How to find your brand voice (and actually use it)
It’s noisy out there. No matter your industry, you’re competing with countless brands trying to grab your audience’s attention. So how do you stand out?
One of the simplest – and most powerful – tools you have is your brand voice. It helps people recognise you, remember you, and connect with what you stand for.
In this post, we’ll show you how to shape a voice that’s not only clear and consistent, but easy to use across all your content.
What is a brand voice?
Simply put, your brand voice is how your brand sounds to readers. It’s not what you say, but how you say it – your tone, choice of words, and personality – and it shapes how you come across in emails, on social media or even in product packaging.
For example, a skincare brand catering to women in their 20s might joke around with its customers, while a law firm will more likely stick to sounding calm and clear to establish its authority.
Whether you’re writing a website blurb, a product description, or a customer support reply, your brand voice helps your audience recognise and connect with you instantly.
Brand voice vs tone
People often mix up brand voice and tone, but they’re not quite the same thing. Your brand voice is your overall personality and way of speaking, and it stays consistent no matter where you’re posting. Your tone, on the other hand, can shift depending on the situation.
Think of voice as who you are and tone as how you express yourself in a specific moment. A brand might always sound confident (voice), but use a softer tone in an apology or a more energetic tone in a product launch.
Why does brand voice matter?
When it’s consistent, your voice helps people recognise your brand instantly. That’s invaluable in a market where logos and websites all tend to look quite similar.
A strong, consistent voice builds familiarity and trust, which can turn passive scrollers into loyal customers. In fact, multiple studies and surveys have shown that brands that present themselves more consistently see increases in revenue compared to those that don’t.
Beyond recognition, your brand voice helps you connect with your audience on a human level. It signals who you are, what you value, and why someone should stick around. Whether you’re aiming to sound witty, wise, or warm-hearted, a clear voice makes your message more memorable (and therefore much harder to ignore).
3 steps for shaping your brand voice
Shaping your brand voice will take a little time and effort, but it’s a relatively easy process once you know what steps to take.
1. Read your existing content
Start by gathering a few pieces of your best-performing content (e.g. blog posts, emails, social media captions, product pages) and read through them carefully.
While you’re doing this, ask yourself: What does this sound like? How does it make people feel? Look for patterns in the words that you use, the length of your sentences, your tone, and even the reading “level” (i.e. could it be understood by a grade 3 reader or would you need a degree to follow it?).
Next, try to sum up your current voice using three descriptive words. For example:
- Friendly, helpful, upbeat
- Confident, professional, authoritative
- Warm, grounded, honest
This exercise helps you capture what’s already working so you don’t reinvent the wheel. A sudden shift in voice can feel jarring to your audience, especially if they’ve come to expect a certain sound from your brand.
Building on what you already have keeps things feeling natural and consistent.
2. Understand your audience
To shape a brand voice that resonates with your audience, you need to know exactly who you’re speaking to.
If you haven’t already, create two or three simple buyer personas or fictional profiles that represent your ideal customers. Include details like age, job title, goals, challenges, and what kind of content they engage with.
Once you’ve built those personas, ask yourself: What kind of voice would speak to this person? A B2B audience might respond best to a voice that’s clear, concise and authoritative. But if you’re selling baby products to new moms, a softer, more encouraging tone might feel more supportive and relatable.
The goal isn’t to copy your audience’s language, it’s to meet them where they are so that your content feels like it’s written just for them.
3. Create your guidelines
Once you’ve pinned down your brand voice, document it. This makes it easier for you – and anyone who might create content for you – to stay on brand.
Start with a simple chart that lists your three core voice words. For each one, add a short description of what that word means in your context. For example:
| What it means | Do | Don’t | |
| Friendly | We sound warm and approachable, like we’re having a chat with a customer over coffee. | “We’re here to help – just give us a shout!” | “Contact customer support if you have issues.” |
Be sure to keep your guidelines short and sweet. The goal is to make them clear enough that someone new could easily pick them up and write something that still sounds like you.
Tailoring your tone for different channels
While your brand voice should stay consistent, your tone should adapt depending on where you’re showing up.
Different channels call for different levels of formality, detail, and even energy. On Instagram, your tone might be more playful and visually expressive. In email newsletters, you might take a conversational, value-driven tone. On your website, you may want to sound clear, helpful, and confident.
The key is to stay recognisably you, but shift the tone to suit the format and the reader’s mindset. Meeting your audience where they are – in both style and substance – helps your message land more effectively without losing your brand’s personality.
Examples of brands with standout voices
A distinctive brand voice can make a company instantly recognisable and deeply relatable. Here are three brands that have mastered this art:
1. Duolingo: Playful, cheeky and relentlessly on-brand
Duolingo’s voice is a masterclass in personality-driven marketing. From the sassy reminders in their app to their viral TikTok presence, they blend humour with accountability.
Their mascot, Duo the owl, has become a symbol of their fun yet persistent approach to language learning, making the experience engaging and memorable across all of their platforms.
2. Dove: Empowering, sincere and body-positive
Dove’s voice consistently champions self-esteem and authenticity. Through campaigns that celebrate real beauty and challenge stereotypes, they communicate with warmth and sincerity.
This empowering tone has helped them build trust and foster a strong emotional connection with their audience.
3. Liquid Death: Bold, irreverent and unapologetically edgy
Liquid Death turns the mundane act of drinking water into a rebellious statement. With slogans like “Murder your thirst,” their voice is deliberately provocative, blending heavy metal aesthetics with environmental messaging. This audacious approach has carved out a unique niche in the beverage market.
Final thoughts
A strong brand voice isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s one of the most effective ways to stand out, connect with your audience, and build long-term trust.
Whether you’re just starting out or refining what’s already there, taking the time to define and document your voice will bring consistency and clarity to everything you publish. And the best part? Once you’ve done the groundwork, using your brand voice becomes second nature.
It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being recognisable, relatable, and unmistakably you.
