A brand’s voice has more similarities to a human persona than people give it credit for. 

You’re a human. We’ll use you as an example. 

You have an attitude, a sensibility, a way of speaking. You probably lean into certain words more than others and are known for expressing ideas and opinions with a particular perspective. But likely, your tone shifts based on your audience. Consider how you speak to a grandparent versus your best friend, at a work dinner versus happy hour. Your core persona stays the same—your energy, sense of humor, and the intractable qualities that make you you—but your tone is tailored to the appropriateness and expectations of the situation. 

These intentional shifts in tone are what allow you to be adaptable, relatable, and approachable. Without them, you’re a robot.  Siri and Alexa have empathy limitations for a reason.

Brand voice isn’t created; it’s embodied. It’s a living energy. You don’t just do this work before you launch, touch it up during a five-year rebrand and call it a day. Imagine if your voice peaked at five-years-old. The world your brand lives in changes daily. Language evolves. Awareness matures. The savviest brands embrace the shifts and sway in culture and communication and evolve their voice with the same reverence and intention as their personal voice. 

We recommend brand tone checks every quarter and a broader strategic voice review every year. Think of the difference between Q1 and Q2 in 2020. Your audience wasn’t even living in the same world. How utterly bizarre if your brand’s voice and communication had just...stayed the same. 

When you’re conducting a tone check for your brand (or yourself—humans need tone checks, too), consider these questions: 

• What’s going on in your audience’s lives right now? How are they looking to you for help? 

• What keeps them awake at night, worrying about the day ahead? 

• How do they relax? 

• How do you want people to feel when they connect with your brand? 

• Who are you potentially alienating, and how can you better connect to that audience? 

• What is your audience responding to on social? What isn't capturing their attention? 

• What hesitations have you observed? What causes them to drag their feet before purchasing your product or engaging your service? 

• What about your brand is different from last year? How have you matured? What are your goals? 

If you regularly ask these questions, you’ll be sharply ahead of your competition.  Use the answers as the lens through which to review and edit your messaging. Adjust your positioning to solve for your audience's problems, and imbue your copy with the energy your audience favors. These measured micro shifts will help you grow organically with your audience and stay connected in a more authentic way à la real life. 
 

Want a more in-depth tone check? We’ve got a process clients really respond to, and we suss out your competition, too. We’d love to walk you through.

Last week, I had the humbling experience of attending a Black Lives Matter support group at The Wing. Allies were invited, and as a white woman, that was the capacity in which I attended. It is critical to acknowledge this: that non-Black women were allowed to join the experience was ultimately so triggering and traumatizing The Wing has since restructured the offering to ensure a safer space, making it available to Black members only.

I was ignorant about my presence there—what it meant and what it would do—and have thought about that hour every day since. There is no adequate way to express my gratitude for the women who put their bodies on the line that day to educate me and people like me. That was not and is not their job. 

I have spent the past week mulling over the right offering for this space, and I can't stop thinking about something shared at the meeting. A grieving woman expressed that she was out of words and didn't know what else to say. If language alone could eradicate virulent anti-Black racism and profound systemic inequality, wouldn't the winning words have already been spoken by the millions of writers, activists, protesters, civilians, faith leaders, and philosophers who have devoted their lives to the cause? Many of them—Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, President Barack Obama, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, and innumerable others—some of the greatest voices and thinkers in world history. 

I believe in the power of language with the fire of 1,000 suns. But language alone is insufficient. It has to be attached to action. 

Black Lives Matter is not a brand strategy. It is not an advertising campaign. You cannot post a black square on Instagram, or offer vaguely expressed words of support and call it a contribution. Racism is not a comfortable conversation; it shouldn't be. Brands do not get to hijack Black lives for their feeds, campaigns, and messaging if there is no proven history of doing the work and no transparent plan of action for doing better.

The message is not just that Black Lives Matter. 

The message is Black Lives Matter
AND this is where we've failed or succeeded in supporting Black lives and anti-racism.
AND this is a detailed, transparent list of how we will live and act as allies moving forward.
AND this is how we pledge to use our platform and invite you, our followers, to join us.
AND this is how we will ensure every decision made from here on out supports equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Anything less than that is not enough.

