How a Content Editor Helps Keep Your Brand Voice on Point (and Why It Matters)
Have you ever read your own website and realized that it doesn’t really sound like you at all? This is a problem that many small businesses encounter as they grow and learn more about the unique niche their business occupies. The situation gets further exacerbated when the owner delegates content creation to other employees (or outside sources). Over time, your brand voice can get diluted.
A content editor can solve this problem by ensuring that your brand voice aligns with your values and personality, matches your target audience, and remains consistent across all platforms. In this post, we’ll go over how a content editor can help you maintain a consistent brand voice that aligns with your brand (even as your business grows and changes), and why it matters.
What is brand voice?
Your brand voice is the tone, style, and language you use to express your brand’s personality and values in all its communications. For example, if you’ve ever used Duolingo’s language learning app, you’ve likely received a few playful (if at times, slightly snarky) reminders to practice. This is their brand voice. Duolingo tries to be fun, encouraging, and playful, and this comes through in all their communications.
When this tone is used consistently, it will attract people who appreciate this fun vibe. If suddenly, the voice changed and the app started sending serious-sounding reminders, it would confuse Duolingo’s customers and possibly aggravate them. It would also destroy the trust between the organization and its customers, as they knew what to expect from the app and instead received an entirely different experience.
Brand voice versus brand messaging
Brand voice is concerned with how you say something, while brand messaging is what you say. Going back to our Duolingo example, Duolingo’s message may be that learning a new language is fun. But their brand voice is how their mascot, the owl named “Duo,” talks to you. Their voice is also seen in the reminder messages to practice, and the responses you receive while using the app. If the brand voice is consistent, the messages should always feel fun and encouraging to the end user.
A consistent brand voice makes a difference
You may wonder if brand voice is really that important—would people actually notice if your brand voice was a little off on one post?
The answer is yes, people would notice. It could leave customers feeling baffled by the sudden shift as people associate—and even recognize—your brand based on its voice. Using a consistent tone in your communications builds trust with your clients and helps you stand out from your competition.
If you have correctly aligned your brand voice with your target audience, your voice will form an emotional connection with them, increasing the likelihood of gaining long-term, loyal customers.
The tone and style used in your communications will also serve to reinforce your values and mission in the readers’ minds.
The greatest brand voice challenges for small business owners
In the early stages of a business, content is usually created by a single person, typically, the small business owner. For the small business owner, maintaining a consistent brand voice is fairly easy since the owner is most familiar with the organization's mission, personality, and values.
Too many cooks in the kitchen
You may be familiar with the expression “there are too many cooks in the kitchen.” This expression refers to the negative effects that can result from having too many people involved in a project. This expression can also be relevant to branding.
As a company grows, it will add more staff, outsource work, and involve more individuals in content creation. If the owner hasn’t established a detailed brand style guide, the new creators may inadvertently alter the voice through their own interpretations of the brand.
Additionally, with changes in technology, new platforms are frequently added to the marketing mix to reach different market segments. It may be tempting to shift the tone to appeal to these various audiences.
Generic or off-brand writing
Some small business owners may use AI to generate content that results in bland and generic writing. This bland style dilutes your brand because it gives your audience the impression that you are the same as everyone else. On-brand writing provides you with an opportunity to differentiate yourself from competitors.
Writing that does not align with your brand is a big red flag that will leave your customer with an uneasy feeling. Are they dealing with an upscale, serious company or with a down-to-earth, friendly company? You can’t be both. Just like in relationships, mixed signals give people a bad feeling.
Your brand changes over time
As your business grows, you will likely discover that your brand identity evolves as well. Over time, you'll gain a better understanding of your clients’ needs and what customers love about your brand—your brand voice should be adjusted to reflect this evolution.
For example, many small business owners find that a year or two after startup, the website content that they used since inception no longer feels right for the company.
The need to sound “professional”
Frequently, small business owners feel that they must sound “professional” to be taken seriously in their industry. While, as a content editor, I can appreciate the desire to sound professional, it can lead to an excessive reliance on long, corporate-sounding words, which will make your eyes glaze over.
