Five Resources for Building a Good Tone of Voice

Most companies create content. But not many create it with a distinctive tone of voice. That’s really a missed opportunity. As our friends at Velocity Partners like to say, having a clear, compelling tone of voice multiplies the impact of your marketing. That’s because great content is about more than passing on useful information. It’s also about creating an emotional connection with your audience. And being memorable. The best way to do that is to write with a tone of voice that’s uniquely yours and that engages the people who read it.    

Tone of voice is important for every business. You need to understand what it is, why it matters, and, most importantly, how to go about creating and enforcing yours. To help, we’ve compiled a list of the best tone of voice resources around. Take some time to check them out, and you’ll be finding your tone in no time.

How to have a good tone of voice

A strong tone of voice promotes brand consistency, audience trust, and differentiates your messaging. Here are key components to consider when building your tone of voice:

• Clarity and consistency: Maintain uniform messaging across all platforms.

• Authenticity: Your tone should reflect your brand’s values and personality

• Audience alignment: Adapt your voice to resonate with your target audience

• Flexibility: While consistent, your tone should adjust to different contexts and formats.

  Now, let’s dive into some great advice from other sources!

1. Neil Patel’s Guide to Developing Your Brand’s Tone of Voice

   Neil Patel’s guide, “How to Develop Your Brand’s Tone of Voice”, provides actionable steps to create and maintain a consistent brand voice. It emphasizes understanding your audience, defining your brand’s personality, and creating guidelines to ensure uniformity across all platforms. The article also provides insights into adapting your tone for different scenarios and mediums.

2. Everybody Writes

   This isn’t the first time we’ve pointed you to Ann Handley’s phenomenal book “Everybody Writes” and it probably won’t be the last. It’s a great read that covers all aspects of writing, including voice and tone. We like the practical advice that Ann shares and the fact that the whole book is written with Ann’s unmistakable tone of voice. You can feel her personality come through on every single page, making it a real-life case study in tone of voice. 

3. Finding Your Tone of Voice

   Smashing Magazine has a helpful article called “Finding Your Tone of Voice.” It clearly and succinctly explains what tone of voice is and why it’s important. It also gives lots of examples from well-known brands. You’ll learn how to develop your company’s own tone of voice, and see the impact that different tones can have on an audience.

4. Tone of Voice: The B2B Budget Multiplier

   Doug Kessler at Velocity Partners has put together a great resource on tone of voice. It outlines why tone of voice is so important and how it’s evolving among B2B businesses. It also offers an 11-point strategy for how you can develop a strong, clear, and compelling tone of voice for your business.

5. Watch Your Tone!

   We’d be remiss if we didn’t call out our own eBook, “Watch Your Tone! The Ultimate Guide to Developing Your Company’s Tone of Voice.” What stands out about it is that it takes a very practical look at developing your tone of voice, even including worksheets to help guide you through the process. Not only that, many of the other great authors we’ve cited in this post helped contribute to the piece.

Even more resources for establishing a good tone of voice

While all of these resources are really useful, it’s also helpful to see some actual tone of voice guidelines. If you want to see tone of voice guidelines in action, check out these real-world examples:

• MailChimp’s content style guide: A well-structured document showcasing a brand voice that is friendly yet professional.

• Monzo’s tone of voice guide: A great example of a brand using tone to create a strong, approachable identity.

While having good tone of voice guidelines is a step in the right direction, they don’t always get applied consistently. A better solution is to use technology to serve them up right in the authoring tools where writers create their content. To learn more about how Acrolinx helps you capture your brand voice (While keeping it distinct. We’re looking at you generic AI-generated content!) check out our eBook “Watch Your Tone! The Ultimate Guide to Developing Your Company’s Tone of Voice.”