Like people, every brand has a voice. The problem is that too many entrepreneurs either don’t know how to find their voice or get stuck trying to sound like someone else.
Imitation might be that Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it isn’t a great business strategy.
Your voice is powerful and when you hide it behind someone else, you lose that power.
At best, you flatten your voice until it sounds robotic or overly polished. It might be technically correct, but it lacks that magic ingredient: personality.
That’s also why writing with AI is problematic. It doesn’t sound like you. How can it?
What’s the Difference Between Character and Brand Voice?
- Character Voice is how you naturally speak. It’s the rhythm, phrasing, humor, and quirks that make your writing sound like you. It’s your past, interests, skills, and perspective that comes through what you say and how you say it.
- A Brand Voice is how you shape that character for a purpose. The brand part of it ensures consistency across platforms, making sure your message always aligns your tone and style.
Brands without a character voice can be pretty, but they will rarely be interesting and they won’t inspire anyone to stick around to find out more.
How to Blend Them Authentically:
Your character voice needs to be you on the page (or screen). Reading your words should feel the same way it would if your audience listened to you on a podcast. The same personality. The same phrases and delivery. The same energy.
If it doesn’t—edit until it does.
Here are some tips for blending your character voice with your brand voice:
- Start Messy. Write like you talk. Let your first draft be full of asides, half-formed thoughts, and your true tone. Don’t worry about proper grammar, appropriateness, markability, or any of that business nonsense. Focus on what you are trying to say and get it out as quickly as you can—mistakes and all.
- Refine With Purpose. Ask: does this reflect my values? Will this tone connect with my audience? Does this sound like me? Does it feel like my brand? This is where you can let that inner editor out to make changes. Start small. Refine the message first. Get the logic flow down. And then focus on tone and style.
- Create a Voice Bank. Save phrases you use often. Note common metaphors, pet peeves, signature expressions. Write them down. This will help you create catch phrases and find your rhythm. I keep a bank of commonly used phrases and paragraphs in a Notion database. That’s where I turn when I want to write an email, response, summary or other short form communication.
It helps to have sample paragraphs and examples to pull from so you aren’t always starting from scratch. Start with common phrases, then move on to FAQs and customer service topics. Just don’t create form letters. Keep the paragraphs separate to pull from as needed. Then add in the transition points, intro and outro yourself. That will keep it fresh.
- Stay Consistent. A strong brand voice isn’t about being fancy. It’s about being familiar. You want to assume a stable personality. That doesn’t mean you have to hit the same notes over and over, but it does mean you shouldn’t be bouncing from one personality to the next. That can put people off and confuse them. Find your voice and tone, and then make minor adjustments to match the topic or tone you need. This allows you to move from an inspirational message to a mini rant when moved.
Your stories shouldn’t sound like anyone else’s. They are your stories. They need to sound like you. Every. Time.