EP 8 : "How to Develop Your Brand Voice | Join Our Brand Voice Workshop

In this episode of Brand Bites, we break down brand voice—the secret ingredient that makes your brand memorable and instantly recognizable.

We cover:

• What brand voice really is (and why most brands get it wrong)
• Why brand voice is your memory maker—how it sticks in people's minds
• Real-world examples of brands nailing their voice
• The hidden cost of inconsistent or missing brand voice
• Our simple 1-page system you can implement today

Whether you're a founder or DIY marketer, you'll walk away with a practical formula to define and use your brand voice right away.

🎯 Want hands-on help? Join our free live Brand Voice Workshop:📅 1/7/2026 at 11am PST🔗 Register here: https://tinyurl.com/55b49yxs

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to Think Brand, Talk Brand with entrepreneurs, founders, community builders, and standout voices show how perception becomes connection with the right audience. With skip drafts and gimmicks, every episode delivers usable takeaways. I'm Shivani, your host for the How. Your move, take one idea, put it to work and then share it.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Pretty feeds forgettable voice. That's the problem. If your brand looks skirt but no one remembers you, it's not your visuals, it's your voice. Your audience scrolls fast every day. What they remember is how you sound. Today I'll show you why brand voice is the silent killer on every good mark and how to fix it. Brand identity is what they see, brand voice is what they remember. Hi, I'm Shivani from Think Brand Forward. I coach purpose-driven founders to build brands that are felt not just seen. The next three minutes we are going to walk away with some of the important concepts of brand voice. Because we need to be able to talk about brand voice like how you would explain it to a 10-year-old. I also want to do help you do a quick audit of your own brand voice that is leaky and it's not helping you get remembered. And a starter brand personality map with some language locks. So you can use this on your very next post. And if you want some more help, I'm hosting a 45-minute workshop details at the end. So let's get into it. I really want you to think about uh you know what brand voice as something which is which are like rules, uh, these are not just white vibes, okay? So brand voice is basically the consistent personality, uh, emotions, and language rules your brands use to speak everywhere. If brand is the wardrobe, voice is the character wearing it. So in my brand clarity container program, this is what we actually do, and brand person brand voice sits somewhere between persona, which is who you are, and the messaging of what you say. So voice makes messaging feel like it's you, without it, you are kind of costume changing every day, and your character is not really coming out. So I really want you to think of brand voice by dividing it into like three parts. So there is a personality part of it, you know. Think of person what you when you meet, you know, think of someone, you have a word for their personality. Oh, this person's so funny, so witty, or oh my gosh, so bold, so uh you know, forthcoming. So these are the words we use when we talk about someone's personality, and then it's about if you were to break it down to the next part in brand voice, it's about the emotional anchors. So, what your brand personality or your brand voice makes someone feel, that's the trigger, you know. That's that one feeling that your you as a person can kind of as a personality passes on. Think of like, oh my god, talking to that person energizes me, you know, talking to that person makes me feel so uh grounded, talking to this person, I get so excited, or I'm so positive. So those are those emotional anchors that your personality gets into it, and then there are these language rules, right? Like there are these people use a lot of punchy verbs, or you know, some people are uh you know a lot into using some uh phrases that help us kind of further understand their personality and their emotional cues better. Uh and then sometimes we also know that uh, you know, uh if if this person is, he would never say that, right? Like we say that about somebody. Oh no, no, that doesn't sound like him at all. Like uh, you know, oh that corporate fluff, that's not him at all. So, you know, this is how important language is when you are talking about uh your personality. So think of all of this when you are communicating your about your brand to your audience. You have to think on these things when you're writing your content copy, your email list, your you know, your email marketing that's going out to people, your language that you're using. All of this personality needs to come out in that brand voice that you're using. So, why do you think this matters, right? Like, why do we why would why do we need to talk about it? And why do we need to start creating that brand voice for your brand? So, I really want to tell you something. I don't think consistency is boring when your voice is distinct, you know. Does it does it does it resonate with you? Like it's it's recognizable when you are start talking in the same way consistently with the same patterns, your voice starts becoming distinct. You are not changing your voice every season, you're not changing your voice, uh, you know, with each new event that you're doing. That consistency, that consistency kind of flows throughout all of your uh you know assets, be it your website, be it your content page, all of that. So, why it matters is because memory new if neuroscience and neuromarketing has come back time and again and told marketers one thing, it's that you got to have clues which help you build memory. Now you see all of these brands, even the small business owners, working so hard on their cues of uh you know the colors, the palettes, the logo, and uh you know, all the assets, assets kind of looking sane, is because people have realized how easy it is for anyone to remember you, uh spot you, think of you, because those cues are in their memory, and that is where we have to play even with the brand voice. People remember tones before they remember details. Voice creates uh, you know, a mental ownership or the oh, this sounds like her effect, you know. So it's really important that you're start creating brand voice across all your uh you know uh writing and copy material which starts sounding distinct. Secondly, trust, consistent voices they they signal reliability. Inconsistent voices read as uh insecure or they're trying to please everyone. Uh so is that's why you know it's so important to have to develop that trust and reliability. We have a consistent voice. Uh, because one day you're funny, the other day you're too inspirational, the third day you are melodramatic. This entire spiral is putting your uh audience. I know they may enjoy it in the moment, but are you creating that trust with them that this is the brand you go to if you need XY? Because I know that when I'm here and I'm observing them, I know I'm going to get this, you know. So that's really important. And then speed. Uh, you know, a written voice system turns starting at a cursor into a really quick copy-paste from rules. Don't you want that as a DIY marketeer who is wearing so many hats, doing so many things? All you want is those rules right in front of you so that you start creating the