How to Create an Authentic Brand Voice (with Examples)
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A strong brand personality is built on the back of authentic brand voice.
And brand voice isn’t just what a brand says. It’s how you say it. Your tone, the way you structure your sentences and the specific words you choose, all coming together to create a mood, feeling or emotion for your tribe.
Authentic brand voice is key to building brand story – and that’s why it’s a fundamental part of brand story strategy.
But how do you start to build a brand voice that’s authentic to your brand story?
What does an authentic brand voice sound like?
Building an authentic brand voice lies in nuance.
Nuance is the subtle shade of difference or shade in meaning or expression that will give your brand its uniqueness.
Once you take the time to think about what you want your brand voice to represent, and how it connects in with the rest of your brand story, you’ll be able to document the nuances of your own brand voice in a way that makes it repeatable.
And when you make something repeatable, you’re able to be consistent. And consistency is one of the keys to building a connected tribe.
We Are, We Aren’t and What This Means for Our Brand
The best way to articulate the nuance of your unique brand voice, is by documenting it.
To get started, you want to brainstorm words that represent your voice. And I’ve created a nifty Brand Personality Worksheet you can use to do that here.
But if you want to build an authentic brand voice, you need more than just a list of words that describe what it is.
You also need to be clear about what it isn’t. And what this means for your brand.
Let me show you exactly what I mean.
Brand Voice Examples
What a confident tone is for your brand, will be different for another brand.
And your unique combination of tonal words, will all need to work together and play off each other to create your unique brand personality.
To help you understand how you can apply this to your brand voice, I’ve collated some examples from the 100s of brand voice style guides I’ve created over the years for my clients.
Examples of a RELIABLE brand voice
| WE ARE | BUT NOT | THIS MEANS |
|---|---|---|
| Reliable | Dull | We lay foundations of trust by speaking with integrity and in a clear and concise way that creates confidence in our audience. Everything we say is evidenced and honest. We use research, facts and figures to support our claims, but always link them back to a people based focus. While our tone is one of reliability, we never come across as dull. |
| Reliable | Shonky | We are trustworthy and detail-oriented. We do what we say we’ll do and we turn up when we say we’ll turn up. We’re committed to delivering the best workmanship and you can rely on us to do the right thing by you. |
Examples of a CONFIDENT brand voice
| WE ARE | BUT NOT | THIS MEANS |
|---|---|---|
| Confident | Boastful | We speak with confidence and determination, making sure that our words are chosen to create the greatest possible impact. Everything we say can be backed up with proof. We avoid “maybes” and other phrases that diminish our confident tone and always ensure we remain humble in our approach. |
| Confident | Know-it-all | We’re experienced and have confidence in our work. We’re confident because that gives our customers confidence, but we never come across as cocky or know-it-all. |
| Confident | Aggressive | We know what we’re doing and we speak with confidence. We don’t use perhaps or maybe. This confidence underpins our knowledge in our area of expertise. We use inclusive language that brings people on a journey with us. Confidence is better when it’s shared and we want our customers to feel confident too. |
Examples of a CREATIVE brand voice
| WE ARE | BUT NOT | THIS MEANS |
|---|---|---|
| Creative | Pretentious | Bring creative perspective into everything, without being pretentious about it. Happy to challenge and look for new ways. Also artistically creative, so tone should be passionate, somewhat quirky and use lots of adjectives. |
| Creative | Unprofessional | I’m creative without it feeling uncomfortable. People should still feel as though they’re working with someone who knows what they’re doing, but who is also flexible enough to push boundaries and add creative flair. |
Examples of a FUN brand voice
| WE ARE | BUT NOT | THIS MEANS |
|---|---|---|
| Joyful | Overbearing | About creating harmony and joy. Tone is light, and brings in elements of fun without being funny or comedic. Positive tone rather than negative tone. Speak with passion but without being pushy, overbearing or inflexible. |
| Upbeat | Unprofessional | We come to everything with a positive attitude. Our enthusiasm helps us build rapport and makes people feel at ease. We’re eager to share what we know. Our upbeat nature only ever fuels our focus and determination, and should never stray into being too emotional. |
| Fun | Funny | Positive and up-beat are the order of the day. Evoke the wondrous and magical mind of a child, but not a comedian. |
Examples of an INNOVATIVE brand voice
| WE ARE | BUT NOT | THAT MEANS |
|---|---|---|
| Innovative | Unreliable | We look to possibility and speak with passion about the future. We look for new ways to do things better, but never in a way that compromises our reliability. We innovate to create simple solutions to complex problems. |