Most content editors will tell you that the key to professional writing is clarity and conciseness. As long as the writing is clear and easy to understand, you can inject little bits of your personality into the content. It’s that sprinkling of personality that makes your content engaging to read—and trust me, your readers will appreciate it.
How can a content editor help with your brand voice?
While many people think of editors as the enforcers of antiquated grammar and punctuation rules that we have all long since forgotten about, they do so much more than that!
Content editors take the time to get to know your brand, learning about your values, mission, personality, goals, clients, and competitors. It’s only when they have a deep understanding of your brand that they can write well in your brand voice.
They can review all your communications (e.g., emails, web copy, newsletters, blogs, social media posts, etc.) for tone, clarity, and alignment with your brand identity. This will ensure that all communications with clients will be consistent with your established brand voice.
Finally, they can offer strategic input and feedback on your communications. This will help to strengthen your brand and solidify the desired perceptions in customers’ minds.
Specific steps a content editor takes to help align your brand voice
Establish (or clarify) your brand voice guidelines
Creating guidelines for your brand voice is critical for a consistent brand voice (regardless of who is currently working on your content). Your content editor will help define your brand voice and preferred vocabulary. For example, you can include specific words and phrases that best reflect your brand and you’d like to use frequently in your communications. Your brand guidelines can also include words or phrases that you will not use or that you deem inappropriate or harmful to your brand.
2. Apply your voice consistently across channels
Your content editor will review your website, blog, email, and social media to ensure that all maintain a consistent brand voice. They may tweak some of the content to compensate for the differences of each specific medium, but your editor will always maintain tonal consistency. For example, if your brand voice is playful and friendly, it should come through in all your content with only slight modifications. While your blog posts and website content still need to be informative, the tone should be friendly and warm. With your Instagram posts, you can build in a little more fun and playfulness.
3. Apply your voice consistently across channels
Your content editor will review your website, blog, email, and social media to ensure that all maintain a consistent brand voice. They may tweak some of the content to compensate for the differences of each specific medium, but your editor will always maintain tonal consistency. For example, if your brand voice is playful and friendly, it should come through in all your content with only slight modifications. While your blog posts and website content still need to be informative, the tone should be friendly and warm. With your Instagram posts, you can build in a little more fun and playfulness.
4. Editing to connect with your audience
Sometimes, especially if you’re in a highly technical field, your writing may include a lot of jargon that may not connect with your target audience. An editor, trained in viewing articles from the readers’ perspective, can help break down tech-heavy writing into easy-to-understand content that resonates with readers.
Editors also look for nominalizations—verbs that have been turned into nouns. Writing with a lot of nominalizations tends to feel clunky and unclear, and they tend to show up a lot when businesses are trying to sound “professional.” For example, in your last written project, look for words ending in -tion, -ment, or -ing, such as determination (from determine), argument (from argue), writing (from write). Now, see if you can rewrite those sentences with nominalizations by changing the offending noun into a verb. Typically, you’ll notice the sentence comes to life with an emphasis on the verb.
5. Protecting your brand voice as your business grows
As your business grows, you’ll likely hire more staff or freelancers to help create content. While investing in a writing team is a great time saver for small business owners, the integrity of the brand voice must be maintained at all times. A content editor can help ensure a cohesive voice.
6. Investing in your brand voice strengthens your brand
Many people think of editors as the grammar police—just like that person who always corrects you when you say you’re good and not well—armed with a red pen, and ready to tear apart your hard work.
In reality, your editor is your teammate. They play an important role in protecting your reputation, clarifying your message, and ensuring your message connects with your target audience. Your editor is not merely polishing your document; they are making sure your small business grows with content that is strategically aligned with your brand.
When should you hire a content editor?
To figure out if you need a content editor for your small business, read through your last five pieces of content. As you read through it, focus on brand alignment and cohesiveness. If it feels perfectly aligned with your brand, then you should keep doing what you’re doing! If you’re unsure or it isn’t quite fully aligned, then it may be time to hire a content editor.
Need help aligning your brand voice? Reach out for a free 30-minute consultation.