copy or your brand, you know, the next brand campaign that you're making as soon as possible. Content ships faster with fewer edits, even you know that. So I really want you to think about some of the famous brands that have a voice that they've really, really owned. So if you think about um Nike, obviously, just do it. Short verbs, very confident, very caretic, very imperative. It just gives you that brand voice of uh that you know that you have to do it, you just do it. If you think about Apple's brand voice, very minimalistic, very human-centric, very calm. Uh it's it has this space and very simple nouns, think different. So that's the brand voice that they try to use when they are using it across different mediums. If you think of Patagonia, I love Patagonia, I think uh their voice is always very earnest, very activist first, very planet first. So it's very clear and unsugared statements, if you if that's a word. Um, think of Oatly. I think Oatly again as a as a brand is very quirky, very self-aware, very conversational. So even the past packaging of Oatly sounds like that. That it it it feels like a very quirky brand. Duolingo again, like you know, they send out memes with a wink and uh they're playful, they're mischievous, and I think that's the brand voice they're going for, and it really works for the brand. So I think the point here is that these voices are codified. Uh, that's why the copy fees the same on ads, sites, packaging. So you really have to start thinking of your brand this way because great brands they don't find their voice, they decide it and they write it down. So don't keep finding your voice, decide what the brand voice is and start creating content with that time and again. But you know, if if you're not doing that, there is a problem, right? Like your symptoms that you will recognize is that your post swing from formal to chatty, depending on your every caption rewrite makes it longer, not clearer. Yes, you're using chat GPT or any other AI tool, but the tool is as good as you use it. So, uh you know, if you are not giving the tool all the information it needs, it's creating this generic content which is all starts sounding so similar, and then your audiences uh they like your content but can't go to you. So the silent killer without it's it's like a silent killer, you know, it's without voice rules, you marketing is absolutely forgettable, it's nice to look at, but it's impossible to own in people's mind. You keep finding the algorithm that work for you, you want your butt you know it doesn't last. And let's be serious: 95% of your audience is not in the market or scrolling on Instagram looking for you to buy you. But every activity that you're doing right now, building that momentum is when they're ready to buy that decision, make that purchase decision, they think about you, they know about you. Isn't that what all this brand and marketing is about? Is is is creating that memorability for the audience so that when it's time for them to make that decision of buying XYZ, they think of you, and that's the probability we all want in our corner, and and obviously increasing. So, remember that if there is no voice, there is no memory, and when there is no memory, there is no brand, and when the brand is not memorable, definitely there is no uh viability or higher probability of purchases. So, start thinking on those lines because if your audience cannot predict how you sound, it's most possible that they don't even remember who you are, right? So, this is what I'm gonna be doing in my 45-minute workshop where I'm just trying to get these brand owners, business owners to understand that there is a way that you can fix this. There is a starter system, okay? So, A, there has to be a brand personality map. How much are you in tune with your brand persona, right? Like, think about the personality that you think you want to own, right? Like, is it is it very warm, is it very exciting? Is are you a straight shooter? Are you the bold but you know the quiet uh luxury that we talk about? Uh so then write that one sentence and then we speak uh and then you can capture that vibe. The next step is your emotional anger. So, with regards to your brand persona, whatever space you're taking, you're gonna choose the feeling around it, right? You're gonna anchor your persona into the feeling that you want others to feel about you. So if you're somebody who is uh you know who is very radiant and very uh you know, very energetic, you obviously want people to leave feeling energized, uh, which is what Nike does so well, right? And obviously, they have the language locks, right? The the the filters that they use, the do's and don'ts that they use. So you you use in for for example for Nike it would be like use punchy verbs, you know, short sentences, concrete examples. But like obviously, a Nike can't sound start sounding like a corporate jargon or like you know, very heavy words or or a very passive voice, because that just won't go with the brand voice and the brand personality that they're going with. So it's important that you start thinking on those lines and then you know come up with a few lines, signature lines that that are not your taglines and not your brand lines, but like those are the uh the the fragments that are coming out of this, right? Um, so that you can have your brand felt, not just seen. Like you know, uh what I'm using in this podcast. I'm talking about pretty feet, forgettable voice, fix it because I want I want my message to be clear, punchy in short words. That's really my brand, and that's how my brand voice is, right? So you decide your brand voice and you start writing the rules so that you are able to ship content faster, and it's it's something that you will find it so interesting that brand voice is not just a discovery, it's something that you start building like a huge ship, and one page of rules of brand voice will beat like a hundred mood boards that you will create. Okay, so I want you to think of this. Picture next week, you open Instagram, no panic, you've got your three words, your feelings, your do's, don'ts list everything is ready. Your drafts, all you need to do is have whatever is your content creation system, you need to just plug and play. Your drafts will be shorter, your comments will say, I heard this in your voice, or I feel you, you know, hard relate. So, those are the things that you will start getting once you start owning that voice, and then it becomes a system, it's not just luck. When you hear your voice, your audience also hears you, and even even if you're just whispering. So, I just want to invite you that if I've helped you unlock something today, then we are going live on the 7th of January on the new year's first week of work. I'm hosting a live workshop 45 minutes, and we'll build you a personality map. We will figure out the correct emotional anchor that you need for your brand for your audiences to feel you, and you know, we will also finish it up with a language lock that you can just use in your systems plug and play. I'm sorry, there are no replays, but I do intend to do this once every two weeks so that if you miss one slot, there's another one coming in. I'm gonna be including a short link uh for you to go on my page and uh register if you're interested. And my promise is that if you give me your 45 minutes, I'll give you a voice you can ship with. So I really hope this helps, and I will see you in the