"When you leave out your personality, you blend in. You struggle to make sales because you end up having to compete based on what your offer is, what the features are, the price and the benefits. Whereas when you have this brand voice that everyone is recognizing as you, you stop competing. Because you're not now on the same level of these people. You're an individual. You are selling something different. You are selling yourself."

05. How to Find Your Stand out Brand Voice

In this episode, we’re diving into the importance of creating an authentic and standout brand voice. If you’ve never sat down to craft a brand voice guide, this episode is for you. Your written branding is just as crucial as your visual branding when it comes to building a recognizable brand with loyal followers and clients.

I’ll break down the exact process I use with my done-for-you clients to uncover their unique brand voice, a method that consistently earns reviews like, 'Erin has the ability to embody each person and truly capture their words, their story, and the essence of their brand.'

We’ll explore how having a strong brand voice isn’t about being the loudest or most extroverted, but about being authentically you. You’ll learn how to attract your dream clients, make selling easier, and boost your conversions.

By the end of this episode, you’ll have the tools to create a comprehensive brand voice guide that you can share with your team and contractors, making your copy and content creation a breeze.

Topics discussed:

• The importance of brand voice

• How to know if you’ve got a brand voice problem

• What a brand voice isn’t and the mistakes you’ve been making in your messaging

• How to increase the value perception of your brand

• Voice hack yourself to uncover your unique self and “you-isms”

• Take your brand off-screen to become memorable in your dream clients' minds

• How to create a brand voice guide that creates cohesion, authority, and trust

Thank you for listening to this episode of Copy to Freedom: The Podcast. Subscribe for more lighthearted, inspirational, and actionable chats about business, marketing, and reclaiming your freedom.

Connect with Erin:

Website: https://erinmorris.co/

Instagram: @erinmorris.co

Would you love a free 30-min strategy call with me? These strategy calls have previously been reserved for my DFY high-ticket clients and are valued at over $250.

All you have to do is leave the show an honest review. Take a screenshot and send it to [email protected] and you’ll go into the monthly draw to win a 1:1 strategy call. These calls will be a gamechanger if you’ve got an upcoming launch or need an existing piece of copy improved.

