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    Voice and Tone Strategy: Connecting with People through Content
    Voice and Tone Strategy: Connecting with People through Content
    Voice and Tone Strategy: Connecting with People through Content
    Ebook204 pages3 hours

    Voice and Tone Strategy: Connecting with People through Content

    By John Caldwell

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    About this ebook

    Connections. We all want them. We seek them in our everyday lives, in our rel ationships with people, places and things. Emotion is at the heart of any meanin gful connection, and how we talk to each other taps into it. Our character, brou ght to life through our voice, is the most powerful tool we have to connect with people, especially when it comes to connecting on an emotional level.

    In the past, a transactional relationship with customers was sufficient. A simple experience that delivered a clear benefit, such as extra money in their pocket or the easy completion of a task, was all you needed to satisfy and retain existing customers. But times have changed. Today, more than ever, consumers gravitate toward—and increasingly, crave—meaningful experiences.

    This book focuses on the role of a voice and tone strategy as a part of a successful content strategy. Voice and Tone Strategy: Connecting with People through Content shows you how to create a voice and tone strategy that addresses customer needs and helps you build exceptional customer relationships.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherXML Press
    Release dateFeb 25, 2020
    ISBN9781937434694
    Voice and Tone Strategy: Connecting with People through Content

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      Book preview

      Voice and Tone Strategy - John Caldwell

      Voice and Tone Strategy

      Table of Contents

      Preface

      1. What is Voice and Tone?

      1.1. Understanding character, voice, and tone

      1.2. Where voice and tone live in a content strategy

      1.3. Marketing and product voice

      1.4. The importance of relationships

      2. A Simple Framework for Voice and Tone

      2.1. Start by setting a goal for your voice and tone

      2.2. Building block #1: Customer needs and desires

      2.3. Building block #2: Voice attributes

      2.3.1. Creating attributes through role models

      2.3.2. Guardrails

      2.4. Building block #3: Principles for voice

      2.5. Building block #4: Examples

      3. Building Block 1: Needs and Desires (but mostly desires)

      3.1. Vision and goal

      3.2. Desires are the most important strategic target

      3.3. Using storytelling to discover customer desires

      3.4. Building a list of customer needs and desires

      3.5. Validate what you think you know

      3.6. Narrow to the best opportunities for voice

      3.7. Declare your own desires in the relationship

      3.8. Understand human nature, not just characteristics

      3.9. A strategic foundation for voice and tone

      4. Building Block 2: Defining an Archetype and Attributes

      4.1. Focus on the voice of your character

      4.2. Use a modern archetype to identify your character

      4.3. Create a set of voice attributes

      4.3.1. Brainstorm some attributes with your teams

      4.3.2. Go broad then narrow

      4.4. Put guardrails around your attributes

      4.5. Consider tone

      4.6. Test your attributes before moving forward

      5. Building Block 3: Crafting Principles to Guide Your Voice

      5.1. Know the difference between a principle and an attribute

      5.2. Craft principles with writers in mind

      5.3. Make sure your principles are strategic

      5.4. Go for the aspirational

      5.5. Treat your principles like an open toolbox

      5.6. Create a subset of principles for specific projects and priorities

      6. Flex Voice and Tone

      6.1. How do voice and tone flex?

      6.1.1. Voice flexes depending on the situation

      6.1.2. Tone flexes depending on emotion

      6.2. Build a voice flex framework

      6.2.1. Identify flexes for your touchpoints

      6.2.2. Create principles for your voice flex framework

      6.3. Flexing tone

      6.3.1. Look at mapping tone end-to-end

      6.3.2. Create guidelines for tone flexes

      6.4. Deciding whether to flex voice or tone

      6.5. Flex frameworks and expanding products or services

      7. Building Block 4: The Power of Examples

      7.1. Start with just-dos

      7.2. Create examples to inspire and instruct

      7.3. Workshop your examples

      7.4. Present your examples for highest impact

      7.5. Use outside examples

      7.6. Test your examples

      8. Style and Structure

      8.1. Voice and tone drive style and structure

      8.2. If you don’t already have a style guide, make one

      8.3. Create a word list

      8.4. Create a quick reference guide

      8.5. Set rules for structured content to establish your voice

      8.6. Allow style and structure to evolve

      9. The Roll Out

      9.1. Create a presentation that tells the story of your strategy

      9.1.1. Introduce the idea of change

      9.2. Take your presentation on a road show

      9.3. Start working with content creators to get things rolling

      9.4. Use what you learn and start version two

      9.5. Strategy is king. Spread the word

      10. Epilogue

      10.1. Master the power of story

      10.2. The future of voice and tone could be AI

      10.3. Finally, have a look at my strategy for this book

      10.4. Acknowledgements

      References

      Glossary

      Index

      A. Copyright and Legal Notices

      List of Figures

      2.1. Vertical Voice and Tone Framework

      2.2. Identifying goals

      2.3. List of needs and desires

      2.4. Example: TurboTax

      2.5. Sweetgreen advertisement

      2.6. From-to presentation example

      3.1. Ad for Chanel Paris-Riviera

      3.2. Google I’m Feeling Lucky search

      3.3. Moo Get Inspired page

      3.4. Content-first wireframe

      3.5. Strategic framework including customer needs and desires

