Putting It All Together: Crafting a Cohesive Brand Voice and Message (Part 6 of 6)
Welcome to the final installment of our 6-part series on crafting your brand’s voice and message, based on my book Engage and Thrive: A Guide to Building a Strong Online Community of Raving Fans. Over the past five weeks, we’ve explored the foundational elements of building a consistent and memorable brand voice. Today, we’ll bring all the steps together into an actionable plan, so you can ensure your brand’s communications remain cohesive, powerful, and true to its identity across all platforms.
If you’ve been following along, you’ve already done a lot of the hard work. You’ve:
- Defined your brand’s purpose and audience
- Identified the right tone for your brand
- Developed messaging pillars
- Started crafting a comprehensive brand style guide
Now, it’s time to consolidate these pieces into a cohesive action plan that will guide your content creation and branding efforts moving forward.
Why Consistency is Key for a Thriving Brand
Before diving into the action plan, let’s take a moment to review why consistency is so important for building a brand. The way your brand communicates—whether visually or verbally—affects how your audience perceives you. A consistent brand is one that:
- Builds Trust: When your message and visuals are consistent, your audience knows what to expect. This builds trust and strengthens your relationship with customers.
- Creates Recognition: Consistency reinforces your brand identity, making your brand more recognizable. Think of brands like Apple or Starbucks; you instantly know who they are based on their tone, visuals, and message.
- Reflects Professionalism: A cohesive brand signals that you take your business seriously. Inconsistent messaging, on the other hand, can make your brand seem disorganized or untrustworthy.
By pulling together your brand’s voice and message into a well-organized system, you’ll ensure that everything you put out into the world—whether it’s a social media post, blog, or email—works together to support your brand’s goals.
Step-by-Step Action Plan to Craft a Cohesive Brand Voice
Let’s break down the actionable steps that will help you create a cohesive, recognizable brand voice and message across all channels. This plan will tie together the foundational elements you’ve worked on in this series, ensuring that you’re able to maintain consistency in your communications.
1. Compile Your Tone, Audience, and Purpose
Start by reviewing the work you did in the first blog in this series. You defined your brand’s purpose and the specific audience you’re trying to reach. Revisit these definitions and ensure they are clear.
Next, reflect on your brand’s tone. Is it conversational, authoritative, or playful? Understanding this will help you apply the right voice in every piece of content you create.
For example, if you’re running a pet supply company aimed at millennial pet owners, your tone might be playful and friendly, with an emphasis on humor and warmth. Compare that to a financial consulting brand, which would require a tone that’s more serious and knowledgeable, focused on trust and expertise.
Action Step: Create a simple document where you outline your audience, purpose, and tone. This should be a quick-reference guide that you or anyone on your team can use to ensure your brand stays consistent in its communications.
2. Reinforce Messaging Pillars in Every Piece of Content
In Blog 4, we talked about the importance of creating messaging pillars—the key ideas that represent your brand. These pillars should form the backbone of all your brand’s communications.
Each time you create a piece of content, whether it’s an Instagram post or a blog article, check it against your messaging pillars. Does it align with your core values? Does it reinforce one of the messages your brand stands for?
For example, if your brand is focused on sustainability, make sure this message comes through in your product descriptions, social media captions, and even customer service responses. Over time, reinforcing these messages will help you carve out a unique space in your audience’s mind.
Action Step: List your top three messaging pillars in your content creation workspace—whether it’s on your desk, in a project management app, or within your content calendar. Use these pillars as a checklist when developing new content.
3. Use Your Brand Style Guide to Maintain Visual Consistency
Your brand’s style guide is a critical tool for maintaining visual consistency across all platforms, as we discussed in Blog 5. It ensures that your logo, fonts, colors, and imagery are always used in the correct way.
Refer to this guide each time you create a new visual asset, whether that’s a graphic for social media, a new website page, or product packaging. If your brand grows and you start working with outside designers, share this guide with them to ensure everything stays on-brand.
For example, a fitness brand targeting young women might have a style guide that includes bright, energetic colors (like pinks and yellows) and motivational typography. A luxury travel brand, on the other hand, might stick to muted tones (like golds and creams) with elegant serif fonts.
Action Step: If you haven’t already, spend time completing your brand style guide. Focus on defining your visual elements—your logo, colors, fonts, and image style. If you already have a style guide in place, review it to ensure it reflects your brand’s current identity.
