You might have a brand idea in the works…
Or, your brand is well-established…
But you’re looking for brand voice examples.
If you’ve already got a business (or some knowledge of branding or marketing), your biggest question is probably along the lines of “Why do I need to worry about brand voice/tone, and what exactly is it?”
Here’s why it’s so important:
After price, 53% of consumers consider trust the most important purchasing factor.
And when we look at what drives brand trust, it’s clear to see that customers crave authenticity.
Since authenticity builds trust, it’s incredibly important to communicate with customers through a relatable and genuine brand voice. 😀
We do this by being consistent in our tone.
Finding, and sticking to, a brand voice.
And why does brand voice matter? Because you can’t expect readers to trust you if one minute, you’re upbeat and playful, and then suddenly you publish content that’s buttoned-up and serious.
So, what does your brand voice look like?
Let’s explore what it is, some brand voice examples, and how you can find your unique voice that connects with your target audience, encourages them to fall in love with you, and then sells.
Ready? Let’s do this.
P.S. Get our FREE, detailed, 11-page fill-in-the-blank brand voice worksheet:
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Learn How to Build Your Brand Voice Guidelines (with Examples) in this Video
What Is a Brand Voice?
Your brand voice is the way you talk to your customers.
It’s the unique personality and tone a brand takes on through its marketing communications. A brand voice is distinct, consistent, and directed at a target audience. 🎯
Your brand voice is delivered through the choice of words and the flow of sentences, along with meaningful design choices in visuals.
There’s extreme power in creating an emotional connection through storytelling in content. So much so that an emotional connection can increase sales by 23%.
So, when it comes to brand voice vs. brand tone, know that voice embodies a personality which then sets the tone for delivery of your brand voice.
Picture getting advised to “watch your tone.” There’s power in the delivery of words.
So, when you’re building and executing your content marketing strategy, your brand voice should define everything you do.
And since content is the only marketing left, it’s more important than EVER to define your brand voice. You’ll use it to find direction for everything, including topics, copy, social media posts, and visuals of the content you create. 💥
And just like you communicate in a specific way with your family or friends, brand voice is a way to communicate specifically with your customers.
Some businesses are killing it at brand voice, so let’s see them in all their glory and check out the best examples of brand voice pros next.
Don’t forget: Grab your copy of our FREE brand voice worksheet.
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The Best Brand Voice Examples
How are you portraying your brand through your content marketing? Is it fun? Flirty? Serious? Surprising?
Even though consistency is key, there are lots of different tones your brand voice can take on. Here are some fantastic brand voice examples in action.
Brand Voice Example #1: Nike
When business owners are looking for the best brand tonality examples, Nike almost always tops the list.
Nike is often hailed as a storied power player in the world of marketing. This is simply because they discovered the power of having their own voice long ago.
This brand voice example:
- Feels heroic and life-changing
- Is often topical and progressive
- Reminds customers they’re capable of greatness
- Uses grit and inspiration
You can’t think of Nike’s brand voice without being reminded that everyone, not just athletes, can be resilient through persistence (with just a little help from the right athletic gear 👟).
Brand Voice Example #2: Apple
Apple has one of those brand voice types that’s so strong it can turn away certain people. But the tech giant does this on purpose – they know who their target audience is, and they don’t shy away from making them feel exclusive and special.
This brand voice example:
- Is simple and confident
- Carries a superior tone
- Uses informality to emit a feeling of simplicity
- Has inspired the brand voice of many modern tech companies and start-ups
The iPhone campaign above is a great example of how the mechanics of Apple’s brand voice works. 📱 Sentences are short, confident, and declarative. This attempts to prove that they’re the best — plain and simple. Apple knows all about the mindset of high achievers and how to access it.
