Whether it’s a social media post, web banner, blog or an annual report, one thing should always be clear: your brand voice.
From media interviews to email campaigns, your brand needs consistency both inside and out. In fact, 81 percent of consumers say they need to trust a brand before making a purchase.
Your brand voice is its distinct personality. When consistent in tone, style and messaging, your target audience begins to understand and recognize your brand across every touchpoint.
We sat down with Rick Holberg, GAVIN’s Vice President of Creative and one of the go-to content strategists, to unpack what brand voice consistency really means and how to make it stick. Whether you’re a one-person marketing team or leading a complex communications effort, these insights can help build a stronger, clearer brand.
Q: What’s the foundation of a strong brand voice?
Rick says it starts with five key elements:
- Brand Personality – Define the human traits your brand embodies (friendly? bold? brainy?).
- Tone – Reflect the mood or attitude behind your message.
- Language & Style – Sentence structure, phrasing, and even punctuation should feel consistent across platforms.
- Core Messaging & Values – Keep content grounded in your brand’s mission and key differentiators.
- Audience Alignment – Speak in a way that matches your audience’s expectations and context.
Q: Once you have your voice, how do you make sure it stays consistent?
Here’s how to apply your strategy:
- Create a brand voice guide (every brand needs one).
- Build a tone chart to show how voice flexes across channels (social media vs. customer service emails).
- Train everyone – content teams, sales, leadership – on your voice.
- Audit your content regularly.
- Use tech tools like Grammarly or Hemingway to stay on track.
- Listen to feedback. What resonates? What falls flat?
Q: How do you keep content, design, and copy aligned across all platforms?
Brand voice is one part of a larger brand system. Visual and verbal identity must work together.
- Create a full brand style guide that includes voice and visuals.
- Use templates to maintain consistency in execution.
- Standardize tone across all touchpoints.
- Centralize brand assets so everyone’s pulling from the same playbook.
- Review, refine, repeat.
Q: What tools or processes make this easier for teams?
Rick recommends platforms like Figma, Canva Brand Kit or Frontify to house your assets. Other helpful tools:
- A “single source of truth” for brand rules (a centralized document that’s easy to share).
- Pre-approved templates for quick turnarounds.
- Clear content approval workflows.
- A channel-specific playbook.
- A living voice and tone guide that evolves with your brand.
Q: How do you balance creativity with structure?
This is where the magic happens.
“Think of guidelines as guardrails, not roadblocks,” Rick says. “They provide clarity but still leave space to play.”
Creative freedom thrives when your team understands where they can bend and where they need to stay firm.
Ready to align your content and own your voice?
Whether you’re building a brand from the ground up or trying to bring consistency across teams, clarity matters. Let’s make sure your voice doesn’t just sound right—it sounds like YOU!
Contact GAVIN to discover how we can help guide your brand voice, from first draft to final scroll.
