(Five Reasons Why Tone of Voice Matters)
Tone of voice should match your business, your product and your audience – and be consistent throughout all your copy and content.
What is Tone of Voice?
Imagine that your website is a real person representing your company to your customers. Should it sound youthful or older, funny or serious? Polite and trustworthy… or everyone’s new best mate? How do you want that website person to talk to your potential customers? How would your customers prefer to be addressed?
Does Tone of Voice Matter?
You bet!
Yes sir, it can play an important role.
It’s a no-brainer that tone of voice matters.
It is a well-known fact that tone of voice is a very important component of effective copywriting.
Yes, it does.
Get the idea?
If you’re talking to someone, they can pick up your ‘vibe’ from your voice. They will know whether your intention is to be upbeat, serious, chatty – or any other ‘tone’.
On a website page, you only have the written word as your weapon to convey tone of voice. Luckily, there’s a toolbox of writing tricks to hone how tone of voice can be indicated: sentence length, specific word choice, structure, pace – and, of course, punctuation!
Why Bother?
You’re already joining the dots and making the connections… but here are 5 pertinent points to get you convinced.
- Unique Voices are Remembered
Your tone of voice will bolster your branding. It helps your customers to recognise what they’re getting and what you stand for, simply by how you address them. You can’t chat to each of them individually, but you can replicate that same effect. Reflect your unique image with a unique tone of voice.
- Makes you Special
A brand may choose a particular tone of voice to make it stand out from the crowd. The words it uses on packaging, adverts and literature can differentiate its products and services from other companies in a similar sector.
- Makes you Trusted
People soon learn what to expect from you. They ‘hear’ that tone of voice and are reassured about what they will get. In fact, they will ‘zone into your tone’ and feel as if you are talking to them personally. Watch out though: if you chop and change your tone from one piece of content to another, that reassurance and trust in your product or service is easily lost.
- Words are all you have
You may never meet your customer. You possibly won’t even get the chance to engage and persuade on the phone. Whilst this may be what you want, it also means that you can’t add a human element. The bit where you make allowances because although they didn’t speak well, they were very polite and helpful and their eyes were sincere. Most people will have browsed a website or brochure before making contact with a human; they might even bypass the opportunity altogether. This means that every word that your copywriter chooses for your content must work hard.
- Consistency is Vital
So – you’ve found the tone that works. Now you must maintain the right image, otherwise you’ll just sound confused. Any poorly chosen word or sudden change of tone will burst the bubble of authenticity and lose trust. If you use a tone that’s out of character, it’s jarring to read – just as if you were discussing a serious aspect of insurance cover and the broker suddenly told an corny joke.
If your tone of voice is consistent, everyone will understand who you are, what you do and how you do it.
In Summary:
It’s not just what you say – it’s also the way that you say it!
A consistent tone of voice will help you stand out, be remembered and become trusted.
Try a few on for size… see how they feel. Do they represent you? Could they attract your clients and customers? Will they stand the test of time? A copywriter will be able to help you do this more quickly. Getting it right could be worth the investment.
