Tone of Voice: How to Create it and Its Benefits

13 March 2024

Tone of Voice: How to Form it and Its Benefits

It can be said that tone of voice is a character in your brand that can enter customers' memories. If as an individual, you have your own way of communicating, so do you as a brand.

When you get a message, maybe you will read it in the same tone as the person who sent it. It can be enthusiastic, cheerful, surprised, firm, etc. This also happens when subscribers read your messages.

According to SEMRush, up to 65% of customers feel an emotional connection with brands that seem to care about them. Tone of voice is the key that can help you make it happen.

Understand more about what is meant by tone of voice, how to shape it and its benefits for your business in the following review.

What is Tone of Voice?

Tone of voice is how a brand's character is reflected in words, both written and spoken.

However, it is not just about what is said, but rather how it is said and the impression it produces.

Customers definitely get a variety of tones of voice from the brands they see. For example, on the billboard he saw that brand A used a relaxed and eccentric language style.

Meanwhile, on Instagram he saw brand B using a formal and authoritative language style.

However, these differences will not immediately enter the minds of customers. For this reason, know the following ways to form the tone of voice.

How to Shape the Tone of Voice

Pay attention to these things when creating a tone of voice for your brand:

Establish Core Values

The first step in finding the tone of voice for your business is to determine core values.

You can start by creating a mission statement and brand message. Make sure you can answer the following questions to get a brand mission statement:

  • What was the purpose of this brand created?
  • How to realize that goal?
  • Who do you want to target?
  • What kind of brand do you want to be known as?

Then, you can design a brand message that aligns with all the types of messages and values you want to convey through content.

The brand message design usually contains a set of terms, phrases and statements that are the purpose of the communication. For example, friendly, fun, authoritative, open to input, ready to help, etc.

Determine the tone of voice

Once you understand your brand's true identity, you can start creating a unique tone of voice.

According to the Nielsen Norman Group, there are four dimensions of tone of voice that you can choose, including:

  • Formal vs Casual: A formal tone will give the impression of being authoritative but less personal. Meanwhile, a casual tone will give a personal but less professional impression.
  • Funny vs Serious: In a funny tone you will add humor. However, in the serious tone there is no humor at all.
  • Respectful vs Irreverent: A respectful tone will give the impression that the customer is king. Meanwhile, the irreverent tone sees him as a friend he can joke with.
  • Enthusiastic vs Matter-of-Fact: An enthusiastic tone gives the impression of being friendly and fun. The matter-of-fact tone emphasizes honesty and what is.

There is no right or wrong about the four dimensions above. However, you really have to choose it with careful consideration, so that it doesn't have a negative impact on your brand image.

Get to know your target market

To increase engagement, you must know what customers want and need from your brand.

You can start by using social media. Find out what social media your brand's target market usually uses. Then, observe what topics they discuss and the reactions they give to these topics.

This information can be used as a basis for forming your brand's tone of voice.

Create tone of voice guidelines

So that the tone of voice can be applied in harmony to all messages that will be issued by the brand, you must create guidelines.

The tone of voice guidelines must consist of several things that we have discussed above, namely:

  • Description of target market
  • Attitude towards audience (formal or casual, funny or serious, etc.)
  • Core values
  • Mission statement
  • Brand message
  • Vocabulary that must be used
  • Vocabulary to avoid
  • Rules for grammatical use

Benefits of Tone of Voice for Business

According to Albert Mehrabian, a non-verbal communication expert, good communication consists of three elements, namely:

  • Words
  • tone of voice
  • body language used

Therefore, in order to achieve good communication with customers, brands must build a tone of voice. Here are some of the benefits of tone of voice for your business.

Increase customer trust

Through tone of voice, brands can create a familiar impression with customers.

Customers will be very familiar with the brand, when they consistently hear the words used in the branding process.

Through this familiar impression, customer trust arises because of the touch of the tone of voice that makes them comfortable and related.

Make a difference

All businesses that are involved in the same industry will look boring if they only convey messages like that.

Tone of voice is the most important thing that can make you look different from competitors and ultimately attract customers.

Increase income

When customer trust increases, revenue will also increase.

According to data from SEMRush, 23% average revenue will increase when a brand consistently builds its tone of voice.

Replaces face-to-face communication

For its sustainability, brands must ensure that customers use their products or services continuously. One way to make this happen is to maintain good communication with them.

Because it is impossible to approach customers one by one, tone of voice can be the means. With the help of social media, messages with a consistent tone of voice will create interaction with customers.

That's the information you need to know about what tone of voice is, how to shape it, and its benefits for your business. In conclusion, the familiarity that arises from good tone of voice design will increase customer trust and provide benefits for the brand.

Designing a tone of voice is one way to deal with dynamic situations in managing a business. If you want to have good business analysis skills, take the Strategic Business Analysis short program from Prasmul Eli.

In the three-day program, the scope of learning includes:

  • Introduction to Strategic Business Analysis
  • General Environment and Scenario Analysis
  • Industry Analysis
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Internal Analysis
  • Core competency Analysis
  • SWOT analysis
  • Business Model Analysis
  • Customer Pain & Gain Analysis

Register yourself via the following link to take part in this class which will be held online and offline.

Tone of Voice: How to Form it and Its Benefits

It can be said that tone of voice is a character in your brand that can enter customers' memories. If as an individual, you have your own way of communicating, so do you as a brand.

