Written by Katya Firyan, co-founder of Writitude
Welcome back, brand warriors! We hope you are ready to look into the pulsating core of your brand’s identity — your tone of voice.
You’ve heard us talking about how to define your tone of voice guidelines. Now, it’s time to let that finely-tuned voice reverberate through every corner of your enterprise.
You’ve nailed your tone of voice — congrats! But what’s next? Is a shiny PDF guide gathering dust enough?
To truly electrify your brand, you need to weave that voice into your daily content.
At Writitude we say — there is no consistency without automation.
And we mean it. Are you prepared to make it a living, breathing part of your organization’s DNA?
Here a step-by-step guide to ensure your tone of voice isn’t just a fleeting idea but a dynamic force within your brand.
Step 1: Start with an Initial Audit
So when was your last audit?
The words “communications audit” may sound intimidating — and, we must admit, not without reason — but it is, in fact, an invaluable investment for your business.
A communications audit meticulously examines your brand’s messaging — online content, print materials, press releases, newsletters, and emails to partners and customers.
You can perform it internally or hire an external consultant. The objective? Identify inconsistencies in your brand messaging.
Fixing these discrepancies is crucial for a cohesive brand image. Remember — a unified brand image fuels growth.
Think of an audit like a health check-up. So, schedule comprehensive tests periodically. Just when you feel your messaging is impeccable, a timely check-up is probably due to avert future issues.
In this blog post we explained what a communications audit is, why it’s necessary for your business and how it’s actually performed.
And to back up our advice with some practical help, we’re offering you a detailed corporate communications audit how-to guide and audit table template that you can use to conduct an audit of your company’s communications.
Voila! When this is done we can move further.
Step 2: Who Owns Tone of Voice in Your Company?
All successful processes (and defining and maintaining a tone of voice is a never-ending process indeed) start with ownership. Establish a tone of voice council.
When everyone monitors tone, it often becomes no one's responsibility. Interestingly, not all council members should be writers. In fact, it might be advantageous if they aren't.
Gather a kaleidoscope of perspectives, avoiding the quagmire of evaluating writing alone.
Your tone of voice council should champion your brand's intrinsic values, the bedrock of your tone.
Do they have a penchant for analytics? They should.
With content improvement software like Writitude, we can measure and score our tone, collecting invaluable metrics.
Imagine gaining profound insights into whether your tone resonates with your audience. Isn't that a compelling vision?
Step 3: Build Robust Processes
You’ve defined your guidelines and you shared it with all you writers. You have your content system in place. But how efficient is it?
Often, workflows drag. Many companies skip AI, leading to inefficiencies — or skip editing and revision, leading to low quality content floding the communications channels.
Content software like Writitude offers immediate feedback to writers, keeping content on-brand. No extra feedback loops for tone checks.
Using automated tools to enforce guidelines slashes costly cycles. Think of automation at scale. Streamlined process. Faster time to publish.
So here’s how you can build robust processes:
Integrate AI-powered Tools: Use NLP, machine learning and AI to review your content in real-time. This ensures consistency and saves time. AI can do on-brand rewrites and suggest improvements instantly.
Set Clear Guidelines: Define your brand’s voice and tone. Make sure everyone on your team knows these guidelines. Consistency is key.
Automate Repetitive Tasks: Use software to handle repetitive tasks like formatting, SEO checks, and grammar reviews. This frees up your team to focus on creating high-quality content.
Monitor and Adjust: Regularly review your processes. Look for bottlenecks and areas for improvement. Adjust your workflows as needed to keep them efficient.
By following these steps, you can build a content system that is efficient. This will not only save time but also ensure that your content is always on-brand and high-quality.
Step 4: Provide Training
Ensure your team is well-versed in using the tools and following the guidelines. Regular training sessions can help keep everyone on the same page.
Were all stakeholders involved from the start? Get them to share tone guidelines with their teams.
Or, launch a company-wide initiative. Brief all employees through your new terminology council about the details and sound of your updated brand tone.
Who creates content for your brand? Almost everyone. From content marketing and support articles to product content and website copy.
All of it must reflect your brand tone of voice. Unified experiences matter.
What about recent recruits? They might not know your tone guidelines. Provide refresher lessons. A one-pager or a well-designed poster can help onboard new employees.
Right content improvement software like Grammarly, ProWritingAid or Writitude is also essential for tone of voice consistency.
It guides writers to meet your tone of voice guidelines. Automated checks suggest ways to keep content on-brand from the first draft.
Is everyone on the same page? Are all materials aligned with our tone? Training and guidelines automation will ensure consistency.
Step 5: Consistent Revision
So how good are you at rolling introducing the whole tone of voice guidelines thing? You will be able to tell only by consistently reviewing your content and metrics.
This is a golden opportunity to see what resonates with your customers.
Content drives the customer journey and can significantly impact their experience.
Unfortunately, content often gets overlooked in delivering stellar customer interactions.
With regular content health checks, you can measure your target audience's response and engagement.
Essentially, you can assess the effectiveness of your content and how well your tone is received by customers.
Step 6: Firmly Fix What isn't Right
Whether you’re crafting new content or updating existing material to align with your brand voice guidelines, start with areas that need the most attention.
Don't try to fix everything at once. Maybe your Instagram page or website requires a refresh to match your new tone.
Or a specific product page has a bounce rate that's too high. Identify those pain points and focus your efforts there.
This is a great chance to highlight the impact of your refined tone of voice.
Every company has those essential texts that reflect their essence, setting the tone for the entire organization — be it About Us section or a Manifesto.
These could also be everyday items like sign-in screens. Or highly visible documents like annual reports.
By updating those, you demonstrate that your tone of voice has evolved and set the standard for its application.
Step 7: Share What Works with your Team
If someone has crafted an outstanding piece in your tone of voice, share it across the company with your comments.
Perhaps they found an innovative way to communicate a complex idea or developed a compelling content piece that’s performing well.
Whatever it is, it can illustrate that your new tone of voice is delivering tangible results while providing another concrete example of its effectiveness.
When developing examples, remember that there might already be valuable insights within your company, waiting to be uncovered.
For instance, customer-service teams may use effective language that hasn’t been documented.
Capturing and codifying it allows others to benefit from it as well.
Step 8: Adopt an App for Tone and Style Automation
Content enhancement software provides immediate feedback to content creators, wherever they work, ensuring content stays on-brand.
This means checking your content for consistent tone doesn’t create another unnecessary loop in the editorial process.
At global companies, writers might not create content in their native language, so being guided to use preferred terminology and aligning content to your tone of voice maintains consistency.
Now Stick to It
Rolling out our tone of voice isn’t simple. But using content enhancement software simplifies the process.
You no longer need to check PDFs for tone of voice guidelines but can receive immediate feedback.
Moreover, you can change the guidelines or add to them, and these changes will be visible to every person on the team.
Writitude significantly cuts feedback loops and provides writers with in-depth feedback on the tone and style of their writing, ensuring it aligns with your brand.
This means large teams, with diverse language skills, across various locations, can be guided to meet your content strategy and goals.
Automation carries the burden of time-consuming editing for quality control and integrates into your content process to deliver automatic alignment, boosting efficiency.
So don't hesitate to start using Writitude's Pro account for free! Register here and reach out to us at [email protected] if you'd like a live demo of the app.