Transcript

Hello, Hello friends. I am so excited to be back and recording another episode of the Copy to Freedom podcast. Before we get into Today's Show though. I do want to have a little like side note and just apologize because it is insanely windy at my place and there are trees blowing against the roof and the windows and it is just it is insane weather actually. So I apologize in advance if you can hear this banging noise because this is the trees they are going crazy today. But anyway moving on from that we're going to be talking about brand voice and how you can create a standout brand voice that delivers impact it shows who you are. It's authentic. And the reason this is so important is because having this standout brand voice is what's going to give you clear and compelling communication. It becomes a cohesive message Channel. And just like you would have with visual branding you need to have this cohesive voice to stand out and crowded markets to be your key differentiator to attract like-minded people to your ideal clients. It builds this recognizable brand and it creates trust mostly though. I love to say that it attracts your ideal client. so It also actually moving another one. I want to add to this. It's when you have a cohesive brand voice that's recognizable. It's it gives off a perception of high quality and high value. So it's increasing the value perception of your brand as well as opposed to just no one ever recognizing your words your language like how you say things this brand voice is just so so important. One of the things I really want to get into today is so many people think that a brand voice means, you know, just being the loudest most extroverted person in the room, and that's how you get sales. However, that is absolutely not true. everyone I think in my audience has a personal brand and a personal brand is you if you do not have and Extroverted outgoing crazy voice in real life then that is not your brand voice. Your brand voice is how you are. In real life with your friends how you are with your clients on phone calls how you are when you deliver your courses. How do you message your clients? These are all things we're going to be getting into today, but I just really want you to Put this in your mind that brand voice does not mean being the loudest most extroverted person. so Also, let's get into quickly before we get into it but what messaging is and tone of voice and things so messaging Is what you say? Where is your turn of voice is how you say it so so many people can have like The same messaging but with different brand voices, it's how it comes across is very different. So, um, let's think of an example on the spot here. Let's say we're talking about testimonials and we've got these on your sales page and someone has a very direct brand voice. They have brand voice is going to be like look how much our clients love us. And then list the test of our needles. whereas someone who has a really down to earth brand voice might say We've been told. Let's see, like maybe like one of the main benefits or Transformations that they provide so we've been told our services deliver results every time and then that would be putting in the testimonials so you can really see like it saying the same thing in a different way. okay, so during this episode what I really want you to be walking away with at the end of it is I'm going to help you bring up some tangible action so that you can build this authentic and stand out brand voice and just help uncover Who You Are Who you And then it's so important. I know we've already spoken about why this is important, but I say this again and again, the one differentiator no one can copy is you and when you leave out your personality if you tend to blend in and you struggle to make sales because You end up having to compete based on what you're offer is what the features are and the prices and the benefits. Whereas when you have this brand voice that everyone is recognizing as you and when you can show your personality. You still competing because you're not now on the same level of these people. You are an individual you are you and you are selling something different you're selling yourself and your services and you stop having to compete and now no one's going to look at me like, okay well. You don't fall into that who's the cheapest category anymore? And that is the goal. We want to be seen as industry leaders so that you can make more money and live your biggest freaking life. so let's get into some like Symptoms that you may be experiencing if you haven't got your brand voice nailed. so If you're brand voice doesn't stand out as anything different your messaging your copy your content it can come across as just feeling very cold or clerical. It's just How am I trying to describe it's like, you know it again, it's sort of just going back to what we spoke about how you're competing with the features and the benefits and the pricing. It's only showing. Exactly. What's in your offer? It doesn't have that personality doesn't Create any connection with your audience or your ideal client. It's just It's almost like like you're listing out a bunch of bullet points. Like this is what I can offer you did and please buy my offer. Whereas when you have your brand voice included, it becomes more of like a story it flows and like you can still do that in bullet points, but it's it just shows who you are so much more and it builds so much more connection with your dream clients one of these symptoms. I'm sure like, if you've ever thought that you don't have your brand voice on point. It just lacks a spark of you or your personality. It doesn't show any of your values. So people aren't coming to you and saying like I really connected with you because it X Y and Z and this is why I wanted to work with you. So if you're not having people come up to you and say, oh my God, I loved how you said this or I really connected on this. Wow, I resonate with this. I reson. This is a symptom of not having your brand voice nailed. So. This episode is definitely for you. And then another symptom can be you always just feel like you're shouting into the void and this is again. It keeps coming back to that having to compete with similar Brands because