Own Your Tone

Brand voice copywriting guidelines for small businesses

It’s time to take the guesswork out of the way you write. Own Your Tone is my custom brand voice copywriting package designed specifically for small businesses. Let’s nail a verbal identity that’ll open the hearts and minds of your audience while sounding unmistakably you.

What’s tone of voice?

Brands, just like people, have personalities. Some are loud and brash, others mild-mannered and unassuming. Some are mavericks. And some remind you of that friend who’s always chilled in a crisis.

Brands express their personalities through the clothes they wear — their colour palettes, graphics, fonts and photography. And they also express them through the way they speak.

Should your sentences be long, sensual and evocative? Or short and snappy? Would industry jargon prove you know your stuff or alienate the mainstream — and if so, does it matter? Would your tribe welcome humour or even the occasional f-bomb? A brand voice copywriter can help you answer these questions — and more — to shape your unique brand voice.

How can brand voice work help my small business stand out?

Whether you’re a big-vision coach, sell carbon-positive goodies or are lobbying for change, the reality is you’re operating in a saturated market. A solid tone of voice guide will help you tell stories that captivate your people.

Old stalwarts like ‘natural’ or ‘eco-friendly’ won’t cut it any more (unless you’re an oil rig, but I doubt you’d be here if you were). Not only are these beige terms way overused, they can open you up to accusations of greenwashing. Yikes!

How it works

Own Your Tone kicks off with a 60-minute video workshop to explore what makes your brand so special.

As your brand voice copywriter, I’ll take everything we discuss, analyse how your competitors approach their brand voice and discover how your audience speaks.  I’ll then start crafting your tone of voice, which will include helpful examples of your brand voice in action to help you recreate it in the wild. You’ll also get a curated list of words and phrases that reflect you and your people.

All of this will be detailed in Own Your Tone, your comprehensive tone of voice guide. As well as being your companion to creating on brand social posts, newsletters, ads, and blog content, we can go on to create brand-new website copy that makes you shine. Or you can use it as a guide as you DIY it.

Own Your Tone is for you if:

✔️ You want to project a strong brand personality from the get-go

✔️You’ve worked with copywriters or marketers in the past but their copy didn’t sound like you

✔️ The words on your website or on social media don’t really reflect your brand

✔️ You’re doing really well on one channel

✔️ Multiple people write for your business

✔️ You want your brand voice to stay consistent as your brand grows

✔️ You want to know which words will connect with your customers and which words will put them off

✔️ Your customers come from a very different walk of life

✔️ When you write about your business it just sounds like every other business out there

Your brand voice copywriting guidelines will include:

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    A one-hour workshop to identify your brand archetypes, competitors and existing tone of voice. Don’t worry if you feel a bit lost – I’ll guide you every step of the way

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    Tone of voice analysis for five competitors

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    Analysis of your existing tone of voice

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    Three examples of your brand voice in action to help you make sense of the guidelines

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    A ‘word bank’ of juicy words and phrases your audience will respond to can use to connect with your customers

  • ✺

    Two rounds of amends to fine-tune your tone of voice guide

“She was especially good at helping us nail down the tone of voice of our weekly newsletter.”

“Fuschia is a talented, engaging writer who is great at crafting inspiring sustainability content that has mainstream appeal whilst also appealing to more committed eco activists. I really enjoyed working with her and found her collaborative, efficient, flexible and responsive. She was especially good at helping us nail down the tone of our weekly newsletter. I highly recommend working with Fuschia!” - Sonalie Figueiras, Founder, Green Queen

“A website that reflects my tone of voice”

“Fuschia was very accurate and methodical in her approach to the project and kept to the deadlines. She gave several alternative translations to ensure that the English version of my website reflected my tone of voice. I hope to work with her soon on future projects and recommend her to anyone who needs content in 'proper' English.” - Ester Mignani, La Copy SEO

“Her flair for tone of voice helped us nail our client’s unique and engaging style”

“Fuschia is a highly-valued member of my virtual team for a leading international client. She’s a real joy to work with - a talented copywriter with a genuine passion for sustainable living which allows her to skillfully curate and craft the most relevant content for readers. Her flair for tone of voice in particular has helped us nail our client’s unique and engaging style. Thanks for everything Fuschia! ” - Laura Robinson, Founder & Managing Director, Pink Pear Agency

Own Your Tone

Brand voice copywriting for small businesses

Frequently asked questions

  • If you’ve set your sights on growing your business then it’s a good time to work with a brand voice copywriter. I would recommend pairing this package with Get the Message so you can be sure that you use your tone of voice guidelines to help you communicate clear, well-defined messages.

  • Starting with the workshop, we’ll work together to uncover your ideal tone of voice, so they shouldn’t come as a surprise. Of course, you may not agree with certain words or phrases, or you might want to tweak the tone slightly. This is why I give you time to feedback on the guidelines before we finalise the document.

  • Absolutely! As your business grows, your audience can change, the market evolve and your brand shift. It’s natural that your original tone of voice might feel a bit off-kilter. But don’t worry – I can help you fix it! Let’s refresh your verbal identity so it truly reflects where you’re at today.

  • Visual branding encompasses a business’s visual design elements including its colour palette, logo, photography and packaging. Its goal is to communicate the brand’s personality and elicit certain emotions in its customers.

    Brand voice has the same idea — but with words. Having clear tone of voice guidelines can help you consistently write any audience-facing text – from websites and ads to packaging, 404 pages and even terms and conditions.

Prefer to communicate in Italian? Nessun problema! Write to me in lingua and we can chat about your options. Or hop over to my Italian website to browse my creative translation services.