Tone of Voice

A talk I gave at Revolution Conf in September 2013.

Transcript

1. Revolution Conf – 27/09/13!
2. 1.  Reading   2.  Drinking   Two  Caveats  
7. The diversity in our department enables us to be innovative and creative, resulting in revolutionary, ground breaking and immersive experiences for our target customers.
8. We build awesome products our customers love.
9. What  is  tone  of  voice?   It’s the way we express our personality. It’s what we say but more importantly, how we say it.
10. A great brand is built around a strong personality, and a strong personality has a distinctive and recognisable tone of voice. The University of Manchester
11. Be authentic
12. Be authentic Be consistent
14. Why  is  tone  of  voice   important?  
15. Tone  of  Voice     Hall  of  Fame  
16. Tone  of  Voice     Hall  of  Fame  
17. Tone  of  Voice     Hall  of  Fame  
21. Values   Brand   Personality   Tone  of  voice  
28. Finding  your  tone   of  voice  
29. Formal Informal Serious Funny Mature Youthful Technical Simple
30. Intelligent Not Confusing
31. Confident Not Arrogant
32. Friendly Not Familiar
36. Learning  from  others    
37. It’s  hard  to  get  excited  about  buying  things  for   school  on  Monday.  Even  a  new  pencil  case   hardly  takes  the  edge  off  the  gloom.  Pop  in  and   see  us  for  a  milkshake  or  a  hot  chocolate  and   make  the  most  of  the  last  couple  of  days.   It  would  be  madness  to  leave  the  house  in  this   weather  –  have  breakfast  delivered  to  your   door.  
42. All  content  wriNen  internally.  One   person  signs  off.     Never  planned  communicaQon   strategy.   Does  it  sound  ‘pacty’?   Honest,  open  and  warm.   Organic  audience  research  
43. Gov.uk/designprinciples/styleguide It  has  a  welcoming  and  reassuring  tone  and   aims  to  be  a  trusted  and  familiar  resource    
51. Find  stuff  you  want  
53. Get  yourself  a  liNle  something  
54. Vs
55. •   Founded  in  2004   •   11  acquisiQons  across  Europe   •   2  million  subscribers   •   6  million  unique  visits  per  month  to  UK  site   •   94%  of  their  subscribers  would  recommend    
66. Oh LOVEFiLM, why I oughta.
67. •   Tone  of  voice  is  how  we  express  ourselves,  how  we  sound   •   Values,  brand  and  personality   •   Any  company  can  ask  quesQons,  make  decisions   •   AuthenQc  and  consistent   •   Understand  your  audience,  adapt  tone  as  needed   •   Communicate  to  everyone  involved   •   Guide  and  manage  as  needed     Summary
68. •   Tone  of  voice  is  how  we  express  ourselves,  how  we  sound   •   Values,  brand  and  personality   •   Any  company  can  ask  quesQons,  make  decisions   •   AuthenQc  and  consistent   •   Understand  your  audience,  adapt  tone  as  needed   •   Communicate  to  everyone  involved   •   Guide  and  manage  as  needed     •   It  can  take  years  to  build  and  only  one  tweet  to  destroy.   Summary