When you get a message, maybe you will read it in the same tone as the person who sent it. It can be enthusiastic, cheerful, surprised, firm, etc. This also happens when subscribers read your messages.

According to SEMRush, up to 65% of customers feel an emotional connection with brands that seem to care about them. Tone of voice is the key that can help you make it happen.

Understand more about what is meant by tone of voice, how to shape it and its benefits for your business in the following review.

What is Tone of Voice?

Tone of voice is how a brand's character is reflected in words, both written and spoken.

However, it is not just about what is said, but rather how it is said and the impression it produces.

Customers definitely get a variety of tones of voice from the brands they see. For example, on the billboard he saw that brand A used a relaxed and eccentric language style.

Meanwhile, on Instagram he saw brand B using a formal and authoritative language style.

However, these differences will not immediately enter the minds of customers. For this reason, know the following ways to form the tone of voice.

How to Shape the Tone of Voice

Pay attention to these things when creating a tone of voice for your brand:

Establish Core Values

The first step in finding the tone of voice for your business is to determine core values.

You can start by creating a mission statement and brand message. Make sure you can answer the following questions to get a brand mission statement:

  • What was the purpose of this brand created?
  • How to realize that goal?
  • Who do you want to target?
  • What kind of brand do you want to be known as?

Then, you can design a brand message that aligns with all the types of messages and values you want to convey through content.

The brand message design usually contains a set of terms, phrases and statements that are the purpose of the communication. For example, friendly, fun, authoritative, open to input, ready to help, etc.

Determine the tone of voice

Once you understand your brand's true identity, you can start creating a unique tone of voice.

According to the Nielsen Norman Group, there are four dimensions of tone of voice that you can choose, including:

  • Formal vs Casual: A formal tone will give the impression of being authoritative but less personal. Meanwhile, a casual tone will give a personal but less professional impression.
  • Funny vs Serious: In a funny tone you will add humor. However, in the serious tone there is no humor at all.
  • Respectful vs Irreverent: A respectful tone will give the impression that the customer is king. Meanwhile, the irreverent tone sees him as a friend he can joke with.
  • Enthusiastic vs Matter-of-Fact: An enthusiastic tone gives the impression of being friendly and fun. The matter-of-fact tone emphasizes honesty and what is.

There is no right or wrong about the four dimensions above. However, you really have to choose it with careful consideration, so that it doesn't have a negative impact on your brand image.

Get to know your target market

To increase engagement, you must know what customers want and need from your brand.

You can start by using social media. Find out what social media your brand's target market usually uses. Then, observe what topics they discuss and the reactions they give to these topics.

This information can be used as a basis for forming your brand's tone of voice.

Create tone of voice guidelines

So that the tone of voice can be applied in harmony to all messages that will be issued by the brand, you must create guidelines.

The tone of voice guidelines must consist of several things that we have discussed above, namely:

  • Description of target market
  • Attitude towards audience (formal or casual, funny or serious, etc.)
  • Core values
  • Mission statement
  • Brand message
  • Vocabulary that must be used
  • Vocabulary to avoid
  • Rules for grammatical use

Benefits of Tone of Voice for Business

According to Albert Mehrabian, a non-verbal communication expert, good communication consists of three elements, namely:

  • Words
  • tone of voice
  • body language used

Therefore, in order to achieve good communication with customers, brands must build a tone of voice. Here are some of the benefits of tone of voice for your business.

Increase customer trust

Through tone of voice, brands can create a familiar impression with customers.

Customers will be very familiar with the brand, when they consistently hear the words used in the branding process.

Through this familiar impression, customer trust arises because of the touch of the tone of voice that makes them comfortable and related.

Make a difference

All businesses that are involved in the same industry will look boring if they only convey messages like that.

Tone of voice is the most important thing that can make you look different from competitors and ultimately attract customers.

Increase income

When customer trust increases, revenue will also increase.

According to data from SEMRush, 23% average revenue will increase when a brand consistently builds its tone of voice.

Replaces face-to-face communication

For its sustainability, brands must ensure that customers use their products or services continuously. One way to make this happen is to maintain good communication with them.

Because it is impossible to approach customers one by one, tone of voice can be the means. With the help of social media, messages with a consistent tone of voice will create interaction with customers.

That's the information you need to know about what tone of voice is, how to shape it, and its benefits for your business. In conclusion, the familiarity that arises from good tone of voice design will increase customer trust and provide benefits for the brand.

Designing a tone of voice is one way to deal with dynamic situations in managing a business. If you want to have good business analysis skills, take the Strategic Business Analysis short program from Prasmul Eli.

In the three-day program, the scope of learning includes:

  • Introduction to Strategic Business Analysis
  • General Environment and Scenario Analysis
  • Industry Analysis
  • Competitive Analysis
  • Internal Analysis
  • Core competency Analysis
  • SWOT analysis
  • Business Model Analysis
  • Customer Pain & Gain Analysis

Register yourself via the following link to take part in this class which will be held online and offline.

Prasetiya Mulya Executive Learning Institute
Prasetiya Mulya Cilandak Campus, Building 2, #2203
Jl. R.A Kartini (TB. Simatupang), Cilandak Barat, Jakarta 12430
Indonesia
Prasetiya Mulya Executive Learning Institute
Prasetiya Mulya Cilandak Campus, Building 2, #2203
Jl. R.A Kartini (TB. Simatupang), Cilandak Barat,
Jakarta 12430
Indonesia