Updated
Tone of voice describes how a brand writes and speaks: formal or relaxed, factual or playful, serious or warm. It is the verbal counterpart to the brand’s visual identity.
Why tone of voice matters
A consistent tone makes a brand recognisable and credible. If the website sounds like a bank, the Instagram posts like a teen magazine and the emails like a government office, customers get confused and trust suffers.
How to define your tone of voice
- Start from your target audience and your positioning.
- Describe the tone with three or four traits, for example expert, direct and friendly.
- Note what you say and what you never say, including forms of address, jargon and emojis.
- Show examples of good and bad phrasing.
- Add the rules to your brand guidelines so your team, agency and AI tools can use them.
The tone can shift slightly by channel, a little more relaxed on social media and more precise in expert articles, but the brand’s personality stays the same.
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