If your business had a voice, what would it sound like? Assured and assuring? A little breathless from hurry? Would it clip its words?
We've all heard that vision is the dominant sense for most people, and articles on branding almost always reinforce the importance of your visual brand. We're told less about the impact of voicing on our brand, but that doesn't mean it is unimportant.
Voicing Matters
Wouldya, like, pay real attention to this if I, um, wrote it all extreme informal, dude?
Right. That doesn't mean that's a "bad" voicing. It might work in a short ad for a skateboarding company. It's unlikely to inspire your confidence in me as a communications consultant.
Voicing is one way you convey to customers who your company is and how you do business. Are you formal or laid back? Professional or casual? Are you a reliable source of information on technical matters or on what's hip now? It's important to use voicing consciously and consistently in your written marketing materials, and even to use it (less formally) when speaking in a business context.
Listen Hear!
Some businesses are all business. Their written materials utilize full sentences, never omit a pronoun, and speak largely in the third person. This formal voicing is often associated with financial services companies and law firms. The unspoken message is that the company is reliable, conservative and rational. The risk of this voicing is that it distances the company from the customer. That's why an increasing number of companies have taken to softening the edge by using "you" and "we."
But hey Jack, for other companies, life's a beach. You're cool, we're cool and why would we write any different from the way we talk? There's no distance between us. We could be in all kinds of businesses--heck, we ARE in all kinds of businesses--where the voicing is appropriately informal and personal. Is this the voice to use when your company is selling to major corporations? I don't think so.
Good companies think fast. And that's good. Because technology changes. Quickly. Constantly. In this business, you're either quick--or dead. And we're definitely moving. Our voicing challenge? To slow down enough that you can hear our story. Without boring you, of course.
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The number of possible voices? Endless. But you've heard enough. Now is the time to think about how you want voicing to contribute to your company's brand image. Make the right choice about how your company "sounds," and you will reach the inner ear of your target audience.
