A consistent tone of voice not only presents a clear identity, it helps build trust. There’s a simple explanation for this – when something familiar requires little effort to process mentally, we're more likely to feel at ease around it.
But speaking with one voice is something many organisations often struggle with. Their friendly, inclusive, welcoming voice on the website can be undone in a trice with a cold bureaucratic email or executive summary.
To understand where consistency falls apart or is destined to fail, we're exploring some tone of voice myths and five common issues these cause.
Tone of voice myths
Our tone of voice needs to be unique
In an ideal world, your audience would read your comms and immediately know it was you. Although this would be nice, it’s not essential. Aiming for a consistent voice is far more important than something teams will struggle to replicate.
Take a page out of Mailchimp’s book:
See their whole guide here: https://styleguide.mailchimp.com/voice-and-tone/
Tone of voice is only for the marketing team
Tone of voice guidelines are a simple way to give even non-writers guidance on writing for a wide variety of media. They are also a critical tool for strengthening your culture. Using a clear tone of voice is one thing that everyone can do to strengthen brand identity.
Who Gives a Crap are known for their amusing copy. And you’ll even see it in their job descriptions:
Tone of voice needs to be different for different audiences
Clients often ask whether their tone should be different for different audiences. For example, universities often assume one tone of voice can’t apply to undergraduate and postgraduate students. But what you say is just as important as how you say it. There may be different degrees of tone – dialling it up or down – but the core tone remains the same.
Virgin Atlantic don’t make much distinction between their economy and upper-class communications – same irreverent tone but a different set of messages.
With myths like this lurking in people’s minds, there are five common inconsistency-causing issues we’ve identified:
Tone of voice issues
1. The mystery of the lost guide
Issue: You’d be surprised how many people we speak to who don’t realise their organisation has a tone of voice guide. Some have never seen it. Others vaguely remember it but have no idea where it’s housed or when they last referred to it. Your tone of voice isn’t sticking – teams aren’t talking about it, and they should be.
Fix: The problem often starts because the guide isn’t in a useful format. Your team members are busy and don’t have time to be looking through a 50-page document. Don’t leave it to the general brand book – we recommend creating a separate guide. We also recommend appointing tone-of-voice champions who know it inside out and are a point of call for anyone who needs support.
Monzo house theirs all on a web page. It’s easy to refer back to and packed with great examples:
Take a look: https://monzo.com/tone-of-voice
2. A confidence crisis
Issue: Developing a tone of voice is only worth the money if everyone uses it and applies it. As we just discussed, your tone of voice isn’t just for marketing. Anyone who writes anything for your organisation needs to be aware of it and understand why it’s important. The problem is many people don’t think of themselves as writers. For example, those in customer service who are sending endless emails.
Fix: Training done properly involves more folks than the marketing team. One interactive session with examples could completely transform how people use your tone of voice.
See how we gave teams at Civica a confidence boost: https://www.athousandmonkeys.co.uk/civica
3. Communication chameleons
Issue: If your organisation presents different faces to the world at different times, it can be hard to know what that institution stands for. Trying to change the way you write for different platforms and projects is a recipe for disaster. It’s incredibly hard to switch voices with any degree of success.
Fix: While your messaging might change, how you say it shouldn’t be drastically different. Keep to a similar style but make the message relevant to the audience you’re trying to reach. An Instagram post is going to be different from an event invite, but the tone should still do the same job, whether that’s to inspire, challenge or something else.
4. Serious voice for serious issues
Issue: Picture this: a compelling web page written in a friendly tone that explains how your product or service is the solution to your readers’ troubles. Then it all goes wrong… the jargon sneaks in. Perhaps there’s a formal legal-sounding disclaimer or instructions.
Fix: Say things as you would in a conversation with your audience. No fluff so it’s still clear, but without the overly formal tone and jargon.
You might also remember this KFC apology from a few years ago. This apology was sincere but addressed their audience honestly using the language they would usually use.
5. Small detail neglect
Issue: When any organisation is working on their marketing, there is so much focus on the big picture. Whether that’s making sure the homepage gives the perfect first impression or creating a memorable strapline that resonates with their entire audience. But sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference. It’s when these are ignored that consistency starts slipping away.
Fix: Microcopy is defined as small text snippets that guide us through websites, apps, and other digital experiences. Think error messages, newsletter sign-up boxes, call-to-action buttons etc. Although these bits of copy are small, they are mighty when it comes to making your tone of voice consistent.
Examples of microcopy:
Menu copy and other navigation buttons
Call to action buttons
Form fields
Error pages or messages
Subheads
Final thoughts
A lack of consistent tone is one of the biggest threats to your organisation’s identity. We always say it’s worth investing time and budget into getting tone of voice buttoned down and making sure everyone at the institution feels confident using it.
If you’re feeling stuck, getting an outsider to assess the situation is key. And that’s where we come in…
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