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About Conversational Voice
Most business owners see their company as a living, working entity, and as such, they have developed a personality that fits their business model. Part of what makes a company familiar and relatable to its audience is the way that the company “speaks” to other entities. To set a business apart from others, it’s important to have a conversational brand voice clearly developed and utilized whenever your company communicates.
What is Conversational Voice?
Written correspondence of almost any kind has a voice, and though many writers don’t give their voice a second thought, it’s important to be familiar with it from a business perspective.
A conversational voice can be defined as the way that a company carries itself when it is exchanging information with media outlets, its customer base, or other businesses. It’s the natural way that a business ‘speaks’ to others and as such, each company has a unique conversational marketing approach.
Some businesses speak with a formal voice while others speak with more of a business-casual or fully casual voice. It all depends on the style you’d like your company to convey.
Why Does My Company Need a Voice?
Like any other written word, a voice gives your information a sense of identity. When people recognize your company’s voice, they feel more familiar with it, so having a voice that’s consistent with the different mediums it crosses is crucial when building your company’s face.
Your customer base, media outlets, and other businesses are going to want to gauge your attitude and approachability and the best way to do this is through the context clues present in your voice.
When your company establishes its voice as business-casual, your base gets the impression that you’re professional, yet human. When your company establishes its voice as formal, your base becomes aware that your company is informed, experienced, and aware of its market. And lastly, when your company has a totally casual voice, it gives the impression that your business is the “company next door.”
The way you speak to your audience is going to shape the way that people view your brand.
How To Develop Your Company’s Tone of Voice
Though it may sound like a daunting task, developing your brand’s voice is as easy as taking a close look at your company’s personality. What impression do you want to make, and how can you make this impression when you’re aiming at the style behind your words?
Know Your Customers
Knowing who your company is talking to is a big part of working out how you’re going to frame the way you speak. Using analytical tools to determine your audience’s primary demographic and comparing it with your target demographic is a good place to start.
Consider the age bracket you’re appealing to, their gender, educational background, and even socioeconomic status. Every detail you can get is an important piece of the puzzle.
Take a look at how your audience interacts with one another on social media, which current events matter to them, and if you can, gather some information about how your audience sees your company (try polls or surveys).
Examine Your Brand’s Public Persona
Identify and define your company’s set of values and make sure that those values are apparent in the way you reach out to your audience. Consumers appreciate brands that are as open about their intentions as possible, so it’s a good idea to examine your company’s value system and main goals.
What was the purpose of developing your company? What sets your brand apart from your competition? What causes matter the most to your company, and why? Among your company’s core values, which do you most want to share with your audience?
Answering these questions will help you develop a personality and matching conversational voice for your company.
Different Approach for Different Mediums
One of the most important things to remember when reaching out through written mediums is the fact that your voice needs to fit each medium you use. Much like your individual voice needs to adapt depending on who you’re talking to (your speech will be different in the middle of a work presentation than it would be if you were writing out a quick work memo, for example), your written voice needs to adapt depending on the medium you’re using.
Speaking in short, simple messages works well for Messenger and SMS messages but the approach you use writing for Messenger is going to differ from the way you write longer business emails.
You can keep the same tone and style that fits your business, but the structure of your messages is going to vary between email messages and those developed on your ManyChat dashboard.
Chat marketing messages should be quick and to the point, and should generally be composed of only a couple of sentences per block of text. Emails, on the other hand, can be more in-depth but should be more engaging as well. This way, your customers are more likely to read through the information you’re offering.
It may sound complicated to come up with a conversational voice for an entire company as opposed to a single person. However, it’s important to remember that audiences should be able to develop a human connection with your brand, and creating a reliable, consistent voice makes it that much easier for them to foster a sense of familiarity.
We’re standing by to help you find and express your brand voice using the latest Messenger and Email Marketing Solutions.