| Innovative | Risky | We have the latest products and innovations but they are tested and reliable. We work with reputable brands and hold the best accreditations. We aren’t risky. |
Examples of an EXPERT or PROFESSIONAL brand voice
| WE ARE | BUT NOT | THAT MEANS |
|---|---|---|
| Expert | Arrogant | We are clear and articulate. We speak with confidence as leaders who are experts in their field. We seek to use our expertise to help those we serve to shine, and never to be arrogant. We get a kick out of helping people succeed and this should show through in our tone. |
| Professional | Cold | We’re highly professional in our approach, but never cold. We use warm and friendly language and balance this with level-headed knowledge. |
| Expert | Know-it-all | Being an expert means leadership. It means speaking with confidence and foresight. It means bringing people on the journey. It’s not about having all the answers – it’s about sharing knowledge and continuous learning so that people can feel confident. |
| Expert | Stuffy | I’m articulate and speak with confidence, but I never let me tone become boring, uninteresting or filled with unsubstantiated rhetoric. |
| Wise | Conservative | This isn’t conventional wisdom. It’s inner-wisdom. It’s getting comfortable with being vulnerable. I challenge convention and encourage people to step-up and own their situation. I own my voice, and my wisdom and speak in the first person. |
Examples of a CARING brand voice
| WE ARE | BUT NOT | THAT MEANS |
|---|---|---|
| Caring | Weak | We care about our planet and the people that live on it. We fully understand the potential that our technology has to change our world. And we care enough to give our attention to it. We balance our professionalism with a genuine caring and passion for what we do. |
| Friendly | Rambling | We balance friendly, conversational language with the rest of our confident and professional tone. We avoid rambling, but still speak with warmth and clarity. |
| Caring | Clinical | We might be in the medical profession, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care. Even when we need to make a clinical explanation of something, we make sure we do it with compassion and speak to the needs and the outcome for our patient. Genuine care is always our priority. |
| Caring | Emotional | I care about people and want them to know it. I speak with compassion. I empathise. I’m personable and care about people. |
Interesting Brand Voice Examples
All the examples so far are ones that come up a bit. But they are by no means the benchmark by which you should measure your own brand voice.
Be willing to get creative, clear and specific. The more you can do this, the stronger your brand voice will become.
Here’s some examples of less common (and more interesting) brand voices.
| WE ARE | BUT NOT | THAT MEANS |
|---|---|---|
| Motivational | Overzealous or Cheerleader | I inspire people to take action and then I show them how. Be clever and inspirational but never corny. |
| Intelligent & Insightful | Patronising | Because we’re experienced, we have the opportunity to give insight that others can’t. But our tone never talks down to people or makes them look silly and we are never clever for the sake of being clever. We are evidence based, easy to understand and leave people feeling supported and more confident about the next step. |
| Positive | Negative | We speak in a positive way, even about the most challenging of problems. It’s not an ‘always look on the bright side’ approach though. The tone should be professional and friendly, using insight to not make light of any situation. But the focus should be on ‘can’ instead of ‘can’t’. |
| Inspirational | Soppy | Be inspirational but also energetic and positive. Passionate is fine, but there are no tears here. |
| Intelligent | Academic | We’re a clever group of people and we’re great at what we do. We speak with authority on our areas of specialty, but we always keep things simple and easy to understand so our customers can access our knowledge. |
| Curious | Judgmental | Asking the questions that need to be asked without making anyone feel “less”. Approaching everything with an open mind, willing to listen and learn. |
| Inspirational | Pretentious | We speak with passion and enthusiasm always. It’s our job to inspire those around us to achieve success and to provide encouragement, especially when things are hard. But we aren’t full of self-importance and always use inspiration to include and not to pass judgement. |
| Family Oriented | Unprofessional | We’re a family business and we treat everyone who works with us like family. This means we speak with familiarity but still maintain professionalism. We bring warmth to every conversation and generosity to every person who joins our tribe. |
It's time to build your brand voice.
Now you know about nuance and have a tonne of practical examples to show you how it’s done, it’s your turn to build your brand voice.
As you work on your tone, make sure that all your words balance each other out and compliment each other – you don’t want to have a voice that’s in conflict with itself.
Finally, once you document it, you can start to implement it. And the more you do that, the stronger your brand voice will grow.
