Communicating A Brand’s Voice

A company’s brand is developed by its voice – this is the language, imagery, and tone used to connect with an audience. The voice has to be consistent and authentic to build a personality.  When this is done well, the customer knows what to expect from the brand.  Is it witty, whimsical, and young?  Is it educational and informational?

Has your brand voice been intentional to develop?  If you aren’t sure, this article suggests that you describe your voice in three words.  Make sure these traits show up consistently in your customer communication.  According to Volusion, the voice for Southwest is friendly. The voice for Nike is motivational.  The voice for FedEx is efficient.   Those are all notable traits for a business which can be attributed to their success.

To look deeper, this article examines two corporate brands that successfully communicate their chosen voice.  Both offer quality content that is interesting, creative and well-written – each with a different flair.

Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chipotle’s brand represents its dedication to quality ingredients, supporting the farming industry, pasture-raised animals, and more.  The tone in Chipotle’s communication is passionate and fun, and this is clear whether you are reading written content or watching videos. Customers expect this tone and enjoy it, and it is generating high engagement online.

The voice has heart.  It is important to Chipotle’s brand to communicate the company’s values.  For example, Chipotle created a comedy drama mini-series called “Farmed and Dangerous” about animal treatment in industrial agriculture.  The message is authentic with a twist of humor to keep the audience engaged.  In addition, their website goes into great detail about why the company stands up for pasture-raised animals.

The voice is clever.  The love Chipotle receives on Instagram  is impressive!  Last week, a picture of a burrito earned more than 9,000 likes in a day. The caption read, “Usually when you roll something this good, it’s illegal.” Their followers are enjoying the humor and edginess.

And, it’s clear that the voice likes guacamole.  One of Chipotle’s recent Twitter posts received thousands of likes and retweets for this simple message:  “I love it when you call me big gauc-a.”  A short YouTube video shows the quality of Chipotle’s gauc recipe and makes you hungry for it!

To hear more of Chipotle’s online content success, refer to this article too.

Tiffany & Co. 

Tiffany & Co. also has a very strong brand that stands for high quality jewelry and luxury.  The brand is iconic and can even be identified by just the little blue box.  That’s powerful!  Forbes describes the brand as a marketing empire in this article.  The tone in every single communication is elegant and classic.

The voice has class.  Tiffany & Co. communicates with sophisticated phrases, such as “radiant work of art” and “a wild profusion of gemstones,” as seen on Twitter.  This classic style is also represented in traditional media, such as these outdoor billboards.

The voice stays consistent.  A proper tone is even used on Snapchat, which speaks to a younger audience.  To promote its presence on Snapchat, Tiffany & Co. said, “Out of the blue and into Snapchat. Follow ‘tiffanyofficial’ for an exclusive sneak peek into the world of Tiffany—with surprise cameos from some very special guests.”

The voice represents beauty.  Tiffany & Co. displays images on Instagram that represent luxury and superior design.  This brand has 3.9 million Instagram followers who remain very engaged.  Each image typically earns over 20,000 likes.  The YouTube videos share that same appeal.

The Tiffany website describes the little blue box as “crowned with a white ribbon.”  To many, that is an image that also represents beauty.

Both of these brands displayed here are authentic and consistent with their voices.  That is the key to connecting with an audience.

By Alison Clinton

Alison joined the AMA Tampa Bay volunteer team this year as a Content Curator and Blog Writer.  She is also Director of Marketing at Bright House Networks in St. Petersburg.  LinkedIn