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“Just be yourself.” It’s advice we’ve all heard — it seems obvious, but not always easy to pull off when it feels forced or inauthentic. The same holds true for brands. There’s nothing more off-putting than a company trying too hard to sound cool, relatable, or “in touch”.
As brands attempt to stay relevant in a fast-changing world, updating your brand voice is essential. But it should never come at the expense of your identity. Take the rise of the ‘sassy best friend’ brand voice trend, for example.
What started with a cheeky tweet from Wendy’s in 2017 quickly turned into a wave of brands mimicking the same irreverent, Gen Z “intern” tone. While some nailed it, many fell flat and earned the title of “corporate cringe”.
Evolving your brand tone of voice begins with a solid understanding of who you are: your mission, values, and unique selling points. Without that clarity, attempts to modernize your voice can feel like trying on someone else’s clothes — they might be trendy, but they won’t fit. Let’s look in more detail at when and how to update your brand voice.
Related Reading: Don’t React to Audience Trends. Predict Them.
How to Identify the Need for Change
Your brand voice is more than just your choice of words. It’s the tone you use to deliver your messaging, it’s the style and personality of your brand, and how you showcase your values, mission, and company culture. A clear, well-developed brand voice helps create a unique identity that customers can relate to and trust.
86% of consumers say authenticity is a key factor in deciding which brands they like and support.
As companies grow and times change, it’s inevitable that at some point, what once felt fresh and new can start to feel dated. Here are a few signs that suggest your voice may need a refresh.
Business Expansion
Launching new products or entering new markets may expand and diversify your customer base beyond your original demographic. It may be that your target audience broadens from younger people to professionals, for example. This shift is an optimal time to evaluate your brand voice to ensure it speaks to a new audience.
Market and Industry Trends
Generational changes, cultural movements, and wider industry trends influence how your brand is perceived. Younger generations have different communication styles, values, and expectations from older generations. Cultural movements, like the shift towards sustainability and diversity, may require a more conscious, inclusive tone, and industry trends, such as the move towards AI and its rise in voice search, can demand that brand voice is not only text-friendly but adaptable to the spoken language too.
Consumer Feedback
Customer feedback obtained through surveys, social media comments, reviews, and analyzing performance metrics can be a crucial indicator that your brand voice needs a refresh. By monitoring and listening to your customer feedback, you can quickly understand whether your messaging is resonating with customers or whether it’s out of touch.
Refreshing your brand voice means giving it a makeover so your messaging and communication resonate with your current audience. Let’s run through the steps involved in updating your brand voice.
Evolving Your Brand Voice
#1: Conduct an Audit
Begin by conducting a comprehensive audit of your past messaging and performance to understand what’s resonating with your audience and what’s falling flat. You can use tools such as surveys, interviews, and data analytics to gather feedback from customers and stakeholders.
It’s also worth comparing your brand voice to competitors and wider industry trends. Look for any gaps, inconsistencies, or outdated elements that need refining to ensure your brand voice aligns with its wider mission, vision, and audience.
#2 Understand Your Audience
Chances are, your audience has evolved significantly over the years, so it’s essential to invest time in researching who they are today. Consider their challenges, preferences, and expectations. How do they receive information, and what kind of language do they use? For instance, Gen Z uses internet slang that wouldn’t mean much to the older generations. Once you know your audience, you can update your brand voice to ensure it lands.
Related Reading: A New Wave of Buyers: To Win Over Gen Z, B2B Must Be Bold
#3 Define Your New Brand Voice Attributes
What adjectives would you use to describe your brand? For example, a fitness brand may want to be seen as energetic, bold, and fearless. Whereas a health-food brand may wish to appear fresh, wholesome, and vibrant. Use your mission and values to identify three or four adjectives that reflect your brand’s personality and what it stands for.
#4 Update Your Brand Voice Guidelines
Update your brand voice guidelines with plenty of examples illustrating your brand voice across different scenarios and platforms. For instance, your tone may change between a formal ebook and a casual post on social media.
To practice, rewrite existing content following your new guidelines to clearly show the difference between old and new. Be sure to include any dos and don’ts, such as using inclusive language and avoiding jargon.
#5 Test and Iterate
Test and adjust your brand voice guidelines before fully implementing them across your organization. To do this, run A/B tests with different types of content and distribution channels to see how your audiences engage with it.
For example, test two versions of a social media post, then measure engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments. Or test an email campaign with two different subject lines, perhaps one that uses humor and another that’s more serious. Track open rates and click-throughs to see how they compare. By testing and capturing data, you can refine your brand voice based on real-world responses.
Striking the Right Balance
The challenge that comes with evolving your brand voice is enacting changes while maintaining a unique tone of voice. There are a few strategies you can employ to strike the right balance between your past and updated brand voice.
Align Brand Voice With Core Values
As your brand grows, it’s crucial to ensure that your voice remains aligned with your values. Even as you adapt to new trends or audiences, your tone should always reflect what your brand stands for, whether it’s creativity, innovation, or social justice. This ensures that your messaging is consistent and evolves with purpose, rather than simply chasing trends.
Voice In Action: Ben & Jerry’s
Ben and Jerry’s has built its identity around its commitment to social justice, sustainability, and ethical sourcing. And its brand voice reflects this. Its messaging is bold, fun, and unapologetically activist, whether it’s speaking out on climate change, racial justice, or fair trade. By consistently integrating these values into their communications, the ice cream brand has created a voice that feels authentic, helping them to stand out in the crowded food industry.
Ensure Brand Voice Aligns With Your Mission
Your brand mission is your North Star, your overarching purpose or goal. It explains why your brand exists and what it aims to achieve. As your audience and market change, ensure any changes to your brand voice reflect your wider company mission.
For example, if your mission is focused on sustainability, your brand voice should convey a sense of responsibility and care for the planet. Whereas if your mission is centered on innovation, your tone should be forward-thinking and inspiring. Rooting your brand voice in your mission will ensure you remain authentic, building trust with your audience.
Voice In Action: Red Bull
Red Bull’s brand voice is a direct reflection of its mission to ‘give wings to people and ideas.’ Dynamic, bold, and adventurous, the soft drinks giant uses its voice to inspire people to push their boundaries and become a higher-performing version of themselves. While perusing its website, you’ll find articles, taglines, athlete spotlights, and more riddled with action verbs built for excitement.
Their target audience skews towards young adrenaline seekers who enjoy sports, adventure, and exploration. And its brand voice speaks to this demographic with words that promote courage and adventure.
Refresh Messaging, Not Identity
When updating your brand voice, it’s important to refresh your messaging while remaining grounded in your core identity. This means updating the way your brand communicates – its tone, language, and style – while staying true to core values. For instance, you can modernize your tone to be more inclusive or relatable to younger audiences, yet still retain the essence of your original purpose.
Voice In Action: Slack
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The business communication platform maintains a friendly, conversational tone that sets it apart from competitors in a historically dry industry. But as the brand has grown from a startup tool to an enterprise-level solution, Slack has evolved its brand voice to appeal to larger organizations while maintaining an approachable, casual tone. Slack has introduced more advanced solutions and yet has remained steadfast in its clear, friendly communications.
Staying Ahead
Staying attuned to the world around you is not just a nice-to-have; it’s essential. Updating your brand voice is a valuable way to show your audience that you’re paying attention, understand their needs, and are evolving with them. When a brand stops listening and adapting, it risks becoming irrelevant and outdated. The most successful are those who continuously learn, adapt, and evolve, without losing sight of who they are.
