Why we shouldn't just look at the big picture

A picture paints a thousand words. But someone still had to write that. Words matter, especially when we’re trying to change people’s hearts and minds. No one remembers what colour tie Martin Luther King was wearing when he told us he had a dream. Similarly, three years after Obama blazed his way into the White House, it's the rallying and oft-imitated cry of “Yes. We. Can” that we recall rather than the campaign visuals.

So why have we started to think less about what our brand sounds like? Often, we’ll spend a great deal of time making sure our brand communications – website, DM, Annual Reports – look like they’re coming from the same organisation, but less time making sure they sound like they do. Which is a great shame, because when you have a strong brand voice – and when it is used consistently – you have one of the most powerful means available to you of building an emotional connection with your audience.

An organisation that always gets this right is Amnesty. Whatever the medium, whether it’s a 60 second film or a four page DM, their voice is the same – defiant, provocative and one that demands you listen. And it always has been: compare their legendary press ads from 1987 with their more recent piece of DM from 2007. While visually Amnesty have moved on, twenty years later their voice is as powerful as ever.

Just as important as it is to have a clear sense of what your brand should sound like, it’s important that it’s one that’s right for your organisation. While we might admire Amnesty’s hard-hitting copy, if we’re working for an animal sanctuary (for example), it’s probably not going to be right for us. Here, we might consider adopting a warmer, softer and more supportive voice.

MacMillan Cancer Support and Cancer Research UK are two examples of charity brands who, though working in similar arenas, adopt different, but equally effective brand voices. Compare the warm, emotive and personal voice of MacMillan to the cooler, more remote, professional one of Cancer Research; entirely appropriate as one is a support organisation, the other, research.

We live in a world saturated with words. But the rise of Twitter, WordPress and the other online spaces for words also gives us many opportunities to develop our brand voice and ensure that what we're writing is right for us. Here a few ways to make sure it is:

How to get a great brand voice

Be yourself: the greatest writer to have lived wrote “To thine own self be true” and it's worth bearing the Bard's words in mind when you're deciding on your own brand voice. It sometimes helps to picture your organisation as a person. Are they a formal, slightly remote professional you'd go to for some solid financial advice (perhaps)? Or are they a friendly, cosy person you'd sit down and have a cup of tea with? Remember, it's about what your organisation sounds like, not you as a person; just because you’re a bon vivant with a witty turn of phrase, doesn't mean your organisation is. This is why it's often worth getting a copywriter involved. Writing in voices other than their own is what they're good at.

Write it down: just as we have visual brand guidelines, you should always have tone-of-voice guidelines: a document that clearly outlines what your organisation sounds like, ideally accompanied by a few examples. And make sure it’s not something that sits in the folder marked 'Brand Guidelines' but something that's circulated to everyone who writes for your organisation (and that definitely won't just be the people in the communications team).

Use it: see every opportunity you write something as an opportunity to reinforce and play with your brand voice. And there's more opportunity than ever before to talk to the world. So whether you're Tweeting, blogging or writing an email, see it as a chance to remind your audience exactly what your organisation is about and why they should listen.