Imagine that your business is bursting at the seams with ideas. There is a lot of energy in the charts, logo files, and the waiting. But hold on. There is a very important tool for your business that you are about to miss: your business bulk personalised pencils. Yes, it does sound easy, but this secret sauce will give your emails and box notes color.
Colors, images, and taglines have a way of pulling people in. Everything is fine. Thoughts? Those are what your business is all about. Remember Wendy’s Twitter? They meme and cook like there’s no tomorrow. Donuts with attitude and sea salt fries with sass on the side. That’s the Brand Voice Playbook at work in every tweet and phrase.
What will happen if you skip it? The social comments are stiff. Newsletters are both dull and strange at times. On your FAQ page, you say “Howdy, partner!” but on receipts, it says “Dear customer.” It’s like Clark Kent trying to be Batman without the cape. It makes your fans confused. It makes your team lost. When you’re happy, you’re stone-cold the next. Like Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll having a lemonade stand.
How does a Brand Voice Playbook work, then? When you text, think of cheat codes. Write down what your business is like. Are you a nice neighbor? A good guide? A brave rebel? Add some dos and don’ts. You might not want emojis, but you might. Puns might be gold, but they might also be fool’s gold. Pick out some spelling quirks. (Do you like ellipses, or are they too mysterious?)
Let’s quickly show what I mean. Think about a cat store. The Playbook has “Paw-sitively excited you’re here!” instead of the boring “Welcome to our website!” That’s not good. Sometimes, people remember speech more than product specs. People will skip past you if your style is dry toast.
You can’t leave a great playbook on a digital shelf and forget about it. It’s what everyone on the team works toward, whether they’re making Facebook ads or writing on Post-it notes for thank-you cards. A bill written by Susan from accounting should still have the same fun tone as your founder’s blog. Sticking to it. That’s the drink.
The clincher, though, is that your Brand Voice Playbook isn’t made of stone. If people like funny things, make them funnier. If your jokes don’t work, tone them down. It’s a living document that can change at any time, like a box of cats after a laser light.
You should find this before you ship your first order, hit “publish” on your site, or even decide on a theme. Get your team together, order pizza, and talk about your vibe. People are out there looking for a voice that speaks to them. Do not let them hear a repeat. Give them something they’ll want to do again.