I see a lot of ‘lightbulb’ moments. Efforts need to be made to design a voice that represents the brand and anticipates consumer interactions. The design of the Brand Voice and its persona can be a differentiator for purchases.
Will future consumers purchase a car because of its looks? Or will they purchase a car because of its likable voice and personality?
There is a sensory shift taking place.
We come from a visual era where most of our technology, products, services, and content is designed for our eyes. However, because of voice technology, we get more and more familiar using our voice and ears to interact with technology.
Whether the technology is used for in-car voice assistants, synthetic media, or other purposes… It’s a new way of communication that many companies haven’t dealt with before.
Therefore it becomes essential to learn how to talk. This might sound easy, we are all naturals. But this is exactly why it’s challenging. We can detect the slightest nuances and changes in voice communication: intonation, pitch, speed, