How to define your brand voice: purpose, personality, and consistency that connects

What Is Brand Voice?

Defining Brand Voice and Tone

Every organisation has a voice, whether it knows it or not.

It’s the personality that shows up in language. The way brands write, speak and sound across every touchpoint. From website footers to Instagram captions, press releases to product descriptions.

Sometimes it’s obvious: Google feels friendly. Chanel feels untouchable. The Times is authoritative. Innocent is charming (even when it’s trying to sell you spinach).

Voice is what makes that happen.

It’s not a tagline or tone of voice exercise. It’s how a brand consistently shows up in words, even when the logo isn’t visible.

Tone, on the other hand, is more flexible. It shifts with the situation. Same voice, different mood.

You’d expect a payment reminder to sound more measured than a campaign launch. But both should still feel like they come from the same place.

That’s the distinction.

Voice stays steady, tone adapts.

Mapping your brand voice in practice

When we are developing a brand, we do tone-mapping exercises (fancy word for plotting your brand voice).

It plots the brand between contrasting traits: formal versus informal, corporate versus conversational, bold versus understated.

These sliding scales don’t deliver a final voice. But they help teams articulate what it is and what it definitely isn’t.

More importantly, they make voice practical. So when James in accounts emails a customer, it still sounds like it came from the same brand Melissa in marketing represents on Instagram.

That’s the point. Clarity that works across departments, not just campaigns.

Why Brand Voice Matters

Brand voice is not fluff. It’s function.

A consistent voice makes brands more recognisable and more trustworthy, especially in crowded or competitive spaces.

It also makes content quicker to write, easier to review and far less likely to be reinvented with every draft.

It helps performance too. Research suggests that consistent branding can increase revenue by up to 20%. That stat is usually quoted about visuals, but it applies to language just as much.

Consistency in tone builds familiarity.

Familiarity builds trust.

Trust wins new business.

And voice isn’t just an external tool. Internally, it helps organisations scale messaging without losing their identity.

When teams know the brand’s voice, there’s less guesswork and fewer frantic Slacks asking “Can I say this… or will Brand Police chase me?”

It creates guardrails that allow for creativity without guesswork.

That’s especially useful when internal perception doesn’t match the one held by customers.

During a brand redevelopment for a local Devon client we did some customer research interviews, the external feedback described the business as reassuring, helpful and grounded. Internally, the brand was focused on efficiency, systems and technical detail.

Neither was wrong. But the voice needed to bridge the two. Not by choosing sides, but by finding a tone that held both truths at once.

Voice isn’t about sounding clever. It’s about sounding like yourself (even when your work experience is writing your LinkedIn post at 4:55 p.m. on a Friday).

Your brand purpose and mission

Why purpose drives connection

A global study from Forbes found that consumers are four to six times more likely to purchase, protect and champion companies they perceive as purpose‑driven. 

Brand purpose is not about sounding noble, it’s about being clear.

It’s the reason a company exists beyond just making money, and it is a sign of business maturity, what stage of brand are you?

Purpose is the bigger picture, not the stock photo of people high-fiving, but the actual reason you bother to open your laptop every morning.

It’s the impact a business wants to have on the world, the industry or the people it serves.

That doesn’t mean it has to be lofty.

Patagonia exists to protect the environment. But just because Greggs exists to serve sausage rolls doesnt mean it isn’t valid.

What matters is that the purpose is honest, consistent and aligned with how the brand behaves.

A strong purpose creates a natural connection with people. It makes the brand easier to trust because the intent is visible.

It also becomes a useful filter for decision-making. Purpose helps a business decide what to say yes to and what to walk away from. It guides everything from product development to hiring to the tone of a customer email, blog article or social media post.

This is why purpose-driven brands often feel more stable. The storytelling has direction. The voice feels grounded. And over time, that clarity builds credibility.

Brands that try to retro-fit a purpose to match the moment often fall flat. It’s not just the statement that matters, it’s whether the actions behind it hold up to feel true also.

When we work on tone of voice or messaging strategy, the tricky question usually sits at the top: why do you exist? Not as a tagline, but as a lens.

A way to check whether the story being told reflects the reason the brand started in the first place.

Simon Sineks, find your why is a great process to work though to help with this.

Defining your mission statement

Purpose and mission are often used interchangeably, but they play different roles. Purpose explains why the brand exists. Mission explains how it delivers on that purpose day to day.

A mission statement should be specific. It’s not just about the outcome. It’s about the approach.

A good example is IKEA. Its mission is to create a better everyday life for the many people. That’s not about selling furniture.

It’s about affordability, accessibility and design at scale. The products are the how, not the why.

Some organisations keep the mission internal. Others publish it prominently. Either way, the most useful mission statements are short, actionable and unambiguous. They become a reference point, not a marketing line.