4. Ensure Alignment Across All Platforms
Once your brand’s tone, messaging pillars, and style guide are established, the next step is to ensure these elements are aligned across every platform your brand uses.
This includes your:
- Website
- Social media profiles
- Email newsletters
- Product descriptions
- Advertisements
Start by conducting a content audit. Review each of your platforms and look for any inconsistencies in tone, messaging, or visuals. For example, if your Instagram captions are fun and lighthearted but your website is formal and stiff, you’ll want to make adjustments so that your brand voice is cohesive everywhere.
Action Step: Conduct a mini-audit of one platform, such as your website or Instagram. Identify any areas where the tone, messaging, or visuals don’t align with the guidelines you’ve created in your brand style guide. Make any necessary updates to ensure consistency.
5. Schedule Regular Brand Reviews
As your brand evolves, it’s important to revisit your brand voice and message periodically to ensure they still reflect your business goals and audience preferences. Your style guide and messaging pillars should be living documents that evolve as your brand grows.
Schedule a review of your brand voice and message every 6 to 12 months. During this time, assess whether your tone, visuals, and content still resonate with your audience. If your business expands to target a new demographic or offer new products, you may need to adjust your messaging and style guide accordingly.
For example, if your brand started as a small bakery and now offers catering services for corporate events, you might need to adjust your tone from casual to more professional to reflect this shift.
Action Step: Set a reminder in your calendar to conduct a brand review 6 months from now. During this review, assess whether your brand’s tone, messaging pillars, and visuals still align with your business goals and audience expectations.
Bringing It All Together: How to Apply These Steps
By now, you should have a clear understanding of how to pull together all the elements of your brand’s voice and message into a cohesive, actionable plan. Here’s how to implement these steps:
- Start with a review of your audience and tone.
- Use your messaging pillars to guide your content creation.
- Refer to your brand style guide for visual consistency.
- Conduct regular content audits to ensure alignment across platforms.
- Schedule brand reviews to keep your brand voice and message up-to-date.
By following this action plan, you’ll create a brand that not only stands out in a crowded market but also builds lasting trust with your audience.
Action Step:
Spend 30 minutes today reviewing one piece of content you’ve recently created (such as a blog post, social media caption, or email). Check to ensure it aligns with your tone, messaging pillars, and style guide. Make any adjustments needed to bring it in line with your cohesive brand strategy.
What’s Next:
This concludes our 6-part series on crafting your brand’s voice and message. I hope you’ve found these insights helpful in building a brand that resonates with your audience. If you want to dive deeper into building a thriving online community and growing your brand, be sure to check out my book Engage and Thrive: A Guide to Building a Strong Online Community of Raving Fans.
This blog is part of a 6-part series based on my new book, Engage and Thrive. To learn more about how to build a strong and recognizable brand, grab your copy today on Amazon!
To read the rest of the series click below:
Creating a Brand Style Guide for Consistency (Part 5 of 6)
Developing Messaging Pillars for a Consistent Brand (Part 4 of 6)
Choosing the Right Tone for Your Brand (Part 3 of 6)
Understanding Your Audience: The Key to Crafting Your Brand’s Voice (Part 2 of 6)
How to Define Your Brand’s Core Values (Part 1 of 6)
Veronica Goldspiel, a #1 best-selling author and veteran freelancer with over two decades of experience, has worked with top motivational and self-improvement speakers worldwide, including luminaries like Tony Robbins and T. Harv Eker.
Veronica’s expertise spans various sectors, from healthcare to entertainment, and offers a holistic approach to business and personal growth. Her extensive skills in social media management, content creation, and book publishing as well as health and wellness continue to empower clients globally.
As an author, Veronica penned works such as her #1 Best Sellers Freelance Success Secrets: 21 Essential Habits That Will Transform Your Freelance Business From Surviving to Thriving, Dream Catchers: Mastering the Art of Realizing Your Dreams and From Likes to Profits: A Guide to Choosing the Most Profitable Social Media Platforms for Your Brand. She is also the author of Finance for Freelancers: Maximize Income, Manage Cash Flow, Minimize Stress, Reflections for Dream Catchers: The Inspirational Book of Wisdom for Your Journey to Success, and Making Your Business a Social Media Superstar: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating, Maintaining, and Promoting Your Online Presence. You can connect with Veronica at: www.goldspielcreativeenterprises.com
