Even if you’re brand new to brand voice, you already know exactly what it is. I promise.
Think of a few of your favorite brands, and consider why they’re favs. The product or service probably has a lot to do with it, but that’s only part of the story — a brand’s voice or personality is also a major factor in consumer loyalty.
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Think about the overall vibe of your favorite brand — is it friendly? Authoritative? Funny? That’s brand voice at work.
A well-defined brand voice can underscore your authority, play up your playfulness, or simply bring the directness and relatability that consumers look for in brands. A poorly defined voice, or one that changes frequently, undermines your brand and alienates customers or clients.
So let’s talk about how to start from scratch by looking at the elements that form a brand’s voice, plus 10 examples to inspire you.
Table of Contents
What is a brand voice?
Your brand voice is the personality your brand takes on in all of its communications. Your voice serves as a guide of what to say and how to say it. Your voice should be unique to your company and reflect company values. With these distinctions, you can stand out from the noise.
Your company’s voice should resonate with your audience and build trust with them. In the U.S. market, 90% of consumers say it’s important to trust the brands they buy or use.
Your brand voice shows your customers what to expect from your company’s content, services, and even customer service.
Why Brand Voice is Important
Brand voice is a little bit like a brand ambassador.
You’ll make certain assumptions about an unfamiliar brand if its ambassadors are clad in pink cowboy hats or in black three-piece suits. And you’ll know immediately whether you’re the target audience.
A brand’s voice is usually defined by four or so adjectives that immediately convey whether you’re a pink cowboy hat kind of brand (bubbly, playful, youthful, irreverent) or a black three-piece suit kind of brand (somber, formal, authoritative, exclusive).
Every bit of copy that your brand produces, whether it’s the About Us page on your website or the game on the back of a cereal box, should exude your brand’s distinct voice.
Put some thought into those four(ish) adjectives — we’ll show you how — because your brand voice has to translate across multiple platforms, and potentially even across countries and cultures.
It has an important internal function, too. A well-defined brand voice establishes a cohesive set of guidelines for your writers, marketers, content creators, and even graphic designers.
“Well-defined” is key here — you can throw a bunch of adjectives at the wall and hope something sticks, but without a solid explanation of what “clear, helpful, human, and kind” means, you’re in danger of muddied or inconsistent content.
HubSpot’s style guide, for instance, specifies that “we favor clarity above all. The clever and cute should never be at the expense of the clear.” It also gives multiple examples of what “clear,” “helpful,” “human,” and “kind” actually look like in our copy — a godsend for contractors and new hires.
Once you’ve nailed down your brand’s voice, you’ll find it easier to speak directly to your audience, attract new customers or users, and express your brand’s distinctiveness.
Creating a Brand Voice
Bring your customers into the conversation so they feel connected to your brand. If a potential customer feels like you‘re talking directly to them, then you’re doing brand voice right.
1. Start with your company’s mission.
Your own values, and your company’s mission, are critical as you embark on your brand voice journey.
It’s how HubSpot’s social media team translated the brand voice to LinkedIn — and got 84% more engagement in just six months.
I asked Emily Kearns, HubSpot’s Senior Manager, Social Media, to tell me more.
“So much of what is good about HubSpot is the culture and how we treat each other — just the overall vibe,” she says. “And there was a huge opportunity to take that into the social space.”
HubSpot’s brand voice is clear, helpful, human, and kind, and Kearns says that the social media team used that as its foundation. “Human and authentic — that’s just table stakes,” she says.
But there are different ways to express clarity, helpfulness, humanness, and kindness. Where our official product descriptions might require a little more gravitas, our Instagram account can translate the HubSpot culture into ~vibes~.
Since it began reinterpreting HubSpot’s corporate voice on social media in 2023, our HubSpot social team has earned a 2024 Webby nomination in the category of Social, B2B.
Lauren Naturale, the social media manager at Tides, a nonprofit that advances social justice, agrees that values are foundational to your brand voice. “You cannot take a values-based approach to marketing if your company is not actually living or enacting those values in any meaningful way.”
Naturale was also the first social media manager at Merriam-Webster, where she developed the dictionary’s social media presence from practically nothing — “they would post the word of the day to all the social channels once a day” — into a must-follow.
She says that Merriam-Webster didn’t have the kind of strategy deck that a big corporation would have sunk a lot of money into. What it did have was “very well articulated, shared values around how interesting language was, how important it was, and the fact that it is always changing.”
She sums those values up: “Words and language are not cultural capital. They’re not the property of the elite. You can care about words and language and also be interested in the way that language is changing.”
From those values, she built what is now a well-known brand voice (never mind the 456% increase in Twitter audience she ushered in).
