What Is Tone Of Voice In Copy And Why Does It Matter?

What Is Tone Of Voice In Copy And Why Does It Matter? By Caroline Gibson on Sep 19, 2018 07:00 am Your tone of voice: why fade away when you can stand out from the crowd? With reviews and comments being easier to share than ever before, clients and customers have a great deal of choice these days. So how do you make your brand stand up and stand out? Through your logo? Typeface? Name??? All these elements create a valuable first impression and successful companies typically have a consistent design identity. Yet …very few manage to articulate their brand distinctively and consistently through their tone of voice (probably the most well-known examples being innocent and Pret). That's why creating and using the right tone of voice (aka TOV) to create an outstanding – and accurate – first impression of your brand is so important. And not just in ad copy or web copy either: really clever, really sharp brands showcase their tone of voice across all touchpoints. Just look at how this packaging and signage for Brooklyn Fare sing out.   So, what is tone of voice? A tone of voice is the way in how you speak and write, what you say and how you sound. What you say is defined by your knowledge and experience; how you sound is defined by your personality. What's your first impression when you read these statements? If you don't know me, then any of these could be a true reflection of my personality. But which is more likely to make you pick up the phone? Caroline Gibson is an experienced freelance copywriter based in London. She's worked with a wide variety of clients and won awards. Or Meet Caroline Gibson, freelance copywriter. Caroline's worked with zillions of different clients. She's even won awards!!! Or Hello, I'm Caroline Gibson. I'm a freelance copywriter and I've been fortunate enough to with just about every type of business (and even picked up a few awards along the way).   What's the difference between tone of voice and copy style? The tone of voice is how you sound. The copy style is how you bring that sound to life through an engaging narrative, whether in an ad, brochure or on a website.   Why does tone of voice matter? Like a person, a business has a mixture of characteristics: brand values. These guide the way you behave. And the way you're viewed by others. They're unique to you. They help define and drive your tone of voice. And the more consistent you are in the tone of voice and language you use, the more likely it is that customers will understand why you're unique and why they should choose you rather than your competitors. As an example, I've picked a small American brand with just a handful of branches in Austin, Texas: Maudie's. Just like its ads, Maudie's packs a big punch. The ads look and sound distinctive, telling me the brand is confident, positive – and fun.   How do you create the right tone of voice? As William Zinsser says so brilliantly, 'Writing is thinking on paper.' First, you need to understand a brand. Inside and out. Yes, you may feel you already do so but … it pays dividends to get an external perspective, such as through hiring a branding copywriter or tone of voice expert. I send potential clients a link to my copy briefing template which is a mini-interrogation so that I can understand the challenges they face, the people they want to attract and the competitors they want to beat. I'm a great believer in providing clients with choice. (After all, you'd expect to see a few different logos or web designs to choose from for your bucks, wouldn't you?)  If you believe your brand to be 'dynamic and innovative', then great. But my interpretation of 'dynamic and innovative' could be quite different. So, I like to show a reasonably safe route (maybe something close to what you have already but neater, crisper, clearer), an option that may push you out of your comfort zone, and one that's in-between. What's the point in saying you're dynamic if you don't sound it?   What about tone of voice guidelines? My heart sometimes plunges when I see this section in a client's brand guidelines. The challenge with copy style guidelines is that they need to help employees feel confident about writing short pieces of copy, such as emails, but also enlighten external contractors such as freelance copywriters. Which are two quite different audiences. The best tone of voice guidelines are short and sweet with a few guiding principles and worst vs. best practice examples. However fancy your shiny new tone may be, good writing matters. Here are two key tips I always include so that your words are as lovely to read as they are to write: Be human Write like you speak, as if to a friend. And use the active voice, not the passive, as it's more one-to-one, less formal and just easier on the eye. Here's an example: Passive: Your email will be replied to in due course. Active: I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Be simple Why use ten words when three will do? Don't [use] a complicated or long word if there's a shorter or simpler one instead. Get straight to the point.   How brave do you want to be with your tone of voice? I always encourage clients to be bold. And be different. And to really, really turn up the copy volume dial to stand up and stand out. Just like this for Bellroy (proof that product descriptors needn't be dull) … And this for anatomicals (proof that, when a copywriter and art director – who happen to be brothers – launch a toiletries brand, you know that brand is born to be head and shoulders above the rest) … Need a tone of voice? Then why settle for vanilla when you can go for gold?   About the author: Caroline Gibson Caroline has been a freelance copywriter for over 15 years, with clients ranging from international brands to small businesses looking to become big businesses. Before then, she worked for some of London's leading ad, branding and design agencies. She has experience in every sector – from finance to health to drinks – and has won awards in every discipline.   This article was first published by Caroline Gibson The post What Is Tone Of Voice In Copy And Why Does It Matter? appeared first on . Read in browser » Recent Articles: Avoiding Copywriting By Committee 6 Degrees of Social Media Has Digital Marketing Killed Off Branding & Creativity? Insults, Book Titles and Headlines That (Hilariously) Beggar Belief Five Ways to Get Noticed Online

