Oh c’mon, it’s about the most important thing to get right! Every piece of writing you or your company produce or distribute has a very definite tone of voice. By tone of voice, we mean a personality that is conveyed by the words you choose and the order in which you choose to put them. Your message is one thing; your tone of voice is quite another. Ten websites could communicate exactly the same message, in ten entirely different tones of voice.
So, what tone of voice should you choose?
The right tone of voice is the one that best suits your personality - assuming of course that your personality is confident, knowledgeable, direct and approachable. Actually, maybe it's better to say that the tone of voice of your copy should represent the personality of your company and/or, of your brand. Different companies have different personalities and therefore often quite different voices.
To give a very brief and clear example, a charity raising funds for sick children, is likely to have a serious and rather formal tone, with copy that seeks to connect and empathise, but is no way communicating its message in a light-hearted manner. Obviously, because there is nothing light-hearted about sick children, on the other hand, an online portal of funny news stories from around the world will be gunning for entirely the opposite tone of voice. Similarly, a funeral home will have a different tone to a fashion blog. And so on.
What's wrong with my tone of voice as it stands?
If you can write to a professional level, or if you've worked with professional copywriters on your site, or other materials, probably nothing.
All too often, however, the personality that people have in real life does not translate when they attempt to communicate through writing. Time and time again, people who are perfectly amiable and chatty in real life, turn into someone either weirdly formal or uncharacteristically blunt when they write. Why this happens is not easy to say, although it probably just comes down to the fact that lots of people just aren't that comfortable with the written word. Copywriting agencies like Wordorchard can help with that.
Making sure the tone of voice of your copy is right, is hugely important and makes a massive difference to how your company is perceived and how people react to it. Think about it: How many times have you been thinking of buying something in a shop, but then decided against it because the assistant was as charming as a week in bed with gout? The same thing happens online, or in the context of any marketing copy. It's very easy to put people off with the wrong tone, particularly if they're already wavering.
The team at Wordorchard can work with you to make sure potential clients are warmed, comforted, amused, charmed and ultimately convinced by your tone of voice - if that's what's required. If you need something altogether more formal, we can provide that too.