nothing is differentiating you so when you have that brand voice you have built if or you build a fiercely loyal community of people who just they connect with you as a person and they will honestly, they're gonna become like the people that buy every single thing you launch and what's that saying about how you only need like, I think it's like a hundred no, maybe a thousand raving fans and you've made it like if you have a thousand raving fans in your business who buy absolutely anything you launch like you are set and this is the goal. How do we make people connect to who we are as a person when our audiences or our Industries are getting so they're just so many can people competing now. So I really want you to pay attention if you're like, yes. Yes, like I'm having these problems. so We've already spoken about like Bryan voice doesn't need to be the loudest most extroverted voice in the room. So Do not worry about that if you're like, well, I'm really shy like, I'm quite timid. How do I stand out? I will we will get to that shortly. One of the reasons you also don't want to be putting on a brand voice that isn't you as well is because well firstly like people can smell you out a mile away. If you're being in authentic it just Something always feels off. But secondly, if you are making sales and you're putting on this brand voice like extroverted brand voice it isn't you then you're attracting non-ideal clients. Like when you attract when you are someone you're not and you have a personal brand and you're selling people into coaching or courses that you are doing like a big part of like Hands-On role within it then you're attracting people that are interested in someone that's going to have these like loud outgoing personality, and that's not you. Then your clients are going to feel really disappointed because you're not gonna be able to like put on that show the entire way through your course. It's gonna feel so much harder for you. It's going to be so much more work. And I mean I keep using like the example of like being the loudest most extroverted person. But you know, you can insert any sort of brand voice that you tried to put on because you think that will sell. There's so long as it isn't who you are it is. Just they I just want you to stop that right now because it just makes it hard. You're not attracting ideal clients. It's just we do not want to be doing that and if you get so much easier when you just get to be yourself, so we're gonna be ourselves today. Again, and think about it this way as well. It's just like everyone has their own personalities and when you're out in the real world and you've got your friends you click with these people you connect with them and you even when you meet a stranger and you just connect with them, this is what we're doing but on the digital space and it's okay some people you meet and you're like, well we are never going to be friends and That is okay. And this is the part of like having a brand that attracts and repels. because if you're just trying to Make I don't know be like the everyone's person. You're not attracting anyone. You're not repelling everyone. You're just like this mediocre brand. So repelling is okay. I feel like right now like getting into this episode already we have just I just feel like we're doing more of like what is okay to let go of but it is and and it's it's a hard thing because you do want to like you have these big missions and you want to serve all the people but the thing is Everyone isn't for you. And that is okay. We are going to serve your people. You're going to serve them so freaking well, they're going to freaking love you. You're gonna get a million testimonials and everything's gonna snowball when Domino affecting this We're What brand voice isn't as well is you maybe when you first started your business you wrote down five words about like the turn of voice you want to use like happy welcoming inclusive. I don't know five five words like that. You put them on a document one time and you never looked at them since. and again Are these brand voice? Is it just like what you wanted to be is it you so we're gonna get into that today as well. another big mistake is people think That selling isn't about them. Selling is a hundred percent about you. I'm sure we've gone into this in another podcast episode because I say it all the time, but we have personal brands. That means selling is 100% about you. So Let's get on board with that. We're showing off our own personalities. okay, and then maybe you've noticed as well that you have so much to say you're great courage you love teaching but as soon as you try to put those ideas into words, maybe they lose personality or potency or authenticity having a cohesive brand voice is going to really help with that as well and I'll be able to help you get your ideas out of your head and into words, so it actually sounds like you and one of the biggest biggest biggest biggest biggest problems I see with this is And it happens with people who aren't confident and writing copy which is okay but using Plug and Play templates and chat GPT is just like it's just like a Sure Fire way to kill any of the personality in your brand. They definitely have a place. But not to replace how you sound. So if you are using these plug-and-play templates or chat GPT, please just at the end like please review this would you and ask yourself? Like when you read through something would you say that in real life? If not, it has to go. It has to be changed. So let's get into how you can create your brand voice. And really what you're going to be doing right now. Is you're going to be voice hacking yourself your personality your everything you do and say. And I want you to be putting this into a brand voice guideline. So I want you to start a Google doc on your computer and You're going to have a few different headings. So I want you to have your mission your values your turn of voice the words you use the phrases you use any sort of actually emojis. Let's put emojis in there any sort of Personality pieces that are specific to you. So this this is could include like maybe you're someone that really wakes up early mornings every day. You're up at 5:30 a.m. Pop that on there you always drink