How to Create Your Story

In a previous article Josh discussed the importance of brand voice for your organization and the impact it can have on prospects and clients. In part two, he discusses how to create your story. You can see the first part here.

How do you create your own story and use your Brand Voice?

Now that we have an understanding of what brand voice is and why it is important, we need to determine how to make your brand voice a reality. Below are four things to do in order to assist any company/organization in having its brand voice begin to T.A.L.K.

In establishing any business, you formulate a plan which determines who you are going to be and what you will do as a company. During this process you lay the foundation for how your company should sound. It is only a matter of extrapolating the tone from the story that is being told. In order to do so, start y establishing a voice characteristic chart.

Who are your stakeholders? For most organizations, stakeholders consist of employees, consumers/clients, partners, and community members/organizations.

Identify your target external audience members. Imagine those audience members as actual people. You can even name them if you want to - Jim, Sally, Bob, whatever you like. Then establish a persona for each person by asking what do those people value? What are they looking for in a business? What might they find compelling, or annoying, in a business?

You may have already considered your target audience while defining your marketing strategy. Take this one step further and ask yourself how your brand voice is reaching that particular audience member.

Look through your company’s current content and messaging.

The content that your company is communicating and the platform it uses are the keys to how your brand voice is heard or read. Start by doing an inventory of how your comany conveys its message, as well as what platforms are used (social media, email, websites, etc.) and make sure those strategies reflect your brand.

Compare how you WANT to sound to how you DO sound. What are some of the changes that need to be made?

Know your role.

Lastly all Individuals in a company are ambassadors for the brand's voice. Though all individuals may have different opportunities, everyone has a role to play in telling the company's story. You can't simply rely on your marketing department to strictly convey your voice. Everyone from your stakeholders, customers, and employees are your brand.

Remember, your brand is what others will say about you when you are not around. Having a consistently communicated and represented voice by all aspects of a company is key in helping to control what others believe about your brand.

Brands that are consistently presented are three to four times more likely to experience brand visibility.  When brand voice is presented the same across all channels of communnication, companies average revenue increase consistently by 23%. (Lucidpress and Demand Metric, October 2016)

We would love to hear about how you are talking about your brand in the comments below. If you are interested in finding out how you can T.A.L.K better reach out to Josh.