You’d be hard pressed to find a marketer who won’t nod emphatically when you say, “You need to establish your voice.” But I’d wager that you’d be equally stymied if you tried to find someone who can tell you exactly what they mean when they talk about voice—or how voice differs from tone.
Voice is the element that remains consistent across all the content you create. It allows readers to immediately identify content as your own, no matter when they see it or what platform they see it on. Not only that, but voice also expresses the unique values and personality of your company. It’s how you make a piece of content immediately recognizable as your own. Voice is the reason we often recognize a new Coca-Cola commercial or John Lewis’ Christmas ad even before we see the logo.
Unlike voice, which should remain consistent, tone is changeable. You adopt different tones to convey different attitudes—so you’re excited as you announce new developments in your industry (or, y’know, when you geek out over VR tech), but more subdued if you’re delivering serious news. Tone adds flavour to your voice and keeps your content fresh. For example, maybe your business is known for its sense of humour, but that humour manifests at different times as good-natured, goofy, cheeky, witty, wry, or sarcastic.