My local supermarket here in France has started selling BrewDog beer.
Why’s that a surprise? Well, major breweries over here control more than 90pc of the beer market.
That's a huge obstacle for any independent brewer. Yet the Scottish firm has crashed the party and persuaded a French retail giant to stock its flagship brew, Punk IPA.
Success against the odds is always fascinating. So when I got home, I took a look at BrewDog’s website.
On there, the company shares the story of its rags to riches rise from humble beginnings in 2007 to becoming a proper powerhouse in the drinks trade.
Straight-talking and subversive
It’s a great story. But what makes it even better is the way the company tells it.
The tone of voice (TOV) is clear, consistent, straight-talking and subversive. After less than five minutes of reading - while sampling the tasty IPA - I felt like I'd known the brand forever.
It got me thinking about just how important it is for any business - from the smallest one-man band to the largest tax-avoiding multi-national - to have a representative and consistent tone of voice.
Daft punk
In the case of BrewDog, which is owned by its customers (or ‘Punks’ as it refers to them), its communications across all channels share the same self-confident, tongue-in-cheek, chatting-to-your-mates tone. It’s always engaging and evocative and fits perfectly with the brand.
Show me some examples, you’re probably thinking. I’m already there…
- BrewDog’s ‘about’ page describes the company’s unbelievable growth as an ‘assault on humanity’
- It refers to its Punk IPA brew as a ‘transatlantic fusion running at the fences of lost empires’
- Just before Christmas on its Twitter feed, it announced to its followers that: ‘We are BrewDog and we’re nailing our colours to the motherf***ing mast’
The company’s unique tone of voice proudly projects an absolute confidence in its products.
If it wins customers like me over in five minutes, then you start to understand how it convinced a major French retailer to stock its beer. It delivers on all the things that a business’s TOV should…
- Conveys a consistent message about its brand
- Helps create familiarity and loyalty with its customers
- Differentiates its business from competitors
Such a punchy, up-and-in-your-face TOV obviously isn’t right for every business. It will bring controversy - as it has for BrewDog, who’ve had plenty of backlash from the tabloid press. But if your business thrives on confronting the biggest brands in your marketplace, then it can be extremely powerful.
How to build the right tone of voice for your business
Whether you’re Joe Pasquale, Elvis Presley or just normal old you, your voice plays a big part in defining your identity. It’s the same for any business.
A company’s original TOV is often created by accident. The founder, when he or she is starting out, projects their values and personality on to the company by the way he talks to staff, responds to customers and carries out his marketing.
Problems often arise when the business expands and the founder no longer responds personally to every customer. Suddenly there are lots of different voices involved and brand values and customer communications become muddied.
Could do better
I think most companies could do better. Here are The Writing Lab’s simple tips for developing a unique and consistent TOV for your business.
- Make it personal
Imagine your brand is a person and make a list of the traits and values it embodies. Try to pin down what’s unique and special about you. Thinking about your company culture and even the sort of things you and your employees do outside work is a great way to establish what makes you unique.
- Find the key words that define your business
Generic terms, such as helpful or reliable are the least any customer expects from a company, so try to delve deeper. If I was trying to define BrewDog’s TOV, I’d use words like subversive, straight-talking and fearless. Find the words that express the feelings, emotions and values that drive your success. Then, hack the list back to just three words that define you best.
- Create clear guidelines
Next step is to get your words down on paper and explain how they should be applied when colleagues communicate. Your TOV guidelines should include:
- Introduction - explain why you're doing it - ie, to have a common and consistent voice even though we might do different jobs. Also, use the introduction to make people think about how and why they use words (ie, to solve a problem, sell, build trust or cheer someone up) and why TOV is important
- The big reveal - have a simple, clear section that reveals the words that will define your chosen TOV, giving a one or two-line explanation of each. So you might say: Subversive: we’re confident about our products and bullish about taking the battle to established brands, and so on
- Provide more detail - next, take each word in turn and explain how it should be applied in practice. So, if one of your TOV words is ‘practical’ for example, you might present a bullet list of what exactly practical writing is (write conversationally, short sentences, subheadings to summarise and break up pars, etc)
- Show me, show me - include examples of adverts, articles or websites that grab your attention. You’re aiming to give those reading your TOV clear and quick examples of the importance of good communication
- The tools for the job - include a simple toolkit that people can use for common communication activities, like letter-writing, emails, etc. It could take the form of a list of questions that everyone should ask themselves before they write, such as: what’s the problem you’re trying to solve? What’s the value for the reader? What action do I want them to take? You should also include examples of customer communication (letters, tweets, articles) written the old way, alongside edited versions in the new TOV, accompanied by easy-to-follow justifications for the new direction.
Brew your own
BrewDog’s rapid growth is a rare phenomenon. They’ve brewed up great words to match a great product. Now it’s time you brewed your own.