Template – Tone of Voice (or Brand Voice)

Feel free to copy & paste this Template to create your own Guide for [your brand] Tone of Voice (or Brand Voice)

[Your Brand Name] Tone of Voice (or Brand Voice) 

Date:

Revision: 0.1

By: [Your Name]

Introduction

Purpose

The purpose of this guide is to establish a consistent and authentic Tone of voice for [Your Brand Name]. By maintaining a unified voice across all communication channels, we aim to strengthen brand identity, build trust, and create meaningful connections with our audience. 

Brand Personality

Describe your brand’s personality in a few key adjectives (e.g., friendly, innovative, professional). This will serve as the foundation for your tone of voice. 

Tone of Voice Elements

1. Brand Pillars:

• List the core values and key attributes that define your brand. 

2. Audience Persona:

• Describe your target audience. What are their interests, preferences, and communication preferences? Tailor your tone to resonate with them.

3. Key Messaging:

• Outline key messages that you want to convey consistently across all channels. These messages should align with your brand pillars and resonate with your audience. 

4. Tone Keywords:

• Identify a set of tone keywords that encapsulate the desired tone for your brand (e.g. conversational, authoritative, playful)

Tone Guidelines

1. Formality

• Specify the level of formality your brand should maintain. Are you more casual and approachable, or formal and professional?

2. Language Style

• Define your brand’s language style. Is it straightforward, technical, or creative? Provide examples to illustrate. 

3. Humor

• If Humor is part of your brand personality, provide guidelines on the type of humor that aligns with your brand and situations where it is appropriate. 

4. Sensitivity

• Address how your brand handles sensitive topics or issues. Provide guidelines for maintaining a respectful and inclusive tone. 

5. Adaptability

• Discuss how the tone may vary across different channels or audiences while still maintaining consistency in core messaging. 

6. Visual Language

• If applicable, include guidelines on how your brand’s tone should align with visual elements such as graphics, images, and videos. 

One message, different Tones

• Summarize above by considering how your brand sound and act based on the four primary Tone of Voice dimensions

Formal vs Casual

Serious vs Funny

Respectful vs Irrelevant

Matter of Fact vs Enthusiastic 

Tone of Voice Matrix

[Your brand name] Tone of Voice Matrix shows how your Tone of Voice changes depending on the context and emotion. 

• Fill in the words, sentences and phrases that are appropriate for your brand in the different scenarios. You can also change the axes of the matrix. 

	Formal	Informal
Positive
Negative

Examples

Social Media

• Provide examples of how your brands tone would translate to social media posts. Consider different platforms and the nuances of communication on each. 

Customer Support

• Offer examples of how your brand would communicate in customer support interactions, address common and more complex scenarios. 

Marketing Materials

• Show examples of how your brand’s tone should come through in marketing materials, including copy, brochures, and advertisements. 

Review and Updates

Regular Audits

• Schedule regular reviews of your brand’s tone of voice to ensure it remains aligned with your evolving identity and goals. 

Close the loop

• Establish a system for collecting feedback on your brand’s tone of voice from both internal and external sources.