coffee at 3pm in the afternoon. Like I don't know. It could be you have a cat you have a dog you love hiking these things like don't matter what they are. I just want you to list out and make keep this as a running list with these personality pieces. I want you to be listing out things that Make you you like things that your friends would describe you as like, who are you? What are the things you do? What what are your routines? Because when you have these personality pieces, this is what's going to connect you. the little breadcrumbs that Gives people an insight into who you are outside of your business and your brand the things that people can connect to on a personal level. connect to on a personal level. And one of the ways, you know, you've done this part so well and like a good way to like pop these little bread crumbs into your branding is in your Instagram stories whenever you're on a hike if you're a big hiker. Put a post that you're going on a hike because then other people who are hackers or even people that aren't hike is but is then they see something about someone hiking and you pop into their mind like this that is a job. Well freaking done like That is the goal. We want people to start associating us with things that aren't Just our brand so I go really good example of this like I used to have a travel blog before before covid, but I was obsessed with this bird. It's called a curly. It's in the northern part of Australia and this bird is so freaking awesome it okay. Let me just preface is actually by saying that pretty much everyone in Australia hates this bird. It's a nighttime bird and it people just describe the noise. It makes is like a baby. Screaming or getting strangled or something in the night and I know that sounds terrible and this is not like it but this bird is like got these like tall long legs. I don't know. it runs around it's it's It's Love this verb when I had my travel blog. I had people sending me photos anytime. They would see a curly and it made me so happy so not only like. So not only. People thinking of me, but then also I'm getting the benefit of being like Oh, I get to see my favorite bird all the time. So think about little things you can do like that. Like another thing for me is country music. I love country music. So I try to put in some country music references into my social media pose if I can put it into my sales pages. I will like just Show off who you are. It doesn't have to all be about your business. In fact, it shouldn't be okay. So then what else goes on that sheet, I think that's pretty much. Oh, it's how you would say things and how you wouldn't say things. So think about like how you greet people say how you say. Hello. How do you show excitement? How do you sign off do you use contractions? Do you? I don't know writing caps certain words anything like that. And then you also want to have your analogies the metaphors this this list don't think you have to get it all done like in one sitting because you'll think of things over the next few weeks few months. Just keep coming back to it. Use this as a live document. Okay, and then the way you're actually going to feel this out is what I want you to do. So find something or think of something right now where you have a very good example of your brand voice. So maybe this is Emails that you send it might be social media captions. Maybe it's just text messages to your friends. Do you have voice notes to your current clients anything at all? Where you're you're confident that this is how you speak and it isn't just like a voice that you put on to. to. Essentially, like let's say that you're your sales page. For example, if you're like, oh my gosh, this doesn't sound like me. It's so cold and clerical do not use your sales page find places where you have really good examples of just being authentically you And then what I want you to do is I want you to set a timer for one hour. Go through. All of these places. So if it's just going through your social media captions, just keep going keep going keep going through all of them. Keep going through all Post like as far back as you can go in an hour pull out all of the words you use frequently any phrases you use frequently the Emojis you use and this is really good as well for when you use like analogies and metaphors. So anytime you're talking about with your your brand and maybe like a framework things like that. Put all these Frameworks processes all of these into your Google doc. and the reason it's so important that we have this as a reference point is because It black was saying about creating a cohesive voice. However Even though you're always going to be you some days. You're in like a really happy bright mood, right? Whereas in other days, you might be feeling a bit down and glum and that can make such a difference in what you write from day to day. So then when you have this brand voice, it actually becomes so much easier or this guide makes become so much easier to write your copy or content because you actually then you can do this cold and clerical copy. I'll give you permission to do that. Just like get out the bear bones get out what you need to have written and then use your brand voice guide as a reference point. Where what is one of these like awesome phrases that you use all the time? Oh that can go really well in there. What are some like of your words that you're usms are like to call them through that in maybe have a look around at your personality pieces next and again, like let's use my country music example, so You've done a post or you've written this piece of content, you're like, you know what I could reference this all to country music that will be so much more fun. And then you can just like tweak the language a little bit and now it becomes this is just so much more personality in that it becomes you it's how you say things you've got those phrases those words and then oh, let's add a couple of emojis that we use all the time. And by doing this with every piece of copy you write emails websites sales Pages even like your social media posts. Your podcast descriptions like it doesn't matter what it is at all. Now your brand voice is becoming so recognizable you it is going to be hard for people to not look at