What is Tone of Voice?

Tone of voice (TOV) is the way a brand communicates: the style, the language and the personality that come through in all its copy. A consistent tone of voice makes a brand recognisable and builds trust with the target audience, on every channel and in every situation.

What does a tone of voice consist of?

Tone of voice covers the choice between formal and informal language, the amount of humour, the complexity of sentences, the use of jargon and the emotional tone (warm, businesslike, enthusiastic). These choices follow from the brand’s positioning and branding.

Capturing your tone of voice

A TOV guideline describes the style with concrete examples of right and wrong language. This ensures consistency across all channels: website, email, social media and advertising. Without a guideline you end up with inconsistent copy that undermines trust in the brand.

Tone of voice and copywriting

A copywriter needs the TOV guideline as a basis for writing consistently. The tone of voice also determines how CTAs are worded and which words are avoided.

Can the tone of voice differ per channel?

A little. LinkedIn can be more formal than Instagram, but the core personality of the brand stays consistent across all channels.

How do I define a tone of voice?

Start with your brand values and describe the brand personality in human terms: if our brand were a person, how would they talk? More at developers.google.com/search.