By Bob LeDrew
Animators use model sheets like this one to explore facial expressions. You can use words on paper to explore your organization’s “voice” and ultimately create better content.
I started out my working life in public radio, writing to talk. Later in my working life, there was a time when I wrote a lot of speeches.
And my radio experience gave me a useful way of knowing when I was doing a good job.
If I could hear the voice of the speaker in my head as I was writing, I knew I was in a good place. If I couldn't hear that voice, or if I heard my own voice, I knew I had strayed off the path.
So as I moved into doing more social media work, I found people clamouring for "better content", "content marketing," "being a content creator," and a million other words. Heck, I even teach a course called "Creating Compelling Content." But a lot of organizations aren't. And I think it's because there are a lot of people who aren't hearing the right voices.
Sure, you're saying, it's easy to have a speech that's written in a "voice" — it's meant to be spoken.
Finding Your Voice
But every organization has a voice, if you observe it carefully. Sometimes, those voices emanate from the top.
Steve Jobs was the voice of Apple — his remarkable presentations and delivery trickled down and infused the company with his voice. And he was deeply involved in the signature statements of the company: For example, the "Think Different" and "Here's to the crazy ones" advertising campaigns.
Many think of him as either the writer or the narrator of that ad, even though it was written at Apple's ad agency and the commercial was narrated by Richard Dreyfuss.
But even companies that don't have a charismatic leader like Steve Jobs can have a defined and distinct voice.
Here in Canada, we have a company called Lee Valley Tools that specializes in high-quality woodworking and gardening gear. If you read their catalogues or look at their website, you'll find (I hope) that you can almost hear a voice in your head. To my mind, it's something like Wilford Brimley in those Quaker Oats commercials — a bit avuncular, a bit gruff, authoritative but not off-putting, using simple words and short sentences.
So how do you figure out an organizational voice? First, the organization in question needs to know what it's about. If you have a company that flounders around looking for a tactic to chase, and thinks strategy is the inverse of comedy, you're not going to have an easy time determining an organizational voice.
Do You Hear Yourself?
Look at your website. Look at your ads. Social media feeds. Media relations material. Read it out loud. Do you see or hear patterns that resonate? Sentence length, the types of verbs used. Are the words short and simple or long and complex? When there are quotes from executives, are they unintelligible blather or do they sound like they might have actually been said out loud by a human being? This process will give you some clues to the existing voice.
Then you need to figure out whether that voice matches your, and your company's aspirations. Do you see yourselves as funny and whimsical or positive and businesslike?
What do you need to do to bring your organization's voice closer to what you — and the rest of your organization — believe it should be?
Often, the first step is to talk to your colleagues and your superiors and say "What do you think we sound like? What are we about? When you think of us, do we sound like James Earl Jones or James Woods?" If people look at you strangely, show them some commercials. Denis Leary brings his voice and its associations to Ford truck commercials. Sam Elliott brings a very different set of associations to his Dodge commercials.
It’s More than Just Words
Once you get people thinking about this, begin to build a set of — not rules, not even guidelines — ideas. Start to noodle with words and images and begin to figure out what words, verbs, sentences, metaphors, images work best for your organization.
Test it out with colleagues.
Building a corporate voice isn't that different from creating a style guide or a branding guide. It's the same process, except the concept is a little bit more ineffable, a little bit more like grabbing smoke.
But the process of saying "we're not that; we're more like THIS" can be an invaluable one. Give it a try.
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