sale.

    Turn to your workbook on page 34, and write a paragraph inviting people to attend your launch. First, write your invitation in a friendly and chatty tone, next, write it again but in a formal and professional tone, and finally, write it in a youthful and energetic tone.

  • 2. Mood words

    On page 35 of your workbook, you’ll see a list of different tones-of-voice that you can use when writing or speaking in relation to your brand.

    With your three mood-words at the front of your mind, choose three or four tones-of-voice that you think your brand would use.

    If you think of a tone that best suits your mood-words but isn’t listed in the workbook, it’s perfectly fine to note that down instead.

  • 3. Audience

    Now look at that list of tones-of-voice again, and this time, choose three or four that you think your audience persona would use.

    To do this, imagine your ideal audience persona in conversation, or if they were writing content on their own websites: what tones of voice would they likely use?

    It’s ok if these tones are different to the ones matching your mood words, and again, it’s ok for you to come up with your own.

  • 4. Intuition

    At this point, you’re going to need to trust your intuition a little bit. You’ve got this. By now, you KNOW your brand. You know what you stand for and how you want to make people feel. And you KNOW your audience. You know how they like to speak and communicate.

    Using this knowledge, and looking over the tones of voice you’ve chosen so far, note down three or four tones that would best suit your brand. That is, the tone(s) you will use when you are writing and speaking for your brand.

  • 5. Practice (again)

    Now that you’ve chosen a tone of voice for your brand, put it to practice. In the final box on page 35, write that launch invitation one more time. But this time, write it in your tone of voice.

    Does it sound right? Does it feel like you, and do you think it will speak to your ideal audience? If not, have a play with some other tones of voice that you had shortlisted, to see if they work better.

    We’ll be revisiting this in the next exercise, so you’ll have an opportunity to think further about your tone of voice if you need to.