4 Steps to Discovering your Brand Voice as a Small Business Owner
Love it or hate it, words are integral to branding. Words tell your story, intrigue your dream audience, and inspire conversions. Words set you apart from your competitors and make your small business completely unique. If you want to grow on social media, make more sales, or find more clients, the #1 thing you need is a clear brand voice!
So, how do you find the right words to stand out and represent your brand? How do you - a small business owner whose strengths likely lie more in product development, photography, or design - learn to write in a distinct voice that will serve your audience and your business?
I'll give you a hint: Your natural writing style is probably already over halfway there! But this process can help you fine tune and curate your online voice to go from personality to brand:
Step 1: Record Yourself Speaking
Pull out your phone and record yourself speaking. Don't try to script it, just talk about your brand and let your stream of consciousness flow. Talk about your product or service for several minutes, answering common questions you receive. Here are a few prompts to help you get started:
What product(s) or service(s) do you sell?
Why did you decide to pursue this line of work?
What do you personally love about what you do or what you sell?
What are some of your favorite things past customers or clients have said about your brand?
Where does your brand's name come from? What's the inspiration behind your logo or visual style?
What's the most important thing everyone should know about your product(s) or service(s)?
When you're done, listen back to the recording and use a simple notepad to take notes on everything you like about it. Write down words that really feel right for your brand, phrases that stand out, anything that just feels like it belongs in your branding. Also take note of anything you don't like - it's just as important to understand what your brand voice is not as it is to figure out what it is.
Step 2: Review Current Brand Copy
Unless your brand is completely new and not yet launched, you should have some writing somewhere describing your small business! Look at your current website copy, blogs, any social media posts you've written, even emails and messages to potential and current clients and customers. Again, grab that little notepad and write down anything that stands out! What feels like a strong branded voice coming out in your words? What feels awkward or different, and just doesn't fit?
Pay special attention to any writing that elicits a positive response from your audience. Did a particular social media post a lot more likes and comments than usual? Read what your audience said in response to the post and see if you can figure out what about your caption really spoke to them. Your brand voice should represent both you and your audience.
STEP 3: Learn Who Your Audience Is
This is important for more than just the writing. You need to get to know your audience so you can better market to them and develop your brand as a whole! Think about what they're interests are, what problems they have (especially those that your product or service solves), and what will entice them to read more.
If you don't have a lot of money to invest in market research, social media is a great place to get to know your people! Engage with your audience directly and pay attention to what they're posting, who they're following, and what content they're resharing.
You can also learn more about your target market's online persona through SEO research, which will help you curate your web copy to keep the Google gods happy.
STEP 4: Write, Workshop, Re-write
Look over all of your notes and research, and just start! It may take time to fine tune and edit and uncover the perfect voice for your brand, and you'll never truly be "done" developing your style. A brand is an ever-evolving thing that grows and changes as your business grows and changes. Do you think Jeff Bezos would be one of the wealthiest people alive if he kept Amazon's brand the same? Don’t be afraid to continue experimenting and adjusting your branding, and refer back to steps 1-3 as often as you need to!
What if You Still DOn’t Know Your Voice?
If you really want to do it yourself but need some help developing your brand voice, I also offer coaching and would love to work with you to create a brand voice strategy for your business! I'll teach you all the tricks I use to discover the brand voices of my clients and develop them to match the brand vision, along with custom guidance on who your audience is and what will speak to them. Learn more here.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with recognizing your strengths and sticking to them. If writing is just not your thing, outsource it! Find a content or copy writer who understands your audience and your style, and contract them in to write your blog, website copy, newsletters, and social media captions. I'm currently open for a couple more clients in 2022, so reach out if you need a writer!
