Workshop: We need to talk about tone of voice

The way you communicate with people is essential. So, no surprise, your verbal brand or tone of voice is crucial to user experiences. It’s how people get a handle on who you are as an organisation, find their way around you. And ultimately, it plays a huge role in framing their relationship with you.

The classic model for tone of voice generally gives you a word cloud and some directions on how to maintain it. 

And that’s where the trouble begins.

Because a list of words and directions like, ‘keep it human, be friendly but not too informal’ or similar, are far to open to subjectivity. The truth is, unless you’ve been involved in the development of the tone of voice, it’s hard to pick up and run with it.

As a result, consistency can be a real issue. And that’s terrible for user experiences. People need to feel familiar with your tone, build a connection with it. That’s much harder if its inconsistent.

This workshop covers the model we use with our strategic partner Hall of Fame to show how you can provide clearer direction on how to: 

• Establishing a tone of voice
• Maintaining consistency 
• Evolving it.

You’ll get hands on with the model, try out a few exercises that should raise a smile and ultimately help you better understand verbal branding.

There’s no prep needed apart from having your favourite three movies in your head for the workshop. And I promise we will not be creating word clouds.

About Rajnish

I’m a Creative Director with over 25 years’ industry experience. My career began as a junior writer in the mid ‘90s. From there I sharpened my skills with start-ups, independents and network agencies, working with a wide range of organisations including Greenpeace, American Express, Pepsi, BMW Motors, Danone and Vodafone. Today I run Riggs & Razdan, a creative consultancy, that handles rebrands, content design projects and integrated campaigns for a range of commercial and not-for-profits organisations across Europe, USA and Asia.  Along the way I’ve written for Have I Got News For You, picked up the odd award a few worry lines and lost quite a bit of hair.