May 3, 2017 at 06:16What voice does your company say?
We live in a stupid time: you can make high-quality products, but no one will know about them unless you can qualitatively talk about them. Qualitatively ≠ “highly conversion”, sophisticated or “youthful”. Qualitatively - so that your audience understands you.
I will not make out “what to say” - and without me there are enough tips for content marketing. I'm talking about the "how" to talk.
To “you” or “you”? To joke or strictly? What voice do we speak?
Someone thinks about the voice of the project at the very beginning - when they are preparing a presentation for investors or a text on the site. For others, the question of voice arises when there are more than one person answering on behalf of a company, and general rules are needed. Or when they try to adapt to a new audience. In such cases, we hear a “new” voice in advertising, and “old” in offices and support services.
For example, Sberbank. We hear from the screens: a new generation, Edge, innovation, bigdata, we are on the same wavelength. And in the letter:
The point is not even in cliches and clericalism, but in the voice. It is not the young man whom I understand who speaks to me, but the head of the support service, who apologizes on the go: “We have our own plans and KPI, and you are here.”
But what about the company that sent such a letter?
How "young and energetic" or "deeply respected, but slow"? But both the service and the business are very young.
You can go by the Mailchimp method. They described the brand as adjectives, and to limit their imagination, they compared it to what they are not (free translation):
Funny, but stupid.
Confident, but not cocky.
Clever, but not boring.
Unofficial, but not sleazy.
Useful, but not overbearing.
Expert, but not nerdy.
Mysterious, but not ambiguous.
There is another method, and I personally like it more. Write by introducing the voice of the person who represents the company: director, official speaker, product chief, designer or fictional character.
If you already thought about the voice, then remember the tone. The tone depends on who we are talking to. One tone when talking with a friend, another with mom, and a third at a meeting with the boss.
It also depends on the emotional state - we communicate differently with a cheerful and upset person. Therefore, you cannot answer in the same tone to the one who got out the error and the one who successfully solved his problem.
If you say a joke with a gloomy face, then the listeners will have a dissonance. The text is the same trouble.
Do not expect that they will understand you correctly if you have young people having fun in the visuals, and in the text “You” with a headline and tone, as in the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee.
And on Habré, companies also have their own voice. Even if several authors write on the blog, they are often read as one. Write which company voice do you like the most? I didn’t do a poll with an enumeration in order to avoid the induced fame.
Thanks for the inspiration:
Jory MacKay .
Mailchimp .
I will not make out “what to say” - and without me there are enough tips for content marketing. I'm talking about the "how" to talk.
To “you” or “you”? To joke or strictly? What voice do we speak?
Why do i need a voice
Someone thinks about the voice of the project at the very beginning - when they are preparing a presentation for investors or a text on the site. For others, the question of voice arises when there are more than one person answering on behalf of a company, and general rules are needed. Or when they try to adapt to a new audience. In such cases, we hear a “new” voice in advertising, and “old” in offices and support services.
For example, Sberbank. We hear from the screens: a new generation, Edge, innovation, bigdata, we are on the same wavelength. And in the letter:
The point is not even in cliches and clericalism, but in the voice. It is not the young man whom I understand who speaks to me, but the head of the support service, who apologizes on the go: “We have our own plans and KPI, and you are here.”
But what about the company that sent such a letter?
How "young and energetic" or "deeply respected, but slow"? But both the service and the business are very young.
The voice you write will be heard by your readers.
How to choose a voice
You can go by the Mailchimp method. They described the brand as adjectives, and to limit their imagination, they compared it to what they are not (free translation):
Funny, but stupid.
Confident, but not cocky.
Clever, but not boring.
Unofficial, but not sleazy.
Useful, but not overbearing.
Expert, but not nerdy.
Mysterious, but not ambiguous.
There is another method, and I personally like it more. Write by introducing the voice of the person who represents the company: director, official speaker, product chief, designer or fictional character.
There is still a tone
If you already thought about the voice, then remember the tone. The tone depends on who we are talking to. One tone when talking with a friend, another with mom, and a third at a meeting with the boss.
It also depends on the emotional state - we communicate differently with a cheerful and upset person. Therefore, you cannot answer in the same tone to the one who got out the error and the one who successfully solved his problem.
The voice does not change, but the tone depends on the situation.
Graphics
If you say a joke with a gloomy face, then the listeners will have a dissonance. The text is the same trouble.
Do not expect that they will understand you correctly if you have young people having fun in the visuals, and in the text “You” with a headline and tone, as in the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee.
Poll
And on Habré, companies also have their own voice. Even if several authors write on the blog, they are often read as one. Write which company voice do you like the most? I didn’t do a poll with an enumeration in order to avoid the induced fame.
Thanks for the inspiration:
Jory MacKay .
Mailchimp .