How personality-driven copy can take your brand from dull to dazzling

What does your brand voice say about you?

Building a bold brand personality can take your messaging from dull-as-dishwater to charming AF – or at the very least, something that people want to read. But as well as making you more interesting, injecting a dose of personality into your writing means you’ll:

• Stand out in a sea of bland voices

• Create consistency in your comms

• Inspire trust in your customers

• Keep avid readers coming back for MORE
  

If any of those things are on your branding wish list, keep reading. I’m going to talk you through what brand voice actually is, how you craft one, what you should avoid, and why personality is SO important in your writing. I might even throw in a few examples of brands who are SMASHING it when it comes to writing with flair and pizzazz.

So grab a cuppa, get yourself nice and comfy, and come with me on a deep-dive into the intricacies of brand voice, brand persona, and writing for PEOPLE.

What is brand voice?

Brand voice is what sets you apart from the competition. It’s what pulls people in and convinces them that your brand is their cup of tea. It’s also the greatest tool you have for telling people who you are, what you’re about, and why you do what you do.

Practically speaking, brand voice is the style, tone, and personality you use across all of your verbal and written comms. It should permeate through your website and emails, across every social media channel, and in each of the interactions your people have with your customers – from sales through to customer service.

Your brand voice should be distinctive, and it NEEDS to come through strongly (like a big shouty megaphone). Now, that doesn’t mean your persona has to be loud; it just means that whatever your brand personality is, your writing should reflect that.

How do you create a brand voice?

First things first, you need to understand your target audience (this is where snazzy market research tools come in). A meaty of piece of insight into your ideal customers’ values, likes and dislikes, and preferred communication style will help you to craft a brand voice that really speaks to them. From there, you can start to define your brand personality.

Because you’re writing for people – actual humans, rather than technology interfaces – you need to think of your brand as a fully fledged person, with a fully fledged personality. So, what are they like?

The (totally non-exhaustive) list below should give you some inspo if you don’t know where to start:

Once you’ve chosen the personality traits that most align with your values and target customers, you can settle on some keywords that best describe your brand’s tone. These words should capture the feeling you want to leave your customers with after interacting with your brand. Are you reflective or forward-thinking? A mentor or a friend? Whatever your answers, that’s your brand voice.

CLAXON! Mistakes to avoid when developing a brand voice

When it comes to developing a brand voice and picking out a personality that makes sense for you, there are some whopping big pitfalls to steer well clear of:

• Being inconsistent: This is a biggy. You’re only going to build a brand that people know and love if you’re consistent – otherwise, you’re going to confuse the heck out of your audience. The aim is to be instantly recognisable.   

• Jumping on trends: Trends are all well and good, but if you spend your time trying to sound like everyone else, you’re never going to read as authentic. And people respond to authenticity.  

• Forcing a tone: You might love the whole boss babe vibe that’s sweeping the socials right now, but if that doesn’t make sense for who you are and what you’re selling, you’re going to sound desperate, inauthentic, and a little bit sad.

• Sleeping on feedback: Once you’ve settled on a brand voice, you need to test it out with people who’ll give it to you straight (whether that’s friends and family, or the hard-to-please CEO). If your brand voice doesn’t resonate with your audience after launch, go back to the drawing board.

• Failing to tailor your tone: You might have your brand personality down pat, but you still need to consider your platform. Posting on the socials gives you a lot more freedom to let loose, while dealing with media calls for a little more sobriety.

Got it? Good.

Now, let’s take a quick look at why your writing should be TEEMING with personality.

Why personality is SO important in your writing

Do you want to be a bland Barry? A dreary Debra? A tedious Terrance? Copy that’s limp, lacklustre, and a little bit lame isn’t going to win you any prizes – or any customers, for that matter. If you want people to read your blogs, engage with your socials, and stay on your website long enough to see why you’re so bloody brilliant, you need to swerve the spiritless and sprinkle some style into your comms.

People buy from people, so you want would-be customers to think of you as a person. Whether that’s a person they like, trust, admire, rely on, or find hella hilarious will come down to your brand voice and persona – but even if you’re staid and serious, that doesn’t mean your copy should be a monotonous affair.

Personality-driven copy is about being memorable, authentic, and consistent. You don’t have to be quirky and in-your-face – but you do have to ditch the jargon and remember you’re trying to engage with people, not robots. You can be professional without being pretentious; trustworthy without being tedious; knowledgeable without being knobby. In other words, you don’t have to be everyone’s best mate, but you do have to be someone they want to know.

Personality-driven copy in action

Right, time for those examples I promised you.

 Oatly

Oatly’s conversational copy is absolutely brimming with personality. Heck, even the cookie guide on the website is worth a read! With plant-based milks swamping supermarket shelves, Oatly’s distinctive personality oozes out of every communicative pore – helping the brand to become one of the most successful plant-based companies of all time.