In order for your content marketing to be successful, it is essential that your message have the right tone and voice. Without the right attitude, customers may be confused by your message, or worse. They may not understand what your purpose is or what your company has to offer. To ensure that your content marketing is as effective as possible, follow these tips regarding tone and voice.
Establish the Culture of Your Company
As you produce content, think about the culture that your company has. Are you strictly professional or do you have a playful side that you want customers to see? Make sure this is translated to your audience.
Match Your Tone to Your Audience
How much information do you need to include in your content? Do you expect your customers to have a basic understanding of your business or will this be a brand new idea to your target market? If your customers are not experts, then you may find that you need a much simpler tone in your writing. If they are, then take on the tone that you would expect an expert to have as you educate them in the benefits of your brand. Know what your target market already knows, and what they need to know as you produce your content.
Make Things Personal (or Don’t)
Are you looking for a response from customers? Unless you are a highly professional company, then adding the word “you” to your content can make it seem a lot more personal. Why is this important? Personal articles make your readers feel involved. This inclusion makes it more likely that they will respond to your call to action or follow through with the kick to your page. Engagement like this is worth its weight in gold — it inspires your audience to invest themselves in your products and services.
Maintain a Consistent Brand Voice
Your company’s voice is the personality of your company. It expresses the general attitude of the company, the style, and so much more. This makes an essential component to keeping all of your various types of content marketing. When it comes to maintaining a consistent voice for your brand, keep the following things in mind:
• Even if you want to convey a sense of professionalism and expertise, remember to convey at least some sense of personality.
• Establish a unique and authentic voice for your brand that can help you stand apart from your competition, rather than trying to lean heavily on the methods of others.
• Police your use of jargon, even if the use of industry-specific terms is appropriate for your message, to ensure that you don’t leave any viable prospects on the table.
• When you broadcast your message over multiple platforms, ensure that you maintain a recognizable degree of consistency in your voice and tone, even when allowing for slight shifts in the audiences you may be targeting through the use of various platforms.
Know When to Create a Style Guide
Do you have more than one writer producing the content for your company? It might be a good idea to implement a style guide. Style guides are essential for establishing continuity of voice and style in your branding. Consider things like:
• Where and when do you want to use the first, second, or third-person perspective?
• What keywords do you want to use and optimize?
• How do you want this information to be visually presented?
• Do you want to write towards a general audience or would industry-specific jargon demonstrate a sense of competency on the part of your brand?
Always Be Ready to Learn New Methods
As you go about branding your business, always be on the lookout for new methods and ideas. You have, no doubt, done some research on competitors in your niche. Don’t copy them, but do learn from them. If they’ve done something right or wrong, it pays to understand it. Likewise, there are online marketing communities you can join that can keep you up-to-date on the latest tips, leading talents, and stories of success and failure in the marketing sphere.
Be Wary of Errors
It can be easy to miss a typo, especially when you are rushing to get content published. But just as with any other aspect of any other job, it’s worth doing it right the first time. Try to have more than one person go over the content before it’s released, as two sets of eyes will often spot the little things a single pair might miss.