Here is some other helpful advice:

Sharp, clear, unadulterated language is non-negotiable (sit with this smoldering statement from Ben & Jerry's for a second) and it has to be rooted in doing the work. If you have no work to show, that's where you start. Not with a messaging strategy, but with interoffice policies centered around diversity and inclusion. 

If you are a brand, you have a potent platform capable of changing and saving lives. Do not sleep on this. We are here to listen, to learn, and to help. 

It’s a question that’s come up with all our clients recently, filtered through various lenses. How, in this new world, do we talk about: SPF for a summer that won’t exist; lipstick for mouths hidden behind face masks; art for a museum-less world; anything, really, for a population that’s nearly 15% unemployed? 

The collective mood is grim, and rightly so. The borders of our individual worlds have receded at a breathtaking pace, and we are unable to rely on the social and spiritual fuel of our previously contact-full lives. We can’t even envision the future. 
 

Antonym doesn’t offer quick, strategy-starved copy for a reason. It guts intention, and we know good communication is an art. As Helen Rosen Woodward—whose groundbreaking career in advertising copywriting allowed her to retire at the age of 43 in 1924 as one of the highest-paid women in the industry—said, “In writing good advertising, it is necessary to put a mood into words, and to transfer that mood to the reader.” 

The internet is the cornerstone of our new social lives. Coincidentally, it is also the only place where brands can currently exist. People are flocking to its pages and applications, desperate for fresh ways to engage and interactions that make them feel less hopeless. Words unattached to a meaningful mood are senseless. 

Think of it this way. When your friend’s having a tough time, and you want to do something special, you don’t just have them over for dinner, plop some food in front of them, and unpack all the reasons they should feel better. You lower the lighting, put on some music, arrange vibrant flowers, spend a few extra bucks on wine, make sure the temperature’s just right. You set a memorable mood because it shows you care. And it always outlasts the taste of the food. 

This is the world now. The food is cooked. How will your brand use language to magic a new mood for your customers? We're not talking spinning out content for content's sake. Think fresh editorial platforms, social campaigns, winsome email offerings, and connected platforms that help you solve your customer's problems tout suite. 

Want help? Contact us, and let's strategize. 

It feels impossible. How do you sell things, and speak to people at a time like this? Many are doing it wrong, and their tone-deaf response resounds. But those doing it well are telling stories we'll never forget, with just a few simple adjustments. 

Don't ignore the pandemic

It may seem ludicrous to point this out, but many brands have not adjusted their messaging since the quarantine began. It reads as careless, off-base, and honestly, just plain bizarre. It doesn't matter what you sell or to who—coronavirus is the number one thing affecting everyone's lives right now, and addressing it is imperative to your brand messaging. We've seen brands send beautiful, heartrending emails that have nothing to do with sales, create new forms of connection on Instagram or through Zoom, and transparently share how the pandemic is affecting their company and what they're doing to shift priorities. It feels infinitely saner than those strutting along like it's business as usual. 

Speak like a human, talking to other humans 

We usually instruct our clients to speak relentlessly on-brand, using sharpened lexicons and structured strategies. The brief has shifted. People are in crisis, and a human-centered approach is paramount. Email marketing and social are efficient, affordable ways to connect with your people, and the bonus is: they have an actual impact. People have more time than ever, and they're reading literally everything that comes into their inboxes (we had one friend tell us the other day that she had "officially finished reading the internet."). This is an unprecedented opportunity to make a new impression on your clients. You're no doubt affected by this. What are you anxious about? How do you want the companies you love to speak to you? Say that.  

Shift your strategy

Your 2020 marketing strategy likely did not consider a global pandemic. For right now, at least, you need a fresh approach. It doesn't mean that you have to forego new product drops, or stop talking about your services. It does mean that you have to incorporate the current environment into what you're selling. M·A·C Cosmetics shifted the money raised from their legendary VIVA GLAM Lipstick to support COVID-19 relief. Everlane has reframed its philanthropic model as well, and created a new "Lounge Shop" on its website, featuring their coziest items. The Wing concocted a new newsletter and online events platform designed to connect people digitally, and opened it up to non-members. M·A·C is still selling lipstick, Everlane, apparel, and The Wing, womxn-centered connection. But the strategy shifted, and swiftly.

How will you shift yours?

If you'd like to talk about your company's messaging strategy right now, let’s have a proper chat. We won't make you Zoom, promise.