I’m a brand voice strategist. What’s that, and why should you care?
Is this thing on? [Photo by Oleg Laptev on Unsplash]
Brand voice has been my thing for a while. Like, an over-a-decade sort of while, and in that time I’ve developed hard-working voices, messaging hierarchies and guidelines for brands ranging from Busy Bees Childcare to Morrisons to David Austin Roses.
But it’s only recently that I’ve paused to actually think about how I get that across in just a line or two. I usually say I’m a brand copywriter specialising in voice. I tell clients that I blend creativity with really solid, strategic thinking, so that all of my recommendations don’t just sound great; they help them do things, too. Otherwise, well – what’s the point?
So. I figured I’d break down what I do in more detail, and explain how I could help you. Let’s go!
How can a brand voice strategist (like me!) help?
A brand voice strategist can help you to develop a purposeful and effective voice that supports your goals and bulldozes your roadblocks. Speaking personally, I start with every client’s challenges, audiences and ambitions, then create strategic brand voice concepts and guidelines to fit. I might help with:
Shifting audience perceptions (and addressing misconceptions)
Repositioning a growing brand
Reaching new and growth audiences – without alienating existing customers
Establishing consistency across large brands with sprawling comms
Helping your brand become more recognisable
Creating distinct but linked identities for sub-brands and products (including after mergers or acquisitions)
Challenging and evolving internal writing habits
Building emotional connections with customers
Preparing a new brand or product for launch
That’s not an exhaustive list, obviously, because you don’t have all day and neither do I. But it gives you a flavour of the kinds of challenges I love to wrap my brain around.
“A brand voice strategist can help you to develop a purposeful and effective voice that supports your goals and bulldozes your roadblocks.”
You’ve decided to work on your brand voice. Great! What happens next?
If you decide to work with a voice strategist, they’ll want to learn absolutely everything there is to know about your brand, sector, audience(s), competitors, and all the stuff that affects your writing and how you articulate what you do. You’d hope, anyway. For me, that typically means:
Auditing your key communications to understand where you are now (writing a billion notes in the process)
Delving into the detail of your brand’s perceptions, challenges, ambitions, and audiences in a dedicated voice workshop
Working together on the hierarchy of your key messages and reshuffling for different audiences (if that’s right for your brand)
Talking to your team to find out what trips them up in their day-to-day writing
Researching your sector and competitors to see what everyone else is up to and why
Compiling a comprehensive summary and recommendations based on all of the above
I share those recommendations, and my annotated notes, for sign-off before I do any writing at all. If all this sounds good, we know we’re on the same page and can move onto the next stage. Because this is where we agree the strategic direction and how that might manifest in the practical bits of your voice. I use this part to suggest bespoke deliverables too – the things I think we should focus on to solve your problems.
Speaking of – what does a brand voice strategist, or specialist, actually deliver?
Usually, you’ll get a voice or verbal brand direction and a set of guidelines – instructions that set out your language system and tell your team and any agencies you work with how to get it right. But the way I do it, the specific deliverables depend on the brief and everything that came from the research and workshop. They might include:
Guidelines ranging from a few pages to 60 (or more!)
Flex or adaptations for different audiences or departments
A messaging matrix tailored to a range of applications
Editing tools
AI prompts, Gems or Custom GPTs
Training sessions
Retained copywriting or editing
Copywriting of high-priority applications
I keep it bespoke. If between us we work out that your website is causing you major trouble, I might put together specific, practical web copywriting guidance to keep your team on track. Or, if you tell me team leaders are being overwhelmed by the volume of copy for sign-off, I’ll look at concise editing checklists and other tools to speed up the process without compromising on quality.
And if you’re time and skill-pressed, I might suggest saving your guideline budget for now and spending it on rolling out your voice with me instead. Because you only need guidelines or training if you want to show someone other than me to write your brand.
Does brand voice work include brand messaging?
Brand messaging is what you say about a brand, and voice is how you say it. They are two separate things; you could come to me totally comfortable with the bones of your messaging, but knowing you’re not expressing your brand in quite the right way.
Generally, however, I do address both together, because I find that’s usually what most clients need to tackle their challenges or chase their objectives. For larger projects – or for startups building from the ground up – I might look at all the written or spoken parts of the brand, including voice, story, naming systems, campaign sign-offs, and more. I refer to all of that together as verbal branding.
If you’ve just been through a brand strategy or positioning project, you’ll likely already have things like your brand story, values, and key messages buttoned down. If that’s the case, I’ll work with you solely on the voice and apply the direction to your existing work to bring everything together; that’s how I tend to work with brand strategists and brand managers, too.
“Brand messaging is what you say about a brand, and voice is how you say it. They are two separate things; you could come to me totally comfortable with your messaging, but knowing you’re not expressing your brand in quite the right way.”
There you have it. A rundown of how a decent brand voice strategist or specialist – namely, your good pal, me – can help you use language to reach people and make stuff happen.
Have a look at my portfolio for some examples, head to my services page to get a full breakdown of what I do, or drop me a note to send me a brief. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to stand in the sunshine with my eyes closed like a very tall, very tired sunflower.
