We have all heard of the brand, most of us have been part of brand strategy meetings and some of us have even had the task of running a brand – be that local, global or anywhere in between.

One of the first things to define when working with a brand is the voice of that brand.

The greatest strategists talk about alignment and success of a brand in terms of cohesion, project plans, phased approaches and much more.

The thing many people often forget when looking at how to implement a brand strategy, and specifically the voice of that brand is simplicity.

Simplicity is one of the strongest tools we have when it comes to branding and the voice behind a successful brand.

There are of course several elements that come into play in the wider world of brand management and strategy – this is not what we are discussing when we discuss the voice of the brand however.

Think of those as additional elements in you larger macro strategy, the voice of the brand is always priority #1 and when done right it will permeate all other elements of your strategy which is why simplicity is such a key aspect to its success.

Why Simplicity?

The reason for simplicity when implementing your brand voice is down to the commonality of this tool.

Your brand voice needs to be consistent in everything you do – that means any employee, agent, partner, affiliate, etc. (however you define these) that is communicating to an external audience needs to be able to understand, embody and deliver their message in your voice (or as close to that as humanly possible), otherwise the message is at best redundant while at worst a detriment to your efforts.

In order to do this consistently and successfully, the voice needs to be simple to allow the largest number of people the opportunity to understand and deliver this on your behalf.

This applies to other channels too – your website, social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat,YouTube, WhatsApp, Imgur, Reddit, whatever you may be using out there in our crazy, interconnected world all need to deliver the same unified experience to allow your audience to understand they are engaging with your brand regardless of the platform and channel they are utilizing.

This means if I go on Facebook and read your post, then see an update on Twitter tomorrow, I have no doubt that these messages are both from your brand – that is a brand voice, and that is best achieved when utilizing simplicity.

Think of 5 different brands, then think of why you thought of those – were they complex and intricate texts or slogans and logos with elaborate color matrices?

Or, were they bold, clean, and to the point?

Your Voice is Your Platorm…

The important thing here is not to misunderstand the intent of the message – don’t simplify your product, your strategy or your brand itself.

When defining your voice however, make it simple – people identify quicker with things that are not over complicated right away, this builds trust, engagement, recognition and eventually loyalty.

With a simple brand voice you now have the platform to launch all your complexities that your brand exactly what sets it apart, but first you need to capture the imagination of your audience.

Then you Transcend Awesome!