Tone of voice for a brand: how to craft it with the help of an animated video

Have you ever noticed what kind of reaction you experience once some brand really made you interested? According to many researchers, at least 95% of purchasing decisions are not made with the help of the conscious mind. Mostly our feelings are the main reason why we chose to buy something.

We could be influenced by many things, including brand’s commercials, brand packaging, or…the way they talk to us. This is actually a definition of the term “tone of voice”. In a broad sense, it is very simple: it’s how a brand uses language. How it talks. It might sound weird, but brands do talk through articles, blog posts and, of course, through videos. 

Let’s speak first about the tone of voice in its classic embodiment. All people use language – spoken and written – in order to express themselves. And they do it in their own ways, not in the same way as others. This helps us to reflect our personality. It manifests in many ways: emotional tone, certain idiosyncrasies every person has, expressions, and the way we address other people. All of that constitutes how other people perceive us – it is kind of a way for them to build an image of us.

Brands’ tone of voice works exactly the same. It matters what you talk about, for sure, but the way you deliver a message might be even more important. A tone of voice gets your message tuned in. In its written form you can use colloquialisms, certain vocabulary, types of sentences, storytelling and so on. In a video, it is a bit different. Yes, you can and you should include a certain way of addressing your audience.

Words don’t lose their importance, that’s for sure. However, here at your disposal is even much more tools. You can build your tone of voice through different animation styles within one way of drawing the objects.

How to define your brand’s tone of voice?

How you speak to your audience comes from a few sources. First of all, it is about your attitude toward the audience. In any case, you are taking a friendly attitude, but you can act like a teacher, pal, or even be rather official, like a colleague. The second factor is your set of values.

Values determine how you are going to build your message. Third, what kind of problem are you trying to address? What issue do you aim to solve with your product or service? For example, if your company is working in the finance industry, your tone could be and should be rather professional. No irrelevant notes, no getting too friendly. It is unlikely that your audience will get it. 

However, if you are a delivery company, don’t be shy to get funny and fun. 

It’s important to note that your tone of voice isn’t limited by external activities. No way! The tone of voice should be going through your brand wholly, and it is always better to keep a certain mood even inside the teams. Speaking generally, there are several main types of the tone of voice. This list includes four oppositions: 

However… that is not quite all. There are also a few other types, more specific and narrow. Here goes: Quite a long list of adjectives, right? Each of these words names what type of emotional attitude you take towards your audience.

Why animated video?

Video is one of the main ways to speak to the audience. While simple living video is always the choice, it is hardly can distinguish and emphasize your tone of voice as much as any animation trick. Animation is an ideal choice for those who want to be memorable and easily recognisable by the audience.

You have many options in order to create your own, very unique choice. There are so many animation styles, and you can use any of them. Remember the meditation app Headspace? This is a very good example of a company that keeps a unique tone of voice for a while without losing it. One of the main advantages is the possibility of inventing a character that would carry your brand’s voice. 

Animated video is one of the most effective ways to capture and hold attention. It is extremely engaging, interesting and emotion-provoking.

How to craft it?

It’s very important to think about ‘tone of voice’ from more than one point of perspective. Ideally, there must be three people involved – your company’s writer, a marketer and a studio that makes a video. Each of these people should carry a certain part of the puzzle. Google says that ‘Tone’  – in the form of a noun- is ‘the general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, etc.’ Meanwhile, once you’re referring to it as a verb, you’ll get a little bit different perspective: ‘harmonize with (something) in terms of colour’. Obviously, each of the professionals we just mentioned can create together the attitude of your brand’s behavior through a video.

First of all, you build familiarity through color. Headspace, once again, is easy to recognize thanks to its beautiful colors. Keep through your videos, sites, social media and so on.

Second, think of your culture. No, not about your ethnic roots, but what kind of culture your company represents? It should dictate one of the shades in your tone of voice. Third, get customer development sessions and get your audience’s opinion. This is highly important. You’re working for them, after all.

Finally, make it consistent. Let it be your main “language” in both the visual and linguistic sense of this word. That’s it!