this and be like, oh my gosh that that's Erin. In addition to that when you start growing and expanding and bringing on more team members, you've got this guide now of exactly who you are what you sound like so you can give it to your VA if they're helping with social media that you I mean, you can just give it to any team member for them to just know who you are and how you sound like, it's such a great. onboarding tool And then let me just tell you as a copywriter if someone has something about their brand voice guidelines, it makes my job. So much easier and not only making it easier for me. It's It makes it better for you because I don't know have to even though I've got a process where I do this myself for my clients. I do exactly what I've just told you to do, but for my clients. When people can actually tell me already. It's it's there. It's their voice. I can then still go and do my research on top of that. But this is just it is a key thing. And I know like I actually have worked with so many clients who have come to me and for one client. I was even their third copyright because people couldn't get their brand voice and you do need to take a little bit of responsibility on this on your own like I I don't really know how other copyrighters work, but I think my processing getting a brand voice down is quiet different to most and it is something I pride myself on however with other copyrighters and especially if you're hiring on the cheaper end of copyrighters. If you do this for yourself, and then you can give it to them. There's like they you get a better quality of work from them. And I'm sure it works the same as web design. It's like any sort of contractors. If you can give them this guide. It's it's like a cheat sheet for any single person you bring on board so That's another reason you need to do this. And we sort of touched on this a little bit before but it's just like visual branding and I know so many people. Prefer to do the visual branding because it's fun. It's pretty it's so like actionably tangible. You can see it. Like you can almost hold it but say it's so important to have it with your written branding as well and few people focus on that. So when you have the written branding on point instantly you stand out above other people like your competition who isn't doing like who isn't doing this. And think about it this way like you could have the most beautiful branding on your website. But imagine if you didn't have copy and messaging. That goes with The Branding you can't just have a bunch of pictures and expect people to buy your services. Right? Whereas if you have the opposite that's true and you have incredible messaging incredible copy and like so much personality shining through. Sh. It doesn't even matter what the visuals look like. I know it can increase the visual perception and I fully believe that design and copy goes hand in hand, and it does make a difference. But you can sell your offers without the visual element. You cannot sell your offers without the written element. So just it is so important and obviously I'm just like this is what I do. I'm obsessed with this but Yeah, a hundred percent you need to I would love for you to set aside at least an hour this week it's coming out on Tuesday this episode you've got all week only need one hour to set aside to voice hack yourself and it's going to make things so much easier And then so when we're talking about our values, I don't want you to also just put down like a bunch of things that you think you I want you to put time into figuring out your values come up with three to five values that are really important to you. And is how you run your brand by like for me obviously freedom is my number one value because it's so important to how I've lived my life and now it's so important to how I get to help my clients. So when they are able to be seen as industry leaders and they earn more money that like that gives them so much choice. To live a life on their terms and that lights me up so much. So freedom is fun for me Excellence is one for me. And again just like I described with freedom. I would like describe with Excellence. So why is Excellence important to me? Why is Excellence important to my clients and I want you to do this with three to five values for your brand. So they're not now just becoming three to five words their actual descriptions that mean something to you. And then once you have those values then I want you to go and in your brand voice guide then I want you to go and do your tone of voice. Because now you can go through everything that you've already written and they're not going to be meaningless words on a page like happy welcoming good. They're going to actually have some meat behind them. When you look at all your words or your phrases your personality pieces, who are you? What does like I mean, I just thinking of this right now at the top of my head that maybe you can even put that into chat if he and say like these are like the words the phrases the Emojis. He's like things that I do my personality pieces. What five words would you say is describe me? I'm like I said, I just made that up now. I don't know if that would help but you can still have like happy like if you see that everything that you're writing is so positive then it's a positive brand voice if it is very inclusive welcoming things that but make sure there's actually Like a reason behind it. Like I was recently on a guest expert coaching call one of the ladies in the call was saying that in like with her friend, she's always very like sexual. She has all these sexual innuendos, but then like even with her clients in the coaching programs. However in her copy, she doesn't have any of that and she's like I don't I've just realized I don't know why I don't have that. So one of her like Turner voices sexual and she didn't she'd never would have had that if she hadn't actually thought about how all of these pieces of her personality go together. um yeah, I think that is everything I've got for you today, but it's just This is a really easy step. And it's going to make a huge difference to your brand. Okay, I'm gonna sign out now. I love you. Thank you so much for being here, and I was speaking with you next month. Bye.