2. Use your buyer persona as inspiration for your brand voice.
Your buyer persona should answer a few vital questions: Who are you trying to reach? What do they need from your brand? What can your brand offer them that no one else can?
Audience research can help you identify other types of content that are reliably appealing to your audience.
Tools like Google Analytics, or even a simple survey of your audience, can help you determine or confirm other sites that your readers frequent.
Ryan Shattuck, a digital media strategist who managed Dictionary.com’s social media for four years, tells me, “Knowing your audience is obvious, but I would take it a step further. Respect your audience.”
Dictionary.com’s buyer persona — or its target users — likely paints a picture of somebody who does the New York Times’ Connections word game as soon as the clock strikes midnight.
“I think it’s safe to assume that the people who follow a dictionary account on Instagram are also people who read books and do crossword puzzles,” as Shattuck puts it.
“And so I can make a joke about the Oxford comma. I can use a meme to share the etymology of a word.”
If your voice doesn’t resonate with your audience, keep experimenting.
3. Look at your best-performing content.
If you’ve already been publishing content for a few months or even years, take a look at your top-performing pieces to find out what’s resonating with your audience.
How would you describe your brand voice in that content? It might be assured and authoritative, with deep topical knowledge backed up by original research. It could be playful and irreverent, using memes and pop-culture references to connect with your audience.
Make a list of adjectives that describe your voice in your top-performing pieces, and highlight the common elements. From there, you can start to make strategic decisions about which elements should be replicated across your brand.
It’s also helpful to research the content formats that perform the best in your industry and geographic location. (Pro tip: It’s probably short-form video.)
4. Make a list of do‘s and don’ts.
If you get stuck trying to define your brand voice, try defining what you don’t want it to be.
For instance, perhaps your team brainstorms the following statements:
Our brand voice is not pretentious.
Our brand voice is not too serious.
Our brand voice is not grandiose.
Our brand voice is not unfriendly.
Once you’ve taken a look at these statements, you can begin forming the antithesis. For example, the above list might yield a brand voice that’s down to earth, funny, informal, and humble.
5. If necessary, use a third-party agency to determine brand voice.
Forbes’ BrandVoice is a media partnership program that helps brands reach and resonate with their audiences through expert consultancy and direct access to Forbes audiences.
Take a look at how Cole Haan worked with Forbes to create content related to style, arts, travel, social impact, and more. Each piece uses a unique voice to target the intended audience for that category.
If you’re struggling to create a unique brand voice or you don’t know how to adapt your vision to the different areas of your business, consider using a program like BrandVoice or a third-party content marketing agency. This will help you take your brand’s game to the next level.
6. Create a communications document so all of your content is aligned.
Once you‘ve created your brand voice, you’ll want to ensure your entire company can use that voice in all marketing materials.
If your company only uses internal writers, consider creating a training course for new staff so they can learn how to write for your brand. If you work with external guest contributors, you’ll want to make public-facing guidelines to ensure all your writing captures the appropriate voice.
7. Fill out a brand voice template with 3 – 5 core voice characteristics.
Use a table to formalize your process. Write down three to five core characteristics you‘ve determined are important for your brand’s voice and how your writers can use these traits in their writing.
This step is important for translating ideas into action — how can your writers create a “humble, authentic voice” in their writing?
Give some examples or tactical advice to make it easy for your brand voice to come through in all of your content, regardless of byline.
To explore what a template could look like in practice, take a look at the brand voice template below.
Top Tips from the Pros
Although social media is just one component of a brand’s voice, it’s often the most public and the most prolific. So I asked the social media pros I talked to for this article for their top tips on crafting a brand voice.
1. Be human.
Kearns says to ask yourself, “Would a real person say this? Is there something in here that is relatable, and that someone can connect to?”
“It’s not a dictionary sitting at a computer,” Shattuck tells me. “It’s a real person.”
2. Respect your audience.
It bears repeating: Don’t just know your audience. Respect them.
3. Reflect your brand’s product and culture.
You won’t win authenticity points if you’re trying to mimic another brand’s culture. Conversely, if you have a great company culture — channel it and celebrate it in your social accounts.
4. Be culturally relevant, but not at the expense of your brand identity.
This doesn’t mean you should meme-ify everything — but it does mean that memes are fair game if you stay on-brand.
Shattuck said that at Dictionary.com, he always asked himself, “Is this post educational? Is it entertaining?” If he couldn’t answer “yes” to both,, he knew the post wouldn’t do well because it wasn’t adding any value.
Brand Voice Examples
Before you start crafting your unique voice, turn to role models who have perfected their tone. Here are 10 examples to get you started.
You can see other distinct brand voices in the video below.
