The use of Tone of Voice in Marketing; one of the least understood, and perhaps most misunderstood and misused, in all marketing communication. How important, really, is it in the larger context of the brand? What should the tonality of your communication be? What determines tonality, and what controls it? Who in the organisation ought to be in charge of this – content, or brand team? Or is the creative team that is responsible?
THE MOST MISUNDERSTOOD
The problem is that this aspect - Tone of Voice - is by far the least understood in #contentmarketing, and, given that English is not a native fluent tongue to many, is fraught with risk if experimented. Logic tells us that brand comms should be professional, formal and can be conversational [example - realistically depends on the tone and message structure and heirarchy; problem 2 is few brands create these]. Logic tells us that content teams control this.
That is why logic is just one of many guides; both cases above may be inapplicable. Tone of Voice ought to be controlled by the Brand Team, and not the content or the creative team. It does not refer to written words alone – even images, colours and creatives have a Tone. And communication is central to human understanding and marketing both. It is too important to be delegated downwards to either content or creative – it is a senior leadership call, acting together with the Brand Teams.
UNDERSTANDING TONE IN MARKETING
Each brands tone is determined by a gargantuan set of practical factors – industry, product category, purchase behaviour, customer-user-shopper-consumer demographics and psychographics, trends and more. That being said, there are some absolutes and some rules that I have experienced to be fundamental to tonality in marketing. These are encapsulated below, and are my learnings from my professional work in content
1. Tone of Voice - few, and I mean very few, marketers really appreciate, let alone understand, tone of voice and its importance. When working with, you may need to handle pushbacks, as few understand this.
2. It stands as one of the most important attributes of #brand #communication. The human being responds acutely to tone in voice and communication - far more than other aspects. Slightest changes in tone register acutely in the audience. This can be critical for brand communication. It is a known scientific fact that humans are unusually perceptive to even minor changes in tone - even in normal communication. Therefore, Tone in your communication is the single most important aspect, be it #creative execution or be it #digitalmarketing
3. Tone is not related only to text. Creatives, texts, images all have a specific tone. Thus, a holistic view of your entire brand’s communication has to be taken, and has to be in line with brand strategy.
4. Tone of Voice is not static, and depends on the product category, stage of market and product lifecycle, product marketshare, cultural factors, and language. Thus, it needs to be in line with trends,, but also needs to maintain individuality – and needs to be aligned with the product, and other factors
5. Tone of Voice should be a fundamental part of your Brand Guidelines, occupying pride of place above creative aspects. Remember point 3 - creatives have a tone too. As do colours.
6. Diversions from the accepted guidelines should only be on a case-to-case basis, and on a call of the Brand team, not the creative or the content teams. Tone is not a content parameter - it is a fundamental marketing concept, to be steered by Senior Marketing Leadership. It is way too important to be left orphaned in Content Teams, or in Creative Teams!
CHOOSING THE RIGHT TONE
These above are just the high-level rules I have learnt – and yes, they are noticeably short on specifics. The reason is that tone of voice is too tactical and situation specific. Choosing the right tone is matter of situational awareness, relevant market expertise, information, competitive intelligence, brand rules [guidelines], and internal company realities. So, no outsider should dictate or influence you on this matter. But, there can be some rules that can be spotted, and some basics. And if those rules are transgressed, then and only then - listen to sage advice!
1. The Brand guidelines, which ought to - but oftentimes dont - contain the Message Structure, Heirarchy, Tonality, etc. If there isn't any - create one. Follow the brand guidelines - dont mess with them. They are absolute. [Sounds wierd, doesn't it, "absolute" in a VUCA world? There is a process to change the brand guidelines. Outside that process, they are absolute and inviolable. They are your bible] Remember - the #brand communication should be an identifier as individual as a name, and common across channels, media vehicles, etc everything. In this, there is little lattitude - and whatever space there is, rests with the Leadership team, not with the content marketing team. Dont mess with the #brandcommunication, that is not your brief.
2. The Product Category - Each product category has a discernible tonality structure range that suits optimally, understand that range and operate within it - unless you are set to change the rules of the market itself. That is a unique case, one of a kind. Is the product a high involvement planned purchase? Is it a high ticket cost item? It is mission critical for either an individual or a company? In such situations, for example, your choice range can be form informational, assertive, professional, formal, educative etc types of tone. A flippant or easy or humourous tone will not be suited – neither will, ordinarity, a conversational style. [Caveat – conversational tonality requires an article unto itself, so perhaps someday will write on it]
3. Market Structure, Dynamics - This refers to the consumer, customer, shopper and user. Yes all 4 are different, and distinct in most categories. What is the purchase cycle? Purchase behaviour? Decision Making structure? Channel Structure? Power Dynamics in the industry wrt your brand and the communication target? These are all fundamental questions for any #content marketing person, and more- and key determinants of tone. A power brand can afford to be assertive, whereas a follower brand may need to be more informative – while a challenger brand might, in a situation, realise the need to shift gears from, say formal-educative to assertive. If power dynamics are inverted, and buyers have greater power than the seller – then the one tone you cannot use without planning is assertive, for another example.
These 3 are the basic rules that rule the tone. Within these is the specter of situational awareness, which relates to internal company realities, ground market realities, trends and more - that is a topic for an entire blog. Someday, God Willing! Next post, will give an example of one tone and its usage across the industries I have acquired expertise in. But that will have to wait.
EXCEPTIONS TO THESE
But - can we try other tonality options that are outside these commonly understood ones?For example, can a brand suited to formal tones or professional tones shift to more casual tones? Note - changing tone does not mean manufacturing new grammar rules, or being frivolous. A language, any language, as a structure, syntax, grammar - and all content marketers and marketers MUST mandatorily study these indepth. Anyway. This rule – professional / formal / conversational - is a legacy of structured brands and process oriented marketing. Does it apply in the startup world? Does it apply in the current changed atmosphere in the industry, markets, consumer habits etc? Lets see- evolving situation there.. Live and learn. This is what I will try and examine in the next edition of this series on tone of voice in marketing.
Disclaimer - shifting to more casual modes does NOT mean being tasteless, vulgar, cheap, unethical, or frivolous, or edgy / coarse, sarcastic, provocative, irreverant - these are out. Completely out in all marketing communication. It is a business - it is about money. [Personal opinion]. It is feasible to be casual while adopting casuality etc in tonality!
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