Striking the right tone
Many organisations want a distinctive tone of voice, many
copywriters exert themselves creating such a thing, yet few of
us ever stop to ask exactly what we mean by these three little
words. This troubles me, because if we can’t define it, we can’t
deliver it.
Admittedly no single definition is ever going to work in every
situation. In fact there are probably as many definitions of ‘tone
of voice’ as there are people using the phrase. Nevertheless, here
are three interpretations I’ve found useful.
Definition No. 1: Content + expression + audience
For most people ‘tone of voice’ means a writer or speaker’s
choice of words, phrases, idioms, figures of speech and so on. In
other words, the actual language they use.
But tone of voice is just as much about content as it is about
expression – in other words, what ideas we choose to include and
what we choose to ignore. Tone of voice can’t be just how we say
things, it’s got to be about what we choose to say as well. You
can’t have one without the other, and in practice it’s almost
impossible to separate the two.
Then there’s a third factor that influences tone of voice – the
audience. If the language you use and the ideas you choose to
present are wrong for your reader, then all the eloquence in the
world won’t help. In fact, knowledge of your audience should be
the first thing you think of when trying to determine the right
language to use and the right content to include. It’s our old
friend ‘remember your reader’ cropping up yet again.
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Brands and tone of voice 37
Definition No. 2: Personality in print
It might seem an odd thing to say, but reading is really an act of
listening.When you read a novel the voice in your head is telling
you the story; when you read a poem
that voice is telling you what the poet
is feeling. In fact, think of any great
author – one of the things that makes
them great is the voice you hear
when you read their words. What you’re experiencing is their
ability to project a personality onto the page.
So one useful way to describe tone of voice is ‘personality in
print’ (or to put it another way, ‘expression as differentiation’).
When you’re in discussions with a new client, particularly if
you’re not familiar with their brand, one of the first questions
to ask is, ‘Whose voice should we hear when we read the
words?’ If they can’t tell you (and they probably can’t) then you
need to somehow reach a consensus, probably by referring to
brilliant
tip
Don’t automatically reject jargon. While it’s generally true that
brilliant copywriters should speak like normal human beings, it’s
also true that jargon does have a place. The thing is, jargon works,
especially as a shorthand between members of any special-interest
group. The problem with jargon is that it excludes outsiders (some
would say that’s half its point). The answer for copywriters is simple:
remember your reader. If you’re writing for a clearly defined group
with their own micro culture, then fill your page with all the
technobabble they can take (as long as you’re sure they can take it)
– in fact you must in order to appear credible. But if your words are
destined for a wider audience then it’s up to you to move heaven
and earth to translate as appropriate. The point is to keep your
writing relevant for your audience.
reading is really an act
of listening
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38 brilliant copywriting
their brand personality in some way. This is important stuff –
unless you know the voice you’re aiming to emulate (it might
be a founder, the current CEO, a media figure or some com-
posite) you can’t possibly write in a way that’s right for the
brand. As an example let me mention some writing I undertook
for a charity that oversees some of London’s most historic
buildings. After much heated debate we ended up with a tone
of voice we described as ‘part Tony Robinson, part David
Starkey’. With that agreed it was simple to write in the right
tone. It also gave me a semi-objective yardstick against which to
measure our efforts. In many ways ‘Whose voice should we
hear?’ is the most important question a copywriter can ask a
client.
Definition No. 3: Everything you don’t have to say
Another definition of tone of voice I like very much is ‘every-
thing you don’t have to say to get your message across, but
probably should’. If that seems unwieldy just think it over for a
moment. Far from being unimportant, the little things you don’t
have to say – the turns of phrase, rhetorical devices, idiosyn-
cratic twists, unusual word choices and so on – are essential.The
extra material that surrounds your core message is the thing that
really differentiates what you say. It’s this that gives language its
power.
In fact the more a copywriter simpli-
fies a text by cutting away anything
that is surplus to the requirements of
basic intelligibility, the more they
reduce the possibility of creating an
original tone of voice, simply
because there are fewer words to play with. In writing, as in life,
personality comes from all the unnecessary extras.
This is potentially dangerous territory. Elsewhere in this book I
advise you that when it comes to copywriting, less is almost
in writing, personality
comes from all the
unnecessary extras
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always more. And so it is . . . except when it isn’t. Generally
speaking, a piece of writing should be as short and pithy as poss-
ible. However, if you take this too far you end up with
over-impacted language that can be off-putting to readers
because it packs too much meaning into too small a space. As
John Simmons puts it, ‘Language is rarely at its best when it is
at its most direct.’
As proof, consider the following fictional PowerPoint slide. You
may recognise its content:
Brands and tone of voice 39
My Dream/American Dream
Main points:
• Live out our national creed
• Advent of brotherhood in Georgia
• Transformation of Mississippi
Criteria of personal judgement:
• Colour of skin? NO
• Content of character? YES
It is, of course, the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, taken from
a speech delivered to around 250,000 people on 28 August 1963
at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC during the March on
Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Here’s the original:
I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American
dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the
true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal.’
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of
former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit
down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state
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sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of
oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by
the content of their character.
The longer, more discursive, more human, version has infinitely
more power. The point is that tone of voice – in the form of all
the things you don’t strictly have to say – gives words their
impact.
In a nutshell:
G Tone of voice is content + expression + audience.
G It is personality in print.
G It is everything you don’t have to say to get your message
across, but probably should.
Clarity, not simplicity
Over the last few sections I’ve made the point that a conver-
sational approach to language is an important part of brilliant
copywriting. That’s because conversations communicate person-
ality, which brings the brand to life and gives the customer
something to like. Most conversations tend to ramble a bit,
which I think is a very good thing. It relates directly to my defi-
nition of tone of voice as ‘everything you don’t have to say but
probably should’. The little extras make all the difference, and
that has implications for any copywriter seeking simplicity.
You don’t have to go far in the world of branding, advertising
and design to hear a clamour of voices expounding the power of
simplicity. The assertion that less is more has become an article
of faith among creatives everywhere, but is this always right? My
view is that while simplicity is good, clarity is far, far better.The
information expert Richard Saul Wurman makes the point that
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