1. HubSpot
A year ago, you’d be more likely to find a product description on HubSpot’s social media than a meme about brat summer.
But then the social team began experimenting with a more Gen Z and millennial tone of voice.
It’s still a work in progress, Kearns tells me, and every month the team takes a close look at what performs well and what doesn’t. “We’re figuring out how we talk about the HubSpot product in a way that is interesting and adds value and is culturally relevant.”
Cultural relevance and timeliness are major considerations for the social team. Kearns says she’s always asking herself how they can connect the HubSpot product to “something hyper relevant, or something that managers are going through right now.”
“If we just talk about our product in a vacuum, even with our fun brand voice layered on top of it, it might fall flat.”
Kearns says that although your brand voice should be identifiable and consistent, “it should have a little bit of flexibility” so you can adapt it to different platforms.
2. Duolingo
Duo the owl is the face that launched a thousand memes.
The feathery embodiment of the Duolingo brand voice, Duo is “expressive, playful, embracing, and worldly.” That’s according to Duolingo’s brand guide, which also notes that Duo is both “persistent” and “slightly awkward.”
Duolingo’s defined brand voice includes a “brand personality” section that describes who Duolingo would be as a celebrity (Trevor Noah), a vehicle (a Vespa), and a song (Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now”).
Duolingo’s Senior Global Social Media Manager, Zaria Parvez, told Contagious in a 2023 interview, “Dream big, but iterate small.”
If you’ve spent any time on the clock app, you’re familiar with Duo’s occasionally unhinged antics — which all started with Parvez asking to take over Duolingo’s then-dormant TikTok account.
3. Title Nine
A woman-owned and women-focused athleticwear company, Title Nine combines a friendly “aww shucks” vibe with a triumphant fist pump.
Freelance copywriter Robyn Gunn writes on her website that T9 brought her in to write copy that “reinforce[s] the brand’s badass, ballsy DNA that differentiates it from ‘softer’ competitors in the category.”
Title Nine’s “Who We Are” page encapsulates this voice perfectly: It’s written in clear, simple language that underscores the brand’s love of the outdoors and its enduring support of women.
This graphic from its online store brings out a more playful side of Title Nine’s brand voice, evident in the bright colors and patterns, the casual typeface that “Trail Shop” uses, and the invitation to “track in some dirt.”
Title Nine doesn’t have a publicly accessible brand guide, but I’d describe its voice as friendly, powerful, playful, and direct.
4. Who Gives a Crap
True story: A customer service rep at Capital One once had to read me a list of recent credit card charges so I could confirm whether they were mine or a fraud.
Poor dude was clearly mortified at having to read “Who Gives a Crap” out loud, saying, “This is the company name, I am just reading this off a list, it is not me saying this.”
So he’s maybe not WGaC’s target audience, which is considerably more relaxed on the topic of toilet paper.
WGaC’s “About Us” page tells a tale of toilet jokes and changing the world. Successfully combining something so ridiculous with a very real and very serious global problem is no easy task, but the ability to walk that line nicely sums up the brand’s voice.
“Making a difference in the world” can be a hard value to channel in a brand voice, since the brand (and the people behind it) have to demonstrably live up to the promise of effecting change.
Who Gives a Crap gives a lot of specific details that indicate that lack of access to a toilet is an issue that the founders genuinely care about. The product descriptions do the same. Take this one for a special poetry edition TP (I am not making this up):
“Create an ode in the commode” is pretty hard to beat for terrible poetry. The product description ends with, “And since we donate 50% of profits, you’re not just building ballads, you’re doing good, too!” — a reminder of the brand’s promise in a goofy, casual tone.
WGaC’s brand voice might be described as cheeky (pun absolutely intended), lighthearted but rooted in a cause that’s deeply serious, informal, and conversational.
5. Poppi
Poppi soda blares its voice from the moment you land on its eye-searing bright pink and yellow website. Known for having a Gen Z-friendly voice, DrinkPoppi.com looks more like a neon Instagram feed than a website for flavored sparkling water.
Its “About Us” page brags about “new besties” like Billie Eilish and Post Malone, and even its newsletter sign-up says, “Let’s be friends.”
The creative agency responsible for Poppi’s branding describes “the world of Poppi” as “quirky, nostalgic, and vibrant.” I’d add to that “informal” or “casual.”
6. Spotify
Whether you‘re watching a TV ad, driving past a billboard, or scrolling Spotify’s social accounts, you’ll see a consistent voice. The brand’s tone is consistently funny, edgy, direct, and concise.
For instance, take a look at this video, which is part of a Spotify advertisement campaign from 2019, “Let the Song Play.”
