Tone of voice: consistency starts with listening to your people
How do you get your brand’s tone of voice to stick? How do you make sure those sweated-over tone of voice guidelines don’t end up dying alone in a quiet corner of the intranet?
Easy. Listen.
And listen to the right people.
Tone of voice is most successful when it reflects how a brand’s people actually speak.
When it bubbles up from the shop floor. Not when it’s imposed from head office via a set of guidelines you hand to your copywriters.
Your people are your brand. And those same people own your tone of voice.
Here’s an example from my own experience.
Background: We were staying at a CitizenM hotel. Aside from the big comfy beds and cool design, a big reason to stay at CitizenM is the amazing staff.
Like Halfords, this is a brand that knows how to find exceptional people — and it gives them the authority to do whatever’s needed to make the customer happy.
CitizenM people are always helpful, always charming, always sunny.
So, anyway, we’d swung by the bar for a nightcap. But for some reason, the on-tap beer we chose didn’t taste quite right. We let them know and off to bed we went.
The next morning, this hand-written note was under our door:
Here’s a transcription:
Hello there Citizen David!
We hope you had a good night and you have enough energy to embrace the day!
Just wanted to let you know, that we have checked and the Basecamp Beer decided to not cooperate with us.
We are very sorry, it was not as tasty as freshly picked strawberries (or other delicious things!) and we have voided the room charge for it.
Enjoy the rest of the stay and may there be sunshine wherever you go!
Professional hugs,
CitizenM Bankside Team
This off-the-cuff note was written in the middle of the night by a member of the bar staff. Not a single brand manager or copywriter involved.
And yet the tone perfectly captures our experience of the brand: always helpful, always charming, always sunny.
In fact, we think corporate HQ could learn a thing or two about tone of voice from their staff.
Here, for example, is the mission statement on their corporate website:
Become the leading transformational hotel; inspiring a new generation of modern travellers in the big cities of the world by offering an affordable luxury lifestyle, while providing sustained premium returns to stakeholders.
As Dan Heath says in his entertaining analysis of a similarly terrible mission statement: “Did you feel that? A little part of your soul just died, reading that”.
At Broom & Moon, we specialise in helping brands find their authentic voice — by listening to the people who really own it.
For an example, read about our work for Mi9, a hip Australian media brand whose employees had a distinct tone of voice.
CitizenM, you know where we are.
Update: This story dates from pre-pandemic. The Broom & Moon team visited citizenM to get a photo to go with this post. We were thrilled to discover that Jakub Juźba, the team member who wrote the note, is still working here! He's been with the brand for six-and a half years — what an endorsement of the CitizenM culture!
