What is brand voice?

And how does it relate to other aspects of brand identity messaging, copy and content?

Brand voice is how you use words to communicate your brand’s identity and personality.

Not just individual words, but all the wonderful ways you combine them so your brand sounds more like a human. A likeable, trustworthy human.

There are so many ways of being likeable and trustworthy, but most outdoor brand identities are a combination of 2 or 3 primary voice types.

Also, brand voice isn’t just about words, but all the wordy-type things, like how long your sentences are, how many words you use to say something, what kind of punctuation you use, the rhythm of your language. As well as the words you choose, the metaphors you use and the emotions you evoke.

For example

If your brand’s identity is ‘the adventure buddy’, then your brand voice will be chatty, you’ll use informal words and phrases like ‘chucking it down’ instead of ‘raining’, ‘head off’ instead of ‘depart’, ‘epic’ instead of ‘lovely’. Your sentences will be a mix of short and long. You might use questions in your copy and exclamation marks, but no semi-colons. You want people to nod along with you as you talk, maybe even share a chuckle together.

If your brand’s identity is 'the campfire storyteller', your brand voice will include more descriptive words, you’ll use alliteration and poetic language to evoke emotions. Your sentences will tend to be longer, flowing into each other like a meandering stream carving out its course. You want people to be inspired and intrigued by what you say.

(The campfire storyteller and adventure buddy are 2 of the primary voice types of outdoor brands, more on these below.)

Is brand voice the same as tone of voice?

A lot of people use the two terms interchangeably. If you wander through my website, you’ll see that I do too. But when I start working with clients, I make a distinction between them. Brand voice is your overarching voice, which is made up of a combination of 2 or 3 primary voice types.

Tone of voice is how your brand voice adapts and changes in different situations. Just like your own human voice does. Because, don’t forget, brand voice is a way for brands to be more human. When I’m cheering on a friend at the climbing wall, the way I talk is very different to when I’m negotiating with my kids at bathtime. It’s still always me talking, but different sides of my personality come out.

Is a brand voice just like a human voice?

The difference between human and brand voices is that as a brand you can curate where and when you are talking to people. As humans, we find ourselves in so many crazy situations in life, from chatting to friends, to talking to teachers, to negotiating quotes with decorators. A brand’s world is much more confined and controlled. A brand can choose what they talk about or not. Occasionally brands find themselves in awkward situations, (and in fact, this is when we often see them lose their brand voice and become formal), but most of the time a brand controls its own narrative.

And when we start exploring this narrative, the “what” a brand talks about, well, this leads us nicely to brand messaging.

What is brand messaging?

If brand voice is about how you talk, brand messaging is the what. They're not the same. In theory. But, in practice...

Brand voice and brand messaging are closely connected.

As an example, think about a product description for a waterproof jacket.

Your brand voice will dictate whether you use long words, short words, long sentences, short sentences, contractions, emojis, exclamation marks and more.

Your brand messaging will dictate whether you talk about how the unique construction of the taped seams or if you talk about wearing the jacket in sleet on the hills. But for me, this is also a part of the brand voice.

When writing, the two become one and the same. When I think about brand voice, a lot relates to brand messaging. Like do you speak to people in a friendly and approachable way, or with an authoritative and wise voice? Which information has to come first? This will affect both what you say and how you say it.

The reason brand voice and brand messaging are so closely connected is because they both come from the same place: your brand values, mission and personality.

When writing, you need to have a clear idea of both what you need to say as well as how you need to say it.

To summarise, your brand voice is one of the key tools you can use to connect with your customers. So they don't see your brand as a company just trying to get their money, but they feel a deeper, human connection and will become loyal fans. With a strong brand voice you can inspire people to do great things in the outdoors.

A note on primary voice types

I mentioned a couple of primary voice types above. I’m still refining my ideas around these but they are based on a combination of what I’ve learnt from Justin Blackman, Nick Parker, and my own experience of studying voice and working with outdoor brands.

In a nutshell, there are some primary voice types, like the playful explorer who has a childlike joy and excitement about getting outdoors, or the adventure buddy voice, who talks like you’re both sitting down enjoying a post-adventure pizza together.

Each voice type has its own style, but the fun lies in bringing together different voice types to create your own unique brand voice.

And the next step is to explore exactly how your tone of voice changes in different contexts. When is it more playful? When is it more curious? When is it more serious?

If you’d like to work together on defining and documenting your brand voice, get in touch, or find out more about brand voice packages.

Or you might be wondering, does brand voice even matter for outdoor brands?