In workshops, we often help clients clarify the difference between mission and vision. Mission is about the present.

Vision is about the future. One looks at what the business is doing now. The other imagines where it wants to be.

Whichever you are developing, aligning what you do against a greater good will help you identify your north star. Check out the biggest challeneges on the planet, almost certainly you are something that would benefit one these 17 goals.

Even if your business doesnt quite relate, if you have a personal connection with any of the goals then you can give up time to volunteer, or profits to support local causes.

Try our custom GPT to develop your impact statement

We have created a handy custom GPT to help you develop impactful brand statements.

The GPT may help you to consider these questions:

• What was the contribution your organisation made for your customers?
• What is the wider impact of that work if you multiplied it by 100, 1,000, 1,000,000?

This is an action/impact statement, it can help you consider the bigger “mission” you are contributing too.

Together with purpose, these ideas form the backbone of the brand’s strategic story.

They also help shape its voice: A brand focused on access and community will speak differently from one focused on disruption and speed.

The goals change the language.

The language shapes the perception.

Defining your core values

Identifying what you stand for

Every strong brand begins with its values. The beliefs and convictions that inform behaviour, decisions and culture.

Values aren’t just for posters in the staff kitchen or slide 2 of the pitch deck, they’re what you stand for when no one’s watching.

We often start by laying out a long list of possible values. Then we ask a range of stakeholders to pick the ones they genuinely connect with rather than the ones that sound on‑brand.

That process often surfaces hidden truths: what the leadership believes versus what the delivery teams experience.

We can also bring in customer research to test whether the values the brand thinks it communicates are the ones customers actually recognise.

A report from the World Economic Forum showed that two‑thirds of consumers believe it is more important for companies to fight climate change than to simply comply with tax obligations. 

Values that are deeply held go beyond internal documentation.

They shape how a brand decides what to do next.

For brands with clarity the exercise becomes life‑changing. They move from safe phrases to meaningful commitments. Patagonia for example has invested hundreds of millions in activist‑led environmental initiatives.

That’s not branding. That’s your identity, walking the talk (not just putting values on a mug).

Using values to guide branding

Once values are clarified and embedded they become more than words. They become filters.

Filters for hiring decisions, service response, pricing, tone of voice and even the smallest email sent to a customer.

A value‑led brand approach means that the values, vision and principles of the company shape everything the brand touches. If the value is “accessibility” then the pricing must reflect that.

If the value is “radical transparency” then the brand has to show its workings. When the brand and behaviour diverge confusion creeps in and trust is lost.

In one engagement we found a business describing itself as “approachable and ethical” while customer perception was luxury and arguably “distant” – neither is wrong by the way.

Once we discussed the misalignment the creative direction shifted to mirror the value in visuals, tone and language.

Brands that live their values report stronger trust. 81% of consumers say they need to be able to trust the brand to do what is right. 

When transparency, authenticity and values align in both expression and action the brand ceases to be optional. It becomes a clear choice.

Building your brand personality

Choosing your brand’s archetype

Every brand has a personality even if it hasn’t been defined. One useful way to make it visible is via the concept of brand archetypes. These are essentially, human‑character traits that can be applied to brands. 

These help organisations align their identity with a stable, resonant persona, rather than drifting between styles.

For example: a tool brand might lean into the “Hero” archetype, emphasising empowerment and achievement.

A sustainability‑driven company might embody the “Caregiver” archetype, focusing on care, responsibility and nurture.

Recognising your archetype provides internal clarity: what do we sound like? How do we behave? Equally important is what we do not sound like.

A simple mapping exercise plotting traits such as:

• “Bold vs approachable”
• “Rebel vs conventional”
• “Elite vs Mass appeal”
• “Deliberate vs spontaneous”
• “Friend vs Authority”
• “Community‑first vs individual‑first”

We create a sliding scale, and plot out the brand.

Then we review and test whether the brand’s current messages conflict or sit naturally within the chosen archetype.

Expressing your personality in copy

Once the personality is chosen, it needs to speak.

A brand that has defined itself as friendly and accessible should sound different from one that is formal and reserved, yet both must be consistent with the brand’s identity.

Think of voice like an outfit, a professional tone wears a sharp blazer. A quirky one might show up in vintage trainers, honk a horn and crack the occasional decent pun.

What matters is that the language feels true to what the brand stands for.

Brand traits such as sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness map well to this work. Some brands are so well-aligned, you can spot them by tone alone, like recognising a friend’s voice across the room (or that same troll in the comment section).

We’ve seen teams struggle when copywriters, designers and customer‑support colleagues all operate without a common guide.

The result: patchy language, conflicting tone, a fragmented brand experience.

When everyone uses the same personality framework, the brand becomes distinct, cohesive and memorable.

However, the thinking work to define it must come first, it cant be assumed everyone will “just get it”.