Brand Voice Example #3: Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is one of those brand voice and personality examples that is both brilliant and subtle. And they’ve got this magic formula down throughout all of their messaging — whether you’re seeing a family of arctic animals gathering for the holidays, or a group of carefree people dancing, it’s hard not to associate this popular soda with a feeling of nirvana. ❤️
This brand voice example:
- Is very friendly and down-to-earth
- Shows us ideas of what a happy life looks like (and how we can all find it)
- Evokes positive feelings
- Emphasizes the importance of family, community, and togetherness
When you’re learning how to create content for your business, think about ways to get people to act. Remember their famous “Share a Coke” campaign? Coca-Cola produced bottles with hundreds of unique names, inviting people to pick up a soda for a friend or loved one in an act of kindness. Coke does a brilliant job of sticking with the idea of friendship, love, and happiness for their brand voice.
Brand Voice Example #4: Skittles
Skittles is on a lot of brand voice and tone examples lists for good reason. If you were to use one word to describe them, it would be “weird.” But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.
This brand voice example:
- Pushes boundaries
- Feels strange and whimsical
- Is often humorous and cheeky
- Does very well with younger crowds over social media
If you pay really close attention to this brand voice, you’ll notice something unique. They often use “I” statements, creating a whimsical illusion that the product is animate and speaking to the audience. It’s weird. It’s funky. It sells candy. 🍭
Brand Voice Example #5: Dove
Dove is one of the more comforting brand voice and personality examples on this list – and they know what they’re doing. Their message of empowerment and self-worth that they defined a couple decades back resonates really well with their audience.
This brand voice example:
- Promotes a positive body image
- Encourages confidence
- Feels powerful and optimistic
- Is calming, supportive, and friendly
Inclusivity is becoming more popular in marketing, but this brand has been at it before it was “cool.” Dove has done a fantastic job at knowing who their audience is, what they need, and how to give it to them. 🕊️
So now that you’ve seen some great brand voice examples, has it inspired you to define your own? Let’s explore how you can find your brand voice, too.
How to Create Your Brand Voice
Your brand voice guidelines should form a critical part of your overarching brand style guidelines.
Want to start learning how to create a brand voice right away?
Here’s a great place to start:
1. Fill out a Brand Voice Worksheet
The first step to learning how to create your brand voice is to complete this helpful worksheet.
I wish it were as easy as plugging ideas into a generic brand voice generator and finding your company’s tone. Instead, you’ll need to ask yourself a few questions to establish the brand voice characteristics you want to portray. ✏️
To help, we created a detailed brand voice worksheet for you.
Take some time to fill out the blanks in this in-depth worksheet, and you’ll be well on your way to defining your brand’s voice and personality:
Get our FREE 11-page fill-in-the-blank brand voice worksheet:
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Included at the end of this worksheet are 5 questions to help you identify a brand’s voice:
- What are the biggest truths about the world that your brand believes in?
- What’s the problem that your buyer is trying to solve? What are their biggest desires?
- What are the demographics of your target audience and how do they consume information?
- What’s your competitor’s tone like? What’s unique about your brand and beliefs and how are you different from the competition?
- Which five words represent your brand the most? And the least?
Using this brand voice worksheet is just the start.
Once you’ve filled it out, you must then decide on your brand voice based on your answers.
To do this, take a look at the words you’ve written down for inspiration. 💡
Which of your brand’s “big truths” connects the most with your audience? Look at your beliefs, map them to your audience, and research how they’re already consuming those ideas.
After you fill out the worksheet and identify your brand voice, what other sections should you include in your brand voice guidelines?
First, define your brand.
2. Define Who You Are As a Brand
This is a key section to include in your brand voice guidelines.
Defining who you are as a brand will help further clarify what you should sound like when you communicate online.
Make sure all of these aspects are laid out clearly in your guidelines:
- What you DO – What do you do to help your audience?
- What you SELL – What are your core products/services?
- WHO you serve – Who is your audience? Who benefits the most from what you do/sell?
- Your PROCESS – How do potential clients find you? How do they follow you? How do they become customers?
3. Include Guidelines for Using Your Brand Name
Imagine if Coca-Cola was a new brand. On official branding, ads, copy, and packaging, what if you saw the brand name spelled various ways, like “CocaCola” or “Coca-COLA” or “Coca cola”?
It would be confusing, right?
Instead, Coca-Cola obviously has brand voice guidelines in place that stipulate how to spell their brand name plus its variations (like Coke).
