As the one in charge of your brand, you know you need to convey what you’re about through the content and copy on your website, including your blog. How do you encapsulate your brand’s values, legacy, and future success beyond listing that information on your website? Your brand voice is key to that, and it should permeate each piece of content you produce, especially in the written word. Let’s take a look at how to support and maintain your brand voice through blogging.
What is Brand Voice?
Brand voice conveys the values and attitude of your brand. You might notice that our blog gets a bit snarky. That’s because we’re a bit snarky. We take a no-BS approach in helping our customers blog and brand better. We work hard, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously—we want to meet you on your level, not engage in endless streams of marketing jargon. That’s our brand voice and our brand promise: powerful, provocative, bold, and snarky.
We’re not like everyone else, and you’re not, either. That’s why brand voice is important: it defines you and your USP (unique selling proposition). Your brand voice differentiates you from everyone else, and your blog is a vehicle for that. And, if you do it well, your blog isn’t merely a vehicle: it’s a freaking Porsche.
Why is Brand Voice Important?
Since your brand’s voice lets people know who you are, it generates trust. Not only will prospects and customers feel more willing to do business with you, but they’re also more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt in case you make a mistake or need a little patience with something. Of all things your brand voice should be, it must be authentic—no matter what the brand.
Your brand voice is something your readers should be able to determine without your logo beside it. If they saw your content elsewhere, would they be able to figure out that blog post belongs to you? If so, you have a pretty strong brand voice.
Brand Voice, Then Blog
You should begin with your brand voice—then move to blogging. That’s because your brand voice informs the topic, tone, and even strategy of each blog post. When we work with clients, we like to have these high-level branding discussions before we dive right into blogging. We understand that SEO (search engine optimization) is crucial (and it’s our specialty), but we know that long-term, branding is what separates you from the rest.
That’s why your content shouldn’t appear as the result of a keyword strategy alone: it needs to convey what’s important, unique, and satisfying about your brand—and how it makes your customers feel.
Why Are Blogs Effective at Conveying Brand Voice?
Branding through blogging is an essential way to supplement the copy on your website. You can continually reinforce your strengths and expertise with blogging, all the while armoring it with the power of your unique tone and style.
Blog posts allow for consistency over time. If you check our blog every day, you’ll see a similar tone, goals and set of values across each post. Sure, we can get a little cocky here and there, but we’ve earned that reputation—and we like being helpful and engaging. Day after day, our consistent posting contributes to the strength of our brand voice.
Blog posts are memorable. When readers invest time in long-form content, they’re hoping to retain information. They’ll pick up on tips or points of action, but that’s not the only thing they’ll absorb: they’ll also get your brand voice and continually associate that type of expertise with you. (Hopefully, you feel our confidence radiating from this post because we’re pretty damn confident about search engine optimized content.)
Blog posts are permanent. While live streaming videos and Snapchats are effective means of marketing for some brands, they are ephemeral. These marketing tools hit in the moment. Blog posts, conversely, are here for the long haul.
Brand Voice and Evergreen Content
We call these long-haul blog posts evergreen content because they have staying power. In addition to providing value in organic search, a solid evergreen blog post serves to reinforce your brand voice permanently. Pretty cool, right? It’s like a permanent monument to your brand’s identity—and it’s also helping people.
Your blog content is there to help people, draw them in, provide information, and convert to newsletter subscriptions or sales. But it also says something about you—every step of the way. From a sassy headline to a sincere plea for connection, your blog is the best possible vehicle to make a continual emotional appeal to your audience—all while conveying the voice of your brand. Even if you’re selling super-tough-guy farm equipment, you need to make that vulnerable, sensitive appeal for connection. Brand voice lets you be the tough guy while also reaching out.
That’s kind of necessary for doing business.
Brand Voice and Newsworthy Content and PR
While evergreen blog content is the long-term vessel housing your brand voice, newsworthy content and PR are your race cars. When something big changes in your industry, how do you respond? When something negative happens in the world, what do you do as a brand? The manner in which you react to changes and crises is essential when it comes to defining your brand voice.
That means when emergencies happen, you need to keep that brand voice in mind before you get to blogging. If your brand’s not political, for example, don’t post a political rant on your blog. If there’s a tragedy, handle it with sincerity and don’t make it all about you. The way you treat these things says mountains about your brand voice and your ethics.
Don’t trust your brand voice to someone random. At Dominate With SEO, we’re ready to help you define and express your brand voice over time. We’ve got strategy, and we’ve got solutions. If you’re ready to define and convey your brand voice to the world, fill out our discovery form. We’d love to help you differentiate yourself from the competition and dominate them in the search engine results.