Creating brand guidelines

Practical vs meaningful brand guidelines

Not all brand guidelines are created equal.

As part of our Branding Service process we separate them into two types.

Practical guidelines to define the visible assets: imagery, typography, colour palettes, logos, usage rules.

Meaningful guidelines define what sits underneath: the mission, values, tone of voice, and story that shape everything the brand communicates.

Practical guidelines are what most teams expect.

They make sure that design is consistent, logos are used correctly and the brand looks like itself across every platform. These are essential and often shared across departments or partners.

Meaningful brand guidelines take things deeper. They describe the personality, positioning and principles behind the brand.

They explain how to sound, what to say, and why it matters. They also create continuity, especially when new teams, new channels or new formats enter the picture.

They don’t necessarily need to look fancy, if you are following this guide and developing your brand as you go then you will be a long way to a meaningful brand document.

Documenting tone and messaging

Tone of voice lives or dies by how it’s documented.

We always suggest showing the tone in use: subject lines, service replies, launch messages, technical instructions. The more concrete the example, the easier it is to apply.

Format matters too. A good tone section doesn’t need to be long. But it does need to be specific. That might include:

• A short definition of the brand’s voice and how it flexes
• A few clear tone principles (e.g. direct, inclusive, curious)
• Example lines that show both the right tone and the wrong one
• Notes on style (sentence length, jargon use, emoji, punctuation, formality)
• Guidance for specific teams or channels if tone varies

We’ve seen some brands turn tone into a one-pager and succeed, while others create 30-slide decks that get ignored.

The difference is whether it answers real questions people have when they’re writing. Can I use emojis? Is “Hey” too casual? What’s the emoji policy for Q4? Can I use first person? Do we speak with certainty or caution? Do we ever sound like we’re selling?

Do you feel this is clear with your team and well documented?

Maintaining consistency across channels

According to Lucidpress, consistent brand presentation can increase revenue by up to 23 percent.

That means making it visible and practical, not buried in a doc no one opens.

The best teams build it into everyday tools: CMS instructions, email templates, chatbot flows.

They reference it in onboarding, they revisit it in reviews.

Ultimately, someone owns it, keeps it updated, and checks for drift – your brand guardian.

Emotional branding and connection

Finding your brand’s emotional hook

Every customer has a problem they’re trying to solve. That’s where emotion comes in.

If we put the customer first (not the product, not the brand, the MD’s wishes or anyones agenda) we start seeing the deeper layers.

• What functional job are they trying to do? What is their goal?
• What social perceptions are at stake if they do/don’t achieve it?
• What emotions do they want to feel more (or less) of?

This is how we approach emotional branding: by understanding customer jobs, moods, pain points and desired gains.

These become the emotional hooks, the reasons people feel drawn to a brand, not just persuaded by it.

And this can be used for catchy advertising headlines, to grab someone and say: “Hey! We know you”.

Using emotion to build trust

We worked on this with Indoor Self-Storage. The product is simple: storage space you can put things in. But the customer need is often emotional. Someone downsizing, moving out, starting over.

We created the concept “make space for… *insert change*” a message that resonated across multiple personas and made the brand feel more human, not just practical.

Emotional branding is about connecting on the level that matters. Research from the Harvard Business Review found that emotionally connected customers are more than twice as valuable as highly satisfied ones.

They stay longer, spend more, and advocate more often.

Storytelling that connects

When you combine all of the above, storytelling becomes the best way to express it.

This is where brands like Nike excel.

Their language is aspirational. It tells the customer “you’ve got this”, not “go buy this”.

Their story is not about products. It’s about people rising to their potential.

This is the power of a clear brand narrative, and should form the basis of your whole content strategy.

Consider the analogy of a brand storybook.

Your brand is the book.

Your services are the chapters.

The blog posts, campaigns and videos are the pages.

Each one threads the full story together. Slowly educating, entertaining our audience but it needs to carry the same tone, intent and perspective.

If you break your brand down into these pillars you will have a great structure for a content strategy, have a read of this if you want to dive deeper into content strategy.

Then theres the writing style, if you aren’t sure about how to write content then (theres too much for this article) you can read our storytelling guide here.

If time is short, and you are new to it, follow the three-act storytelling structure.

• Set the context.
• Introduce the challenge.
• Resolve with momentum.

This works for pub stories to Hollywood classics, and of course both brand-wide messaging and individual pieces of content.

It keeps the brand’s voice moving, not stuck describing features.

When brands tell clear stories that reflect real emotion, they build trust faster.

Especially if they’re led by purpose.

A good narrative acts like a bridge between what the brand wants to say and what the audience needs to hear.

Want help defining your brand voice or content strategy?

Get honest, practical support from our Exeter-based brand and content team. We’ll help you shape a clear voice, connect with the right audience, and build a strategy that works.