I started as a girl with a dream.
After 10-odd years of working to a tone of voice (TOV) where the three pillars were:
- Friendly
- Empathetic
- Clear
It didn't matter who I worked for. From huge national events, telcos, utility companies, motoring orgs, magazines, oil companies, pharma, fashion, music, TV and education.
"You need to read our TOV guidelines before you do anything", they'd say. I've already written something and it's been signed off, I'd reply. Why? Because all TOVs are the same.
And businesses see copywriting and TOV as crossing the Ts, dotting the Is, fixing the apostrophes and checking the spelling. This is a gross misconception of what copywriters do, which is probably why TOVs are so meh.
That, and the development is lead by people or agencies who aren't copywriters.
So my dream is for a copywriting expert - who's written for every channel and in every format for every audience - to not only represent the people most affected by tone of voice (TOV) but lead in creating one.
The reason why it's important is because it's not only the antropomophisation of the brand... which is important for people to like and relate to you... which is important because it gets your amygdala and hippocampus stimulated... which is important as these brain centres make decisions based on emotion, sensory inputs and storytelling, it can even override your better judgement... And it's also important because when people think of things, they immediately hit up Google and want meaningful, accessible and trustworthy personalities to help them them get to important outcomes (hence the rise - and fall - of influencers)... which ultimately leads to long-term growth for the business.
*exhales*
Anyway, it happened when I approached brand teams proposing a new TOV, putting myself at the business end developing a TOV from scratch. So your first step as a copy, content, digital experience/design leader is to identify who you need to get on-board to make it an official part of the brand.
Sometimes it's easy as there's a rebrand on the horizon.
Sometimes it's easier as the business is looking to you to set those standards.
Sometimes it's super-hard as the brand is established and the team is precious about it, so there's no moving the dial.
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't test the waters. So to start:
1. Be clear on your objective.
In order to sell it up to the SLT and brand, you need their buy-in. To do that, you need to talk brand and business objective and most of all... lead with the benefit. Copywriting 101.
For me, it's to create a TOV that's:
- Distinctive
- More than just good writing principles
- Diverse in language and thought
- Flexible for all all audiences and messages
- Grounded in behavioural science, so it works for conversion as well as building a personality for the business.
Once you get the green light from them, if needed. Take it to your key blockers. You know who I mean, the legal eagles, regulatory lauries and compliance... ants... And anyone else involved in writing.
2. Do your research.
You won't be able to deliver it on your own if you want to do it properly. Sure, you could probably instinctively put something together. But getting an outsider to look at it is invaluable. So do your research, invite specialist agencies to pitch and choose a partner to develop TOVs based on industry, customer and human design research.
3. Get the budget.
I've been lucky enough to have my own budget, so I didn't need my begging bowl. It should cost around £60,000 minimum for a proper job - discovery, testing and developing guidelines.
4. Do more research.
This time it's looking at competitors and analysing all your existing comms in all channels - from renewal letters to loyal points leaflets and promotions to grievances.
Set up focus groups of existing customers and take it into test labs. Then you can come up with the best approach based on brand and behavioural science principles.
5. Test, test, test.
Pull together a test group of anyone involved in writing, reviewing and approving copy to test it. Get hold of as many examples as possible for you to rewrite and scrutinise it. The more complicated and contentious, the better.
6. Build out guidelines, not just one page in the brand book.
The latter is fine as a reference but use that space to point to more robust guidelines. Showcase the rationale and why it is like it is. And take the opportunity to reiterate what good writing in general looks like, because everyone needs a refresher.
7. Be the champions of it, even if it makes you unpopular.
It'll always be challenged - yes, even by those you bought on the journey with you. That's where the rationale comes into its own. The TOV isn't frivolous, it's not making the message lose its meaning and it doesn't get in the way of SEO.
8. Create training.
I created an elearning module and went into more team meetings than I care to think about lamenting about the power and benefit of a TOV.
9. If it's copywriter led, it needs copywriters to embed.
We live and breathe the TOV, no one knows it better than us - and that's even if you didn't birth it. So we need be the ultimate reviewer and sign off for it - not brand, not marketing, not legal, not product, who should only be doing technical reviews based on their area of expertise (easier said than done, I know).
10. Don't forget inclusive language.
It was quite the journey learning the etymology of everyday idioms. Google nitty gritty, no can do and hip hip hooray. Aside from that, it's things like using blocklist instead of blacklist and to watch out for coded language. I'm not saying go overboard as these phrases have lost their original meaning but definitely be mindful when writing about people so you don't stereotype them.
11. If you're lucky enough to get a dedicated team to rewrite everything, do it.
Trust me, it's a lot easier to embed a TOV if everything is rewritten in one swoop (well, staggered swoop). It puts the foundations in your control and anything new will be benchmarked against that.
Bonus: 12. Who's your TOV?
The TOVs I rolled out had behavioural economics engrained within them. They were designed to grab attention and be memorable while giving the brand a much needed personality. To figure out what your brand should sound like, think about who it would be at a party or which celebrity would it be.
If your company were a celebrity, who would it be? I would be Emma Willis mixed with Stewart Lee crossed with Vince Noir in Mighty Boosh.
You're remembering the theme tune or one-liners, aren't you? That's because of their good ole tone of voice.
