Tone matters more than you think! Your brand has a personality that shapes the overall tone of your organization. This tone applies to verbal and written communication. It manifests in the outward appearance of your brand, and all of these elements contribute to your audience’s perception.
Tone plays into how your team communicates with your audience, whether in person or on the phone. It trickles through to all other communication from your organization.
Imagine calling a business and speaking with two different people. One seems genuinely cheerful and ready to help, while the other seems annoyed that the phone rang. How would these interactions make you feel? When an organization’s tone isn’t consistent, it can hurt its reputation and drive potential customers to a competitor who offers a more welcoming experience.
Defining Your Tone
When thinking about your tone, focus on your brand personality descriptors. Sometimes, it feels easier to visualize how these descriptors present your brand, but these can help you formulate what you want your written and verbal communications to feel like, too.
Aligning Written & Verbal Tone
Let’s consider a few real-life examples of tone in action. Chick-fil-A is known for having pleasant employees who greet customers warmly and always say, “It’s my pleasure.” From one location to the next, you can expect great food and great service. This tone resonates through their digital presence, making customers feel valued and appreciated. Chick-fil-A’s tone has helped build a positive reputation and brand experience that keeps customers coming back. (Okay, the yummy chicken, waffle fries and cow mascot might have something to do with it, too.)
All graphics shown are sourced from Chick-fil-A and not created by RPS. All rights remain with their respective owners. For removal requests, please contact us.
Now consider some other fast food restaurants. You may or may not be greeted when you walk in. The way the employees speak to you and the overall atmosphere is anything but consistent, not just from one employee to the next but from location to location as well. You went in, got your food and went on your way. And when you think of the tone of some of these brands in their ads and social media compared to what you experience as a customer, you can see there’s no consistency or alignment. Your in-store interactions and digital experiences are vastly different.
Now, think about your audience for a moment. Which of the two scenarios above more accurately reflects their current experience with your brand? Is there a seamless transition between your written content (website copy, social media content and other marketing materials) and verbal communications?
How Design Reinforces Tone
Visual elements help reinforce your tone. For example, we worked with one client, attorney Thomas Creech, who wanted the tone to feel active and energetic, illustrating movement and strength. The tone manifested visually through a modern color palette with a vivid accent color and interesting geometric shapes. These qualities translated into website copy that included shorter sentences, action verbs, clear phrases and bold calls to action.
Another client, Author Gregory E. Lang’s goal was for his brand to exude compassion, spirituality and creativity. Visually, the tone is reflected through a color palette based on watercolors. These qualities were reflected through content that lends itself to longer sentence structures with more descriptive and inventive language, sometimes more complex words, analogies and conceptual ideas.
Does Your Tone Need Work?
Could your brand’s tone use some help? Do you need tone standards to help align your team so every communication touch point with your audience is consistent? We can help! Request a brand personality and positioning workshop.
Check out our portfolio for more examples of our branding work.