It’s always spelled one way, with one correct way to capitalize it, with exactly one dash separating “Coca” and “Cola.”
Without these rules, the various creators who work on content, copy, design, etc. wouldn’t know which usage was correct. They would probably make a lot of avoidable errors.
Similarly, include usage/spelling guidelines for your brand name in your document.
Writers and creators WILL get it wrong if you don’t spell it out (in the agency I ran for 10 years, this happened all the time when brands didn’t specify their preferred usage and spelling for their names).
4. Define Your Brand Tone of Voice
Your tone of voice is how you sound when you’re communicating with your audience.
How do you sound when you’re speaking to them in a blog post, a social media post, or an email? How do they relate to you as a result?
That’s your tone of voice (and my free brand voice worksheet will help you define yours).
In your brand voice guidelines, define your tone of voice by listing six or seven characteristics of your brand’s style of communicating.
Are you…
- Enthusiastic?
- Direct?
- Friendly?
- Lighthearted?
- Serious?
For each characteristic you list out, include brand voice examples to further clarify WHY your brand owns that characteristic.
Like this:
“Lighthearted – Our lighthearted approach stems from how we differentiate in our industry; most of our competitors present themselves too seriously. We think there’s room for fun and a joke or two to lighten the mood.”
5. Include a Bonus Brand Voice Example: Define Your Brand as a Movie Character
If your brand was a movie character, who would it be?
This is a fun exercise that can be super-useful for the creators who will be following your brand voice guidelines.
Why? You’ll give them a concrete example of your brand’s personality, one they can relate to, in very few words.
For instance, say you decide your brand would be Dory from Finding Nemo if it were a movie character.
Instantly, any creator reading your guidelines will understand that your brand voice is upbeat, positive, encouraging, simple, and a little silly.
See how that works? 💡 Include this useful little tidbit as a brand voice example to help your writers and creators nail it every time.
6. Create a Shared Brand Voice Document
Your next step in creating your brand voice is to make sure everyone on your team knows what it is.
Ensure your hard work isn’t lost and that your team can access all the details. Include your brand voice guidelines and your overall “vibe” (plus examples) in a document your whole team can reference when planning, writing, and editing content. 🖱️
You can also share this document (and how to find it) as a content marketing workshop exercise if you’re meeting with your team for strategy planning and training. And don’t forget to let your writers know you’ll need to update old content with your new tone.
Because whether they’re producing content that has a lifespan of a just few minutes (TikTok) or 2+ years (blogging), your team needs to know what to do to stay consistent with your brand voice.
7. Put It in Action
Your final step (and this is important) is to put your brand voice research in action and start rolling it out with smart content creation.
Make sure you have your own content creation plan and don’t waste your resources on cheap marketing that might not meet your expectations or deliver on your brand voice guidelines.
So, once you know your brand voice, it’s time for YOU to put it into action, not someone else. This is your business, and you’ve got to be the captain of the ship, guiding others to create in alignment with your brand voice.
To do that, you’ll need a strategy to keep your tone consistent across every piece of content you or your team publish. You’ll find much more long-term success by creating a content strategy that includes details and instructions on how to stick to your very distinct brand tone.
Finding Your Brand Voice: Don’t Go at It Alone
These stellar brand voice examples weren’t created overnight. A lot of work went into finding the perfect tone for each. 👔
You can spend a lot of time and energy spinning your wheels trying to find the right way to discover your brand voice and scale your business…
…Or you can invest in a mentor who has already been there (multiple times, including that time I sold a business for a 13,000x ROI) and has a proven plan ready and waiting for you.
Teaching struggling and new entrepreneurs how to find their brand voice (and build a plan to execute it) is part of my transformative coaching program.
So, if there’s a voice in your head telling you that you can be so much more than you are now, I want to help.
If you’re ready to put in the work and learn how you can build a sustainable online business through smart content creation, subscribe to the worksheet below and get on my list. I’d love to help you grow big. 💥
Learn more about The Content Transformation System here.
Get our FREE 11-page fill-in-the-blank brand voice worksheet:
