Research and experience have proven repeatedly that a mother can be in a room filled with children and locate the one belonging to her just by the sound of his voice. Through sheer volumes of fussing, whining, screaming, and laughter, this is one test any mother is sure to pass with flying colors. There is a distinctness about her child's voice. For her, it is matchless and one of a kind. There is no sound like it. Her baby's noises ring a tune to her ears that can not compare to any other.
As the child grows, time spent with him allows for a deep relationship to transform. Both mom and child are willing to share parts and pieces of themselves with one another that no one else is privileged to see. The little one begins to show off his personality, style, and flare. Conversations during play, over dinner, amidst bath time and car rides, all produce a heightened awareness and form an unbreakable bond between mother and child. This "getting to know you" has developed an unparalleled familiarity.
Results, please. Her child's voice can not become lost or unrecognizable regardless of the level of competing chaos that threatens to drown it out.
You already know where we're headed—a question for you. How distinctive is your voice to your audience? Can they pick out your brand voice in a crowd of organizations making a whole lot of noise? Would they be able to describe it or define it if asked? Better yet, can you?
Every organization has a voice tied to its brand. It's that distinct personality an organization uses when it communicates. Said another way, when your brand speaks (figuratively and actually), it is what you sound like. Your brand voice goes beyond what you say but involves how you say it—your communication style.
Let's pretend your brand was a person. How would you describe its personality traits? What words best define the attributes of your brand's speaking voice if it could talk? What doesn't your brand sound like when it opens its mouth? Think about the phrases and stylistic choices your brand uses consistently. What common threads can you identify as you ponder this thought?
Combine the answers to these questions, and you have located the start of identifying your brand voice. Your brand voice entails each of these components very similar to how an individual's personality includes layers of quirks and characteristics wrapped into one neat person. We look at the whole person to define a single personality, and the same must take place for a brand to determine "who" it is. Once done, your brand has found its voice!
Establishing your personality is critical to brand and organizational success. It is a crowded industry landscape out there, and all of us have zero choice. If we are going to survive, we must differentiate ourselves. We need our audience to hear us, although our respective marketplace is jammed packed with other organizations screaming for their attention. We don't win by yelling the loudest. Oh no, we find victory in confidently speaking in the voice our customers have come to love and know.
You need your brand to be consistent and recognizable. You require that "getting to know you time" necessary to understand your brand enough to share it intimately with your #1 fans. Brand awareness only succeeds when your audience can identify you just by your content before seeing the "who" behind it.
You want your audience to be like the mother with ears only for her child. No matter how much is going on around her, she knows the sound of his calls. Guess what she does next? She runs towards it.
Your brand voice matters!