Brand Copywriting: Discover your brand voice

Which of the following would you be more likely to buy from?

1) A bland run-of-the-mill company that pumps out cookie-cutter products,

or:

2) A business owner with a fun personality or coach with a spicy attitude and values you vibe with?

The second one, right?

Personally speaking when I invest in a coach (and I do, because I always want to grow), I want to feel such a connection with them that sending payment feels fun to me (like buying from a bestie!).

The fact is that consumers prefer to buy from businesses they feel like they KNOW.

What is your brand voice?

Your brand voice is how you write your copy and content so it reflects your brand’s personality. This means that if you’re a coach or service provider, YOU are the brand.

Your brand’s voice is…YOU!

So make sure the following comes through in your written brand voice:

• How you sound when you’re having a conversation with a friend (see my blog on Conversational Copywriting)
• What you stand for (what problems in the world keep you up at night?)
• Your passions (What subject could you talk about for hours?)
• Your mission (What mark do you want to leave behind?)

Your words matter. All the copy you write needs to reflect your brand voice consistently. When you write according to your values and personality and are consistent across all channels, you’ll develop your personal brand voice.

Your brand voice is your unique way of communicating who you are to your audience.

If you want to build a successful business and increase your revenue by up to 20%, developing your brand voice and learning how to write effective brand copy is essential. 

In this blog, we’ll:

• Learn how to develop your unique brand identity,
• Dive into the nuts and bolts of brand copywriting,
• Learn how to craft copy that makes your brand’s personality stand out amongst the crowd.

What is brand copywriting: a comprehensive guide

Catchy slogans. Iconic brand names. Website copy. Sales pages. Product descriptions. Email newsletters. Brand copywriting functions to market your brand across the board- but not in an icky way. 

Brand copywriting is about telling stories and connecting with your audience’s emotions. It’s about giving a great first impression to the reader while also making them feel something and capturing their attention.

For example, good copywriting in social media posts to reflect your unique brand voice should immediately resonate with someone in your target audience. You want them to read the hook and be like, ‘OK, dis girl has my attention.’ 

Then, you can tell them a story that introduces yourself, engages them at a heart level, and invites them to do something with it (Call to Action or CTA).

Create a feeling with your brand personality.

When you tell a story about your life or something that happened in your business, your audience will have a direct response emotionally. Do this consistently enough, and you’ll start becoming known for that feeling you evoke, creating a solid brand presence.

Examples of brand copywriting:

Think of the giant brand giant Apple. Their clear, concise, short-form copy makes you feel you can be creative and make beautiful content with your Apple products, right?

There’s a business coach I wrote about last year who is the sassiest and most authoritative voice on the internet I know. When I read her content, I feel challenged and inspired, and I feel like a fun bestie is giving me a much-needed butt-kicking, which makes me warm to her! (I guess I’m a fan of the tough love!).

Become known for how you make people feel through your written content because we all want to buy from brands we feel we have some sort of personal relationship with. 

Over time you’ll establish a relationship with your audience, build trust, and continue letting your personality shine through your core messaging and voila!

Your brand voice is born!

How to write effective brand copy:

Know your core values.

Successful brands stand for something. They believe in a specific set of values that inform everything they do. For example, here are some of mine:

• Empowering female entrepreneurs and business owners
• Social justice and impact
• Being a present mum
• A global worldview

Get your values written down somewhere, ideally on your blog, and then allow them to come through in all of your marketing content.

Be Creative.

Brand building should be fun! Don’t be afraid to stand out and be different with your language as you write. Tell captivating stories, use humour, and paint a picture with words as you describe things. Reading books and other creative content can help your creativity to flow. 

Remember, creative brand copywriting always connects with readers’ emotions and life experiences and takes them on a journey to take action. Whether it’s to follow your account, sign up for your newsletter, book a call, or buy the course, give them a clear, easy way to take a step towards working with you.

Know your target audience. 

Brand copywriting is the art of writing as your authentic self but also in a way that your intended audience will feel like you’re speaking to them over coffee, like they’re the only person in the room.

