Watch your tone! How to nail the right tone of voice for your copy
7-minute read
Last update: October 2023
When people hear ‘tone of voice’ they often think about the way we sound when we talk. But our written tone is just as important. It’s how we deliver the emotion behind our messages – and it’s what helps people connect with us on a human level.
We can use our tone to tell readers what kind of person we are, what we believe in, and what we value. And this is true for organisations too. So for charities, which are driven by their values, getting tone of voice right is critical.
But it can feel like a bit of a task to pin down what your tone of voice should sound like, and how to reproduce it in your copy. So let’s explore what tone is, how we can adapt it, and how to identify what tone we should be aiming for in the first place.
What is ‘tone of voice’ anyway? Is it the same as brand voice?
Put simply, it’s not what you say, but how you say it. The same information can land in drastically different ways, depending on the tone it’s delivered in!
A consistent tone of voice supports your brand, helping to build trust and credibility. And your tone helps show readers how you feel about an issue – and how they might feel about it too.
But tone of voice is not quite the same brand voice – although your brand voice should influence your tone in everything you write.
Confused? Try this exercise…
Think of a person you talk with a lot. What do they sound like when they speak?
You can probably hear them now – the pitch of their voice, the speed they talk at, what kind of energy they have. All these things give you, and anyone meeting them for the first time, important information about their personality.
But they’ll also adjust the way they speak to suit specific situations – be it a job interview, coffee with friends, or their child’s bedtime. They’ll still fundamentally sound like them, but you’ll hear a different tone in their voice.
Applied to an organisation, then:
Brand voice is the way your organisation speaks about itself and the world. It tells people about your attitude and ‘personality’, your beliefs and values. Because of this, it should stay fairly static over time.
Tone is how that organisation adapts the way it speaks for individual pieces of content. It shows the emotion and intent behind your words – whether you’re excited or angry, whether you’re trying to reassure or provoke action.
So, your tone will change depending on your audience and your topic – but at all times, your brand voice should still come through.
What affects your tone in copy?
Pretty much every element of your writing will affect its tone!
Most important, of course, are our word choices. I don’t just mean whether we opt for short, simple words or complicated vocabulary, although this plays a part. Many words have synonyms that each carry a slightly different meaning and tone.
Look at the different verbs these environmental charities use to talk about their work:
“We are fighting for a cleaner, better-protected, healthier ocean: one we can all enjoy.” (Marine Conservation Society)
“We are the charity working with everyone to transform the way we eat, farm and care for our natural world.” (Soil Association)
“We look after nature, beauty and history.” (National Trust)
While all these charities have different remits, they’re broadly focused on supporting nature and the planet. Yet the words they use to describe what they do are fairly different in tone – and of course, they’ll have deliberately chosen them to strengthen their brands’ distinct personalities.
Other things that can affect your tone include:
Sentence structure. Short, to the point sentences feel very different in tone compared to long sentences stuffed with clauses.
Imagery. The similes and metaphors we draw on can radically change the feel and tone of our copy.
Punctuation. An exclamation mark can, used in the right way, convey excitement or a warning. A well placed set of quote marks can even get across a sarcastic eye-roll...
Contractions. It may be a very small difference, but “it’s” feels much less formal than “it is”. Contractions can lend a chattier tone to your copy, since this is how most people talk.
Speaking of which…
A word about conversational tone
If you work in communications, chances are at some point in your career you’ve been told: “what we need is a conversational tone.”
If you’re given this brief – or you’re tempted to give it yourself – stop! It’s time to dig deeper.
It’s not that it’s wrong… it’s just not a very useful brief. I believe that if you want to connect with people, pretty much everything you write should feel like a conversation.
But no two conversations are the same. We all know, for example, that a conversation with a service user seeking support should sound very different to the conversation you’d have with a fundraiser.
So, if you’re asked to write in a conversational tone, try to explore what type of conversation it should sound like.
The four tone-of-voice dimensions
Okay then, you might be asking – how do we get beyond ‘conversational’?
Kate Moran’s research for the Nielsen Norman Group, looking at tone for websites, offers a great starting point. She analysed hundreds of words that can be used to describe different tones, and whittled them down to produce four primary ‘tone-of-voice dimensions’:
Formal vs casual
Serious vs funny
Respectful vs irreverent
Matter-of-fact vs enthusiastic
Moran talks about each of these ‘dimensions’ as a spectrum, with each piece of written content placed somewhere along each one.
You might start by deciding where along each spectrum your piece of content should sit. A leaflet for supporters donating in memory of a loved one will be serious and respectful, while an ad for a fundraising event might warrant a more enthusiastic, irreverent, tone.
Then you’ll want to be even more specific. For example, ‘irreverent’ can be applied in lots of different ways: it could be sweary, scornful, tongue-in-cheek, flippant… Your challenge is to work out which version of ‘irreverent’ is right for your brand, your readers and your topic.
How can I work out what tone is best for my content?
If you’re not sure where to start, try answering these questions:
What does my brand stand for? What does it value, and what’s it trying to achieve?
What’s my brand’s personality and attitude?
Who am I talking to?
What’s the message? What information am I trying to get across?
How do I want people to feel?
What do I want them to think, and do?
Your answers should help you to work out how funny or serious, how formal or casual, how respectful or irreverent, and how enthusiastic or matter-of-fact you want to be.
Then you can ask:
How can I refine this? (e.g. Does my style of ‘funny’ mean sarcasm, dad jokes, or something else?)
What tone do I want to avoid? (e.g. I want to sound serious and authoritative, but not patronising).
These are some of the same questions I ask new clients before I put pen to paper on a new project. The answers will give you a good idea of how to choose your words and adapt your writing so that your tone is spot on for your needs.
And if you’re stuck and could use some help? I’m always happy to wrestle with these questions and help find the right tone of voice for your project – just get in touch.
