If there’s one way to stand out from the competition, it’s to have a clearly defined voice. A tone of voice is what you say and how you say it. Without tone of voice guidelines Sainsbury’s risk sounding like Dave in aisle three in one exchange, and Margaret on the tills in another. The brand message would sway from sounding like a kid who spends his weekends putting gas into his brain via his jumper and stealing hubcaps, to an aging lady with a warm smile who has all the time in the world, despite being the cause of the world’s longest queue. There would be no consistency. Sainsbury’s shoppers would end up dribbling into the shelves, bumping into each other and collapsing in the streets clasping the sides of their heads, screaming make the voices stop, make the voices stop.

Individuals who have used their voice as a promotion tool are memorable: close your eyes, and it’s easy to hear Michael Buffer saying let’s get ready to rumble at a live boxing event. Morgan Freeman; his voice is in your head. You can hear him eating toast right now if you want. That’s familiarity. People trust the familiar. If Morgan Freeman offered you toast in his buttery voice, you would say yes without thinking. And you would enjoy it.

If you’re an MD thinking the voice of your brand doesn’t matter, then your customers are wandering around in a confused daze, slowly being magnetised towards the smooth voice of your competitors. And it’s your fault entirely.

Here are 4 simple tips on writing effective tone of voice guidelines:

It’s OK to use humour in internal documents. In fact, if you aren’t going to use humour internally, when are you? Humour is a key way of making sure your employees actually read the guidelines. It’s a way of getting your message across. It also increases the chances of your employees talking about the document, and accepting the instruction instead of rebelling against it.
Keep guidelines witty and human, but keep them concise.
A witty/ballsy headline increases the chances of everything else being read.
Don’t be too complicated. TOV guidelines shouldn’t read like the IKEA instruction manual for the Nornas glass door wall cabinet. Which, let me tell you, is fucking insane.

The list of advice could keep going, but will do for now. If you think you need tone of voice guidelines for your business, drop me a message [email protected]