Brand Voice

Okay, this is the page where I lose some people: I don’t do brand archetypes. I get why creatives love them and why they’re useful on the surface. But once you dig in to figure out Okay, how do I actually write or speak as a representative of this brand? you’re left wanting. It’s where a lot of voice guidelines come up short.

So when I develop a brand voice for clients, I don’t do it from a template. I build it for them based on what they need. To pull this off, I imagine them going about their days and barely giving a passing thought to marketing. The sales team is too busy closing, customer service is too busy answering questions and service is too busy putting out fires. They don’t need to know that their brand is The Hero at that moment. They just need something helpful, easy to remember and completely on-point.

Voice example: industrial product supply

This client builds hands-on customer relationships with blue collar people. Their sales team needed quality marketing pieces, but they really needed universal tips to help them cultivate in-person relationships.

Summary: In all of our communications, we are resilient, warm, trustworthy and authentic.

In our marketing:

  • We celebrate the toughness and work ethic of an incredible customer base.

  • We know the challenges our customers have, and we’re there to help solve them.

  • We empathize, we are in it with them and we are always around.

  • We talk about our technical expertise with unflinching confidence and credibility.

  • We are honest, straight-shooting and fully customer-aware.

In-person:

  • We answer the call in our customer’s moment of need.

  • We step in when no one else is willing to do so.

  • We interact with friendliness and a genuine desire to help out.

  • We earn customer trust on a daily basis, and we put them at ease with our presence and performance.

  • We don’t push or hard sell. We tell it like it is and follow the Golden Rule.

Voice example: elementary education nonprofit

This client is made up of a small team of caring, passionate professionals that absolutely love what they do. For their brand voice guidelines, they didn’t need tips on how to act. They do that part naturally. What they did need: ideas on how their marketing can show their personality when they’re not around.

Summary: In all of our communications, we are positive, impactful, curious and motivated.

We are universally positive.

  • There’s a lot to gripe about in this industry and the way it’s structured. We avoid all that and keep our minds on the kids we support.

  • Our brand exudes positivity by sharing success stories, showing optimism for the future, having a helper’s mentality and using exclamation points liberally.

We are relentlessly curious.

  • The best professionals never stop wondering, experimenting, asking questions. We do the same, taking a page from how our students approach the curriculum.

  • We show curiosity by asking questions and soliciting feedback, testing new messaging, new visuals, new platforms, new tactics. We know that not everything will work, and we celebrate failures together. They help us learn, improve and succeed.

We are locally impactful.

  • We got our start because there was an infuriating education gap in our city. This fire that fueled our origin story still burns years later.

  • Our brand proves impact by providing full financial transparency and reporting on students and schools served.

We are uniquely motivated.

  • We love helping our audience and nonprofits realize how much can be done with the right plan, right team and right mindset.

  • We celebrate being woman-owned and woman-run, we operate with our students in mind, and we find happiness and satisfaction in being a fully in-class curriculum.