An effective brand tone of voice can lift a business. Bad copywriting can drive a CMO crazy.
But how do you know if your brand’s tone of voice is being effective? What are the metrics you should look at?
Previously, we talked about what 3 ‘input’ KPIs your should track for your brand voice which will show how effective your brand writing processes are.
But is your brand voice welcoming or keeping customers away? What should you measure when you want to know if your brand’s tone of voice is effective?
Here are the 3 output KPIs for measuring how effective your brand voice is.
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Brand Voice Awareness
What it means: Awareness and recall is considered by some marketers (and Bryan Sharp) as one of the best drivers of making consumers buy. Making sure consumers are aware of your brand voice is a good part of this.
How to measure: Just as with more general brand awareness measurements, surveys are a proven way to measure awareness of a brand voice. This time, ask consumers if they remember anything written in your sector, and ask if they recognise any of your copy when you hide your logo and other visual identity elements.
Remedies to improve it: You want your brand voice to make sure your brand sounds like it’s in the right category. But after that you need to find the unwritten ‘rules’ of the category which you can break to get your voice heard. If no one is noticing your brand voice, you’re spending too much just getting heard and it’s time to try and find something different to say about the category or find a different tone of voice for how you talk.
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Perception of Brand Voice Values
What it means: Your brand is your story, but it’s also your margin. And your brand is built on its distinctive (and we hope, meaningful) values. Understandingyou’re your brand voice is amplifying or smothering those values can help you make your brand communications more effective.
How to measure: Use qual research groups. Ask people what they think of the different values your brand is projecting. Compare this with your competitors.
Remedies to improve it: Focusing your brand voice on a limited set of values is important. Is your tone of voice definition too vague? Is it out of date? Are your brand values out of date?
Special note: Remember to ask the participants to review work from a number of your different channels. Is the brand voice amplifying your values in some channels better than in other channels?
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Thought Leadership Perception