Branding is crucial for all businesses, large and small. Your Brand is the only way you can find and keep customers in today’s saturated market. Recently, marketers have been deliberating the idea of “brand voice.” Brand voice is the unique tone that your brand uses to stand out from other companies and competitors. It’s the first thing that comes to mind when your consumers hear your business name.

But the question on every marketer’s mind is—how do you create a strong, differentiated, consistent brand voice?

The solution may be simpler than expected: video.

Video is a potent opportunity to build a voice surrounding your brand.

Brand Voice 101

“Brand voice” is the soul of your business. It’s the tone and manner in which you connect with your audience and employees. It puts a personality and feel to an otherwise anonymous corporation. It’s the identity that your customers think of when they hear your brand name. For example, when you think of True Film Production, we want you to think of us as the super-hero video marketers.

There are a number of ways to create a voice unique to your brand. Below are some of the questions to consider when determining how you will want to build a voice and culture around your business:

• What are your organizational values and mission?

• What are the benefits of your brand to the consumer and to the world?

• Who is your target audience? What does their voice sound like?

• How do your consumers view your brand?

• How do you want your brand to make your consumers feel?

• What is the general tone of your communications?

For example, a luxury car brand may focus on elegance and exclusivity, a sports drink might focus on inspiration and wellness, and a recruiting firm might intrigue clients with humor.

In order for brand voice to be effective, it needs to be consistent throughout all communications: your logo, your tagline, your marketing materials, your CEO’s speeches, your social media, and even how you respond to emails. How your business talks—to the consumer, to the employee, and to the shareholders—builds your brand voice.

The best way to generate and show off a unique brand voice is with video. Video content enables a firsthand experience of your brand. Video is as personal and relational as a physical storefront. It allows you to show off your brand through faces, voices, and stories.

A video is your brand voice in action.

How do you utilize video to create this brand voice?

1. Produce a variety of videos.

Build a brand voice that relies heavily on video content. You want to have a number of videos to show a well-rounded view of your brand. Keeping the tone of the videos consistent will help customers maintain a sense of your business’s personality.

Types of video content to use when presenting a brand voice:

• Client testimonials

• About us

• How to

• Vlogs

• Sales videos

• Employee trainings

The more content you have with a consistent tone and message, the more people will start to associate your brand with that particular type of influence.

Take Dove for example. They focus on self-esteem, confidence, and empowerment in every video they create. Their #SpeakBeautiful commercials are just the tip of the iceberg, with this same inspiration found in their employee trainings and recruitment videos. They even have this same tone and voice when responding to comments on their customer’s posts. In this video, you see that Dove has continued this brand voice in their partnership with Twitter, as revealed through this inspirational video.

2. Use consistent videography.

Brand voice relies on consistent tone in order to work. For example, if your brand is fun and upbeat, a sad video might confuse and upset your viewer. If your brand is high-end and luxury, you won’t use a goofy skit.

In the same manner, the “tone” of your video should also stay the same. You want to maintain a consistent look and feel of your video with lighting, backdrops, shots, and atmosphere. If you’re running a specific video marketing campaign, incorporate consistent social sharing with hashtags or taglines.

Take the Nike “Find your greatness” campaign as an example. Each of the following clips tells the brand voice of Nike through the same lighting, focus, storyline, and one of two voiceovers.

3. Use the same face.

Videos help put a literal face on your brand, often through vlogging or live streaming. Having a consistent face or voiceover in your videos helps your consumers better relate to your brand. They start to trust that person. When they see that person on the screen, they know they’re hearing from your business. This face turns the brand into a personal friend rather than an anonymous company.

Consider Flo, the Progressive lady. Everyone knows her as “Flo from Progressive.” She is the face and voice of Progressive. Their YouTube description even reads: “You might know us best for car insurance—and Flo, our friendly Superstore cashier.” You’re more likely to trust Flo from Progressive than a person you’ve never seen before who’s trying to convince you to buy insurance… even though you don’t know Flo personally. In this way, the “face” becomes a soft-sell marketing tactic.

In this video, Progressive discusses why they’re a great company to work for—while still using the Flo face. This demonstrates how a brand voice should exist both consumer-facing as well as employee-facing. Your brand permeates every aspect of your business.

4. Use live streaming.

Live streaming is crucial in today’s world of social media instant gratification. Live video campaigns are a great way to attract customers and engender long-term loyalty. Maintaining a consistent brand voice while broadcasting shows your consumers that your brand voice is a part of your culture—not just a show you put on. The “live” aspect makes the brand voice feel more real and authentic. Consider using Facebook Live or the recently launched Vimeo Live. The same is true with vlogging, which allows a more “genuine” one-on-one communication between brand and viewer.

5. Create quality videos.

Use the four building blocks of branded videos to create quality content that will connect with your audience.

1. Branding: who you are

2. Value: why you exist

3. Call to action: how your audience can relate

4. Social sphere: how your audience can further interact with the brand

Together, these four facets come together to help generate your overall brand voice.

Creating a quality, professional video is at the center of any business’s brand. You need to ensure that the video content you put out consistently reflects the brand voice you want to convey.

Thus, you need to work with a company who will not understand your goals and target audience but will also work with you to build your voice through your content.

At True Film Production, we know that your brand should permeate every aspect of your video. We focus on unique, branded storyboards and we constantly analyze metrics to help you generate the highest quality video content for your brand voice.

Are you ready to build your brand with video right now? Request a quote now to see how we will collaborate for your business!

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