What is tone of voice in branding? How your business sounds

A notary, or a neighbour who knows the trade

You hear your tone of voice in every email, quote and post your business sends, whether you wrote it down or not. Two firms can say the same thing; one sounds like a notary, the other like a neighbour who knows the trade. Buyers feel that difference before they can name it.

If you want to be precise, separate voice from tone. Your voice is who you are and does not change. Your tone adapts to the moment. Mailchimp puts it this way in its own style guide: you have the same voice all the time, but your tone changes with the situation and the reader's state of mind. A post about a new colleague can sound lighter than an email about a late invoice.

Four sliders: formal, serious, respectful, matter-of-fact

The most practical model comes from Nielsen Norman Group, the American user experience research firm. In July 2016 researcher Kate Moran described four dimensions, each a slider between two poles: formal or casual, serious or funny, respectful or irreverent, matter-of-fact or enthusiastic. A tone is a setting of those four sliders, not a vague word like "professional".

In a follow-up study in August 2016 they showed 100 American adults near-identical copy with only the tone changed. Casual, conversational and moderately enthusiastic copy did best overall. The playful, irreverent copy for a car insurer did worst: friendlier, but less trustworthy, and it did not make people more likely to recommend the firm. Trustworthiness explained about half of whether someone would recommend a company; friendliness added far less.

One voice, several languages

Selling in more than one language multiplies the decisions. Dutch, French and German all make you choose between a formal and an informal you: u or je, vous or tu, Sie or du. In Flanders, the Flemish government's language advice service gives a clear rule: use u at first contact, in formal messages and when the relationship is under strain, such as a complaint or a payment request; switch to je once you know your audience. Never mix the two in one text.

The same brand can land on different settings per market. A casual English site may need a slightly more formal French version for buyers who expect vous from a supplier. Write the tone guide once, then add a short section per language with the form of address, ten banned words and two example texts. That is how we approach multilingual websites.

Twelve people, one voice: an accounting firm

Take an accounting firm in Rotterdam with twelve staff, where every employee writes differently. In one afternoon they agree on three core words (clear, calm, human), a slider setting, je on the site and u in reminders, and ten words they drop. They add five examples, good and bad: a welcome email, a reminder, a post, a quote and an answer to a bad review. The two-page guide goes into the website brief and the social media plan.

A word of caution from the NN/g study: humour makes you likeable until the topic is money, health or your own mistake. Keep the jokes for Instagram and write invoices, reminders and apologies calmly.

A day of work, and less rewriting

A two-page guide takes one or two days of work, in-house or with an agency. The bigger job comes after: rewriting your homepage, your service pages and the emails that go out automatically. If you outsource your posts, tone is part of the management fee; see social media management pricing. The return: clients recognise you without a logo, new staff write in the right style sooner, and AI tools that draft copy get a clear example. Your USP only sounds credible in a tone that fits, and a story loses its pull if it reads like a press release.