Do a deep dive on your ideal client avatar, so you can nail down exactly who you’re writing to:

• Where do they live?
• What are their demographics?
• What do they want?
• What do they struggle with?

The more detail you can go into with your target audience research, the more you can write persuasive good copy that will get people exclaiming: ‘It’s like she read my mind! I gotta work with her!’.

Create brand guidelines use them consistently.

Running your own business means writing many different types of copy. You have your website, blog, email campaigns, and sales pages… but they all need to emulate your brand’s voice across channels so your message is consistent.

Create a brand guideline document for your brand. This can be a simple Google Doc you can build on over time.

Here’s some prompts you can use to get you started:

What’s your mission statement? (I (your craft) to help (target audience) to (desires) so they can (dream result).

Which words describe my energy the most? (for example, cheerful, upbeat, fun, informal, chilled, playful, motivational).

What fun words do I like to use? (Babe, friend, yo, ta, see ya!)

What feelings do you want your audience to experience when they read your copy? (joy, hope, love, determination).

Keep referring back to your brand guidelines when you write content and copy for your business, and keep your brand voice consistent.

What makes you unique?

Do a dive-dive into what competitors in your niche are doing- but before you fall down the rabbit hole of comparison, remember: ain’t no one do it like you do it, boo!

What makes you different from them?

• What do you offer that sets you apart?
• What is different and better about the customer experience with you than with the competition?
• What element of your story gives you a unique edge you can incorporate into your brand strategy?
• Which of your values make you an ideal choice for the humans you desire to work with?

Tell stories to create an emotional connection.

Remember a book that you just couldn’t put down? Or that article online that you wanted to read so much you punched your credit card details to get past the paywall? That’s what to aim for when it comes to telling stories in your brand copywriting.

But why is storytelling such a crucial part of effective copywriting?

Because it shows your audience instead of just telling, it captures the imagination in a way that just describing a product or service never could! 

Tell stories that appeal to your target audience and that they will relate to. Simple, funny, everyday occurrences can be very relatable to your audience, and you can pull out what you learned from that experience. Personal stories are great because they show your human side (and as we’ve already established, people want to buy from people they feel connected to).

You can also tell stories from history or culture that inspire your brand.

Before and after stories from your clients can also be great for storytelling to build your brand, as well as testimonials and case studies.

Why hire a brand copywriter?

As a business owner, the reality is that writing copy is going to be something you always have to do. That’s why I want to help you be the best writer you can be.

Brands hire a brand copywriter for many reasons:

-Saves you a ton of time

-Helps you develop a brand voice that can develop, and you can become known over time

-Saves you stress as you hand over one significant element of your marketing to a specialist

-And most importantly – Increases your sales and conversions.

If you want to add a copywriter to your team, I’d love to chat and see if we fit.

How can a brand copywriter write words that sounds like you?

I get that your brand is your baby. Your business is precious to you.

Handing over something as core to your brand as copy to someone else can be scary. I joke that it’s my superpower to sound like you as your copywriter… but it’s so much more than that.

Emulating your exact tone of voice takes time, research, and practice.

When I onboard a new client, and they send me a brand voice document, I do a happy dance! A brand voice document is a great help to me because I can immediately see what sort of language you use, what kind of punctuation you like to use, do you have any fun, unique slang words that represent you, etc. (If you work with me I can also help you create a brand voice doc or create one for you!).

Relationships are important to me, so I get to know you as both a business owner and as a human, and might also record a Zoom call to analyze how you speak in order to help me write like you would. I also might ask you for content examples of brand voices that you like.

Finally- the proof is in the puddling- if you look at my portfolio, you can see that my work has been published in a range of different brand voices for clients across various industries- if I can write in their voice, I can write in yours too.

I hope this blog can help you write as the badass, authentic brand you’re becoming! If I can help in any way, get in touch.

My goal is always to use my words to get you in front of your ideal client and to show them why you’re exactly what they’ve been looking for!

To your wild success! Becky xo