As you can see, Spotify doesn‘t take itself too seriously. The ad makes fun of people who get so emotionally invested in a song that they won’t resume their plans until the song ends.
You‘ll see a similar brand voice play out on Spotify’s social channels. On its Twitter account, for instance, the brand often posts tweets related to new music in a casual, friendly manner.
If Spotify‘s brand were a person, she would be witty, sarcastic, and up-to-date on today’s pop culture references. You‘ll see that personality play out across all of Spotify’s communication channels.
7. Mailchimp
When exploring Mailchimp’s brand voice, turn to the company’s Content Style Guide.
In the Style Guide, Mailchimp writes, “We want to educate people without patronizing or confusing them. Using offbeat humor and a conversational voice, we play with language to bring joy to their work.… We don’t take ourselves too seriously.”
Even in the Style Guide, you can hear Mailchimp’s brand voice shine through. The company consistently achieves a conversational, direct, playful voice in all its content.
For instance, in this blog post, the brand writes about various “highly unscientific personas”, including the fainting goat. The email service provider describes this persona by saying, “when startled, its muscles stiffen up and it falls right over.”
They then link out to this hilarious video.
As you can see from this example, you can evoke brand voice in subtle yet effective ways. If the blogger had instead written, “If a goat is scared, it becomes nervous. The animal’s muscles contract and it faints as a result”, the writer would’ve evoked a voice more aligned with a scientific journal than Mailchimp.
8. Fenty Beauty
The About Us page for Rihanna’s beauty company reads, “Before she was BadGalRiRi: music, fashion and beauty icon, Robyn Rihanna Fenty was a little girl in Barbados transfixed by her mother’s lipstick.
The first time she experienced makeup for herself, she never looked back. Makeup became her weapon of choice for self-expression.”
It‘s clear, even just through this short snippet, that Fenty Beauty’s voice is bold, direct, and poetic. Language like “transfixed by her mother’s lipstick” and “her weapon of choice for self-expression” reinforce this voice. However, the tone is also undeniably casual — the way you might talk to your best friend.
You’ll see this voice play out across all Fenty social channels, including this YouTube video description:
The first statement, “The blur is REAL!” — along with phrases like “No-makeup makeup look”, and the shortening of the word “combination” — all evoke a sense of friendliness.
The brand voice matches its target audience perfectly: youthful millennials and Gen-Zers who care about makeup as an opportunity for authentic expression.
9. Clare Paint
Clare, an online paint site, has created a mature, spirited, and cheerful brand voice to evoke a breezy, girl-next-door feel to their branded content.
For instance, consider the title of one of their recent blog posts, “6 Stylish Rooms on Instagram That Make a Strong Case For Pink Walls.”
The post uses phrases like “millennial pink”, “pink walls have obvious staying power”, and “designers and DIY enthusiasts alike have embraced the playful shade with open arms.”
The brand’s language is friendly, chic, and professional, relating to its readers while simultaneously demonstrating the brand’s home decor expertise.
This voice is clear across channels. Take a look at this Instagram post, for instance.
“When baby’s first bedroom is on your grown-up vision board” makes the brand feel like a good-natured older (and more fashionable) sister. The reference to the COO‘s baby boy is another opportunity to make authentic connections with Clare’s followers.
10. Skittles
Skittles often posts hilarious social media posts that strip away any promotional, phony language so you’re left with something much more real.
Take this tweet, which reads: “Vote Skittles for Best Brand on Twitter so we can keep our jobs!”
The brand voice, which is clever and original, does a good job of making prospects and customers feel like they‘re chatting with a mischievous employee behind-the-scenes. The “I can’t believe they just posted that” factor keeps the content fresh and exciting.
Plus, the brand does a good job making pop culture references, like this Mean Girls reference, to highlight the brand’s youthfulness.
Skittles’ use of absurdity and humor plays into their iconic commercials. In one 2022 ad, the company pokes fun at targeted ads.
While two people watch a youtube video, they comment that their ads are so targeted that it feels as if Skittles is listening in on their conversation. Then, a man with a boom mike drops through the floor.
Skittles expertly keeps the same tone across media, showing their brand’s commitment to their voice.
Brand Voice Template
Looking to make a template for your own brand voice? HubSpot is here to help! You can fill out this blank Google Sheet template with your own brand voice characteristics.
Fill out the remaining cells, and send them along to your team.
It‘s important to note, you’ll be prompted to make a Google Drive copy of the template, which isn’t possible without a Google account.
Crafting Your Voice
And there you have it! You’re well on your way toward building a strong, compelling brand voice for your own business.
Logo, color palette, and font are all important aspects of branding. But beyond that, a good brand starts with good content. And good content can’t exist without a strong voice.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in April 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