6 Degrees of Social Media

Advice by copywriters for copywriters View this email in your browser 6 Degrees of Social Media By Kenneth Shinabery on Sep 05, 2018 07:00 am In the digital age, the world is becoming smaller and smaller. As we begin to utilize social media we soon find out that there is less than 6 degrees of separation between most people. The more we network using social media the degrees of separation become even smaller and smaller. Ultimately there becomes a thin fine line between you, me and the rest of the world. Maintaining your social media feed is important if you are working in the creative industry or any other industry for that matter. Also engaging those who follow you also becomes quite important. And this should not even be looked at just on a personal networking level, but also for exposure of brands. As a creative I utilize Instagram. It has become an easy great place for me to connect with those who like my artwork or read my articles. Sometimes I will discover an artist, then randomly they will like something on one of my feeds (before I have even made contact with them). These random happenstances seem to happen more and more often. How does this relate to marketing? Well if an average person can engage people and connect with others via social media…then it is very important for a brand to establish themselves as well via social media. However, I think with many brands it requires being clever and creating a unique social media feed. If a brand's feed comes off as too commercial…then many will disregard the feed. By utilizing social media a brand can introduce their product or services to people who have yet to discover them. Thus, if used correctly the reach of the brand grows exponentially. Now if that brand engages people who engage them or for that matter engages people who do not engage them that reach doubles. Let's say you are managing the feed for Coca-Cola on Instagram. If from time to time you look up hashtags relating to Coke…and then like or comment on pictures that follow the Coca-Cola spirit. Those people who shared those images will become curious and view the companies social media feed. Then if your feed proves to be interesting or even has contests this may spark the interest of the person viewing the company's feed, which in turn may make them decide to follow the Coca-Cola feed. GRANTED…if a company does engage the community they should do it in a sincere manner. Also, the company cannot go and post "ENJOY COCA-COLA" as comment who those who created good images with the hashtags relating to the beverage. You need to create unique little posts that do not sound as if they were copy & pasted or as a commercial. If you engage people via social media with witty or fun or thought remarks then that will make a difference.  Simply copy and pasting the same comment every time comes off as horrible. Example: Every time you write a Tweet to Pantone you will get something like the following: "What color are you feeling like today?".  This is the most insincere thing ever.  No one wants to read responses from a BOT!  I love Pantone, but this is one thing that they should change. Wrap… For year's the world has been experiencing a global connectivity that has transformed the world into one community. This community via social media allows one to remove the degrees of separation between other people, users and their community…thus creating new bonds and followers. Whether you are a large company or an artist or a regular person… networking via social media has its benefits if used correctly.   About the author: Kenneth Shinabery Kenneth is a creative from New York City that is currently living in Europe. He is part of several Adobe programs such as the Adobe Influencer DACH program and Adobe Community Professionals Program as well as Wacom Evangelist. As an internationally published writer and content creator, Kenneth has spoken at conferences across Europe. Topics include: Creativity, Social Media and Community Development. One of his crowning achievements is having produced two full-scale creative conferences for Adobe in Germany. Visit Kenneth's portfolio at:  https://kennshinabery.myportfolio.com/ Or connect with him on LinkedIn:  https://linkedin.com/in/kshinabery   This article was first published by Kenneth Shinabery  The post 6 Degrees of Social Media appeared first on . Read in browser » Recent Articles: Has Digital Marketing Killed Off Branding & Creativity? Insults, Book Titles and Headlines That (Hilariously) Beggar Belief Five Ways to Get Noticed Online Stop (Brand) Police! Over Branding and Over Marketing