A Copywriter’s Top Tips to Keep Your Brand Voice Consistent
You run a business. That means you show up a lot – and in a lot of places.
Think about it: Your website. Your emails. Your sales pages. Your proposals. Your Instagram captions. Your client portal. Wherever, whenever – there you are, showing up.
And if you’re doing all your own copywriting, all the words that pop up in those places are coming from the same place: Your brain.
Sometimes, that makes things easier, some of us keep really good track of how we talk about things and are even better at repeating those things over and over for consistency’s sake.
The majority of us are not.
Which means keeping your brand voice consistent can get surprisingly tricky.
The fact of the matter is, even when you know exactly what your brand sounds like, remembering every phrase you use, every messaging angle you’ve established, every tagline you’ve written, and every tiny verbal quirk that makes your copy sound like you is actually a lot to keep rattling around upstairs.
The solution to this isn’t to just try harder – it’s to work a little smarter and give Future You a beautiful and easy-to-use shortcut so that consistent brand voice copy is available at all times.
That’s right, fam – we’re building a brand voice system.
After 10+ years as a copywriter and brand voice strategist, I’ve found that the brands with the most consistent voices aren’t necessarily the brands that are naturally better at writing or remembering their brand voice.
They’re the brands that document their voice and make it ridiculously easy to use.
So, let’s make yours easier to use, too. I’m sharing my go-to tips for keeping a consistent brand voice (AKA, the sticky brand voice system you should set up for yourself!)
LIL KEY TAKEAWAYS: THIS BLOG AT A GLANCE
A consistent brand voice helps your people recognize you wherever they interact with your brand
You shouldn’t have to remember your entire brand voice every time you sit down to write
Your full Brand Voice Guide should establish the rules, personality, tone, and strategy behind your voice
Your Brand Voice Dictionary should collect the actual words, phrases, metaphors, and lil verbal quirks that make you sound like you
Save your strongest copy, taglines, signature phrases, and messaging instead of constantly reinventing them
Create mini messaging guides for individual offers so you always know what to say and how to say it
Put shortcuts and mini versions of your brand voice tools somewhere you can access them quickly
The goal isn't to sound identical everywhere. It's to sound recognizably you everywhere
My Go-To Tips for Keeping Your Brand Voice Consistent
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of it all, I want to make one thing really clear: Brand voice consistency is about creating enough recognizable patterns, phrases, and you-isms that your people start connecting the dots no matter where you show up.
They recognize your phrasing, click with your sense of humor, and know the way you explain your thing.
The easiest way to make that happen is to stop expecting yourself to remember all your sticky stuff and start writing it down so you can access it and lean on it. (And take the pressure off your brain!)
Create an Actual Brand Voice Guide
First things first, if you’re not positive what a brand voice is (or a sticky brand voice!), let me redirect you to the most important piece of content I’ve ever written – the Sticky Brand Voice 101 blog.
That blog will give you a full deep dive into the world of sticky brand voice!
Want the TLDR version? Here it is:
Brand voice is HOW you show up and talk as your brand. If messaging is what you’re saying, brand voice is how you’re saying it.
Brand voice is the consistent & curated personality, vibe, & attitude of your brand when presenting itself to the world.
Brand voice should be the sweet little intersection between who you already are and who your ideal people need you to be.
Your brand voice should have a personality and “vibe direction” (maybe you’re effortlessly cool or no-nonsense or chatty), but it should also have real guidelines and a dedicated dictionary full of your brand’s particular words and phrases.
Brand voice should be consistent and recognizable – that’s what makes it sticky.
Now, enter your Brand Voice Guide.
A brand voice guide is just a go-to document that instructs, guides, and reminds you what your brand voice should sound like and inspires you at every touchpoint.
You know how you have a brand guideline for your logos and fonts and stuff? (Because if you didn’t, you’d have 14 shades of your brand colors floating around).
Just like that visual guideline keeps you consistent (so that your brand looks the same everywhere), a Brand Voice Guide does that for your brand’s voice.
You have a go-to guide that instructs you on how you talk – that way, your voice is consistent, your brand sounds the same everywhere, and you’re instantly recognizable to your people.
A useful Brand Voice Guide should give you enough information that you can open it before writing something and actually use it to make decisions.
That means documenting things like:
Who you're talking to and what they need from you
What you want people to feel when they interact with your brand
Your tone keywords
What those tone keywords actually sound like in practice
The personality traits you intentionally lean into
The sweet spot between who you naturally are and who your people need you to be
Examples of copy that absolutely nails your voice
Guidelines you can follow when you're writing
Think of your Brand Voice Guide like the mood board for your words.
You don't have to stare at it every waking moment of your business life, but it is helpful to have when you stare at a screen and have no idea what to say or how you should say it. With a guide, you have somewhere to check.
PRO COPYWRITER TIP: Don't just describe your voice. Demonstrate it. Channel it. FEEL it. If one of your tone keywords is "playful," include actual examples of what playful sounds like for your brand. Otherwise, you're still leaving yourself to interpret what the heck "playful" means every time you write. Use any form of inspo that sparks that feeling – examples of copy, a playlist, art, an image. There are no rules here – whatever helps you write playful, include that in your guide.
Need help building your own Brand Voice Guide? My mini course Brand Voice Roundup is a fast and fun training that teaches you how to build and use your own custom guide! Check her out right here:
Keep a Running Brand Voice Dictionary
If your Brand Voice Guide is the mecca of all things brand voice, think of the Brand Voice Dictionary as your everyday cheat sheet.
This is probably my favorite DIY brand voice hack of all time.
Your Brand Voice Dictionary is a living, breathing collection of the words, phrases, metaphors, jokes, themes, sentence structures, and random lil isms that make your voice sound unmistakably yours.
It can be messy, imperfect, and a little haphazard – that’s OK! It’s raw data for further analysis, but more importantly, it’s your on-the-fly resource!
Want to build your own? I’ve got a step-by-step guide right here!
Write Down Your Offer’s Taglines & Signature Phrases
And put them in your Brand Voice Guide and your messaging guides for every offer!
When business owners come up with a great phrase, they have this tendency to use it once and then immediately think: Well, I've already said that, so I’m done saying it now.
If something really clicks with your people, connects the dots for your offer, or acts as a killer tagline – write it down and repeat it over and over!
Remember, your audience is not reading every single word you publish. And even if they were, repetition is how you create recognition.
A handful of strong, sticky phrases that encapsulate you and your offers – when used consistently – can become verbal branding!
For me, that's why I continue talking about sticky brand voice. It's why I call the people I want to work with my dream people. It's why you'll hear me talk about flipping on your neon welcome sign over and over again.
Those phrases are doing branding work.
Your visual brand gets a logo. Your verbal brand gets recognizable language!
Need a lil help with determining what’s sticky and what’s not? This blog can help – The Must-Know Info on Sticky Brand Voice
Need Brand Voice Strategy? We’ve Got You
I think a lot of business owners get tripped up when they hear "consistent brand voice.”
They assume they need to become hyper-vigilant about every single word they write, when in reality it’s just about being consistent with the you-isms you already use and then creating shortcuts to repeat them.
If your brand voice isn’t sticking, fear not! That’s my thing, and Boundless can help.
Here’s how:
My 1:1 Brand Voice Strategy service helps you refine the voice that's already there, turn all that personality and instinct into an actual strategy, and build the tools you need to use your sticky voice consistently.
Brand Voice Roundup: That mini course I mentioned earlier is a DIY training you can tackle all on your own to build and use your own custom brand voice guide!
Want to chat through how Boundless can support your sticky brand voice journey? Reach out and let’s connect!