      4.1. Modern archetypes that can work for voice

      4.2. Shopify character attributes

      4.3. Shopify guidelines for positive situations

      4.4. Shopify guidelines for negative situations

      5.1. No-duh versus aspirational principles

      6.1. Map of customer end-to-end journey

      6.2. TurboTax voice flex framework

      6.3. TurboTax voice flex end-to-end flexes

      6.4. Flex voice principles

      6.5. Flexing tone across the customer journey

      6.6. Guidelines for the tone flex playfulness

      6.7. Flex voice and tone based on the product or service

      7.1. Principle with an example

      7.2. Intuit principle with an example

      7.3. Sounds like/doesn’t sound like

      8.1. First-person query box

      8.2. First-person query box with a follow up

      8.3. Example of a standard word list

      8.4. License agreement panel

      9.1. Customer needs and desires

      10.1. Poncho

      List of Tables

      10.1. Strategic framework for this book

      Voice and Tone Strategy

      Connecting with People through Content

      ISBN: 978-1-937434-68-7 (print)

      ISBN: 978-1-937434-69-4 (ebook)

      John Caldwell

      Copyright © 2020 John Caldwell

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright holder, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

      Disclaimer

      The information in this book is provided on an as is basis, without warranty. While every effort has been taken by the author and XML Press in the preparation of this book, the author and XML Press shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the information contained herein.

      This book contains links to third-party web sites that are not under the control of the author or XML Press. The author and XML Press are not responsible for the content of any linked site. Inclusion of a link in this book does not imply that the author or XML Press endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content of that third-party site.

      Credits

      Series Producer and Editor:Scott AbelSeries Cover Design:Marc PoschPublisher:Richard Hamilton

      Trademarks

      XML Press and the XML Press logo are trademarks of XML Press.

      All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have been capitalized as appropriate. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

      Preface

      Connections. We all want them. We seek them in our everyday lives, in our relationships with people, places and things. Emotion is at the heart of any meaningful connection, and how we talk to each other taps into it. Our character, brought to life through our voice, is the most powerful tool we have to connect with people, especially when it comes to connecting on an emotional level.

      Indeed, if two products offer essentially the same benefits, the one that taps into emotional needs stands a better chance of success. Winning products succeed by creating lasting relationships with customers, who speak positively about the experience you provide to friends, family members, and even strangers. That’s why a formal voice and tone strategy is important to the success of a website, product, platform, or service.

      Content strategy comes in many forms and plays different roles on the stage or website and product design. A common definition for a broader strategy is the auditing, planning, structuring, and delivering of content across a customer experience end-to-end. But that’s not what this book is about. This book focuses on the role of a voice and tone strategy as a part of a successful content strategy. Voice and Tone Strategy: Connecting with People through Content examines the role of voice and tone in creating exceptional customer relationships and explores how to create a strategy that addresses customer needs.

      In the past, a transactional relationship with customers was sufficient. A simple experience that delivered a clear benefit, such as extra money in their pocket or the easy completion of a task, was all you needed to satisfy and retain existing customers.

      But times have changed. Today, more than ever, consumers gravitate toward—​and increasingly, crave—​meaningful experiences. Consumers develop a strong connection to brands they perceive as thoughtful. They are often overwhelmed with too much irrelevant information, and in those situations, they may prefer to minimize interaction with your brand. Voice and tone can help you strengthen the affinity consumers feel toward your brand, allowing you to build a relationship that will decrease the likelihood that they’ll defect to your competitors.

      Video game companies, real estate agencies, financial platforms, and restaurants differentiate themselves from the competition by leveraging emotional connections and encouraging engagement. Customers may not think of it this way, but the reality is, they often respond positively to meaningful relationships with the products and services they choose. That’s because they want the connection. Voice and tone can deliver the trust and experiences that make those connections real and create loyal customers.[1]

      Hungry for tacos? Those too can come with a side of human connection. When you go to the King Taco located at 3rd and Ford Blvd. in East Los Angeles on a Saturday night, you’re presented with a choice: Get served at the counter inside the restaurant, or wait for up to an hour at the taco truck parked out front. That’s right, they have their own taco truck permanently situated next to the building. They don’t drive it anywhere.

      Why would hungry taco fans wait for an hour to get the same tacos they can get right away just steps inside the door? Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold has an answer. You’re almost eating [the taco] in one continuous motion from the guy to the grill to the counter, he says in the documentary City of Gold. I know it’s overly romantic.

      Perhaps. But his point is that the taco lovers don’t just want the tacos. They want an experience, one in which they sense that

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