Hi, Mel and Ben here,
Today’s episode is called You’re The Voice, and we talk about what tone of voice is, why it’s important to you and your business, and how to get in touch with your own unique verbal identity. It’s a bit of a high-pressure episode because we both offer tone of voice work in our businesses (me as a freelancer, Ben as part of Copy Or Die, the copywriting agency he runs with friend of the show Dave Harland) and we kinda need to know what we’re talking about.
Did we do ourselves justice? You decide.
What is tone of voice?
In a nutshell, tone of voice is the way you sound across all the places you use words. Your voice is the personality and the tone is how it’s adjusted depending on the context. You can fit in or stand out, depending on your brand. The famous buzzword bingo brands like Oatly, Innocent, and Liquid Death get a mention. But tone of voice isn’t just for “wacky” voices. It’s for immensely serious, professional, dare we say dull voices too.
Why is it important?
You’ve got a voice whether you like it or not, so we recommend that indie business owners and freelancers are aware of how they want to sound. The important thing is that you stay true to the brand/yourself.
We talk a bit about how to get in touch with your own verbal identity including using “morning pages” (free-flow writing) to allow your voice to come out. For larger outfits, it’s important to have a guide that lets everyone “sing from the same hymn sheet”.
A strong, consistent tone of voice can help your customers and wider network get to know, like, and trust you. Which, as we’ve covered in previous episodes, is the key to getting referrals and business leads.
Voicenotes from voice people
We’re fortunate to have two fab voicenoters this time. Rishi Dastidar is a poet, tone of voice expert and brand copywriter who writes regularly for The Guardian. Nick Parker is an author and creator of Voicebox, a full tone of voice tool/system. He also has a short course that you might find useful when trying to spot which of his Eleven Primary Voices you identify with the most. You can also read more about tone of voice on Nick’s Substack Tone Knob.
Voices in voiceland
To learn more about tone of voice, we suggest (as well as Rishi and Nick) you go follow people like…
Vikki Ross (check out her bland book for what not to do)
Jonathan Wilcock - SoWhatIf?
Felicity Wild - Brand Language Lab
Bethany Joy - Bethany’s beautiful website
Chris West - Strong Language
Your Friend(s) And Mine
This time we give a shout-out to long-term friend of the show, penfluencer, line tamer, and Freelancer Magazine’s number one doodler, Amy Nolan. Amy runs her illustration business inkypix4u and has a clipart shop where you can buy her doodles to use in your projects and presentations. Here’s one I bought earlier…but please don’t steal it coz it’s Amy’s IP.
Find us wherever you get your podcasts, and on the indie business club LinkedIn page.
See ya,
Mel & Ben
Find our producer, theme composer and labrador Swiftie Ant Henderson on LinkedIn 🐶
🎙️ Spotify / Apple podcasts / Amazon Music and Audible
The back catalogue
Replays here…
12 Plug In Baby: Software ft Jo Shock and Jack Chambers-Ward
11 Somebody Told Me: Referrals ft Bob Burg and Penni and Jo Pickering
10 Paranoid Android: AI vs creativity ft Tom Albrighton and Molly Scanlon
09 Shiny Happy People: Personal brands ft Lea Turner and Steve Folland
08 Chasing Rainbows: Business planning ft. Alastair Thomson and Melanie Johnson
07 A Design For Life: Creating for yourself with guest co-host Dan Nelken ft. Penny Brazier and The McKinneys
06 I Bet You Look Good On The Timeline ft. Dave Harland and Jonathan Wilcock
05 Flaming Lips: Public Speaking ft. Pascalle Bergmans, Becki Wilson and Nikki Pilkington
04 A Little Respect: Client Relationships ft. Jodie Newman and Sophie Cross
03 All Together Now: Communities ft. Mark Masters and Ant Henderson
02 It’s Oh So Quiet: Finding Clients ft. John Lyons and Bonnie Harrington
01 Fools Gold: Pricing your projects ft. Tom Garfield and Ange Lyons
00 What’s The Story? Podcast origins
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