Your business is your brand and your brand is your business, they are one in the same. Whether you are selling lemonade on the street, building high rise developments or you are a freelance consultant, your business is a brand. Your brand is what your customers picture when they think of your business.

Finding your brand voice and tone is all about developing a personality for your brand. By defining your brand's personality, it allows you to be consistent in your message. Consistency builds trust and trust builds loyalty.

So what is the difference between voice and tone?

To put it simply, a voice is your brand's overall personality and it must stay consistent. A tone is a subset of your voice and can vary depending on circumstances such as which persona you are talking to or which online channel you are using.

For example, Apple's voice focuses on innovation and dreams, but their tone can vary from corporate to fun/playful depending on the product they are advertising and to which audience.

Now that you understand the difference, let's get started finding your brand voice and tone.

BRAND VOICE

In order to find your brand voice we need to explore your brand character, language and purpose.

* Task 1: Download the PDF below and complete the excercise to help you do this.

Examples for your reference:

BRAND TONE

Once you have determined your voice, you can decide on the tones you will use across your communications.

As mentioned above, your tone can vary depending on the circumstances.

Most businesses would require a different tone for each of the below content types:

• Website: one tone across the entire website
• Email communication: tone will vary depending on type of email. E.g, confirmation emails, a welcome email, newsletters, promotions, etc.
• Social media: tone will vary across different social media channels. E.g., Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat., etc.

Below is an example of different content types and how your tone could vary.

** Task 2: Use the below templates to map out your tone for each content type relevant to your business. For now we will focus on your website and email. We will revisit your social media tones in an upcoming lesson.

Examples for your reference:

Now that you have your brand voice and tone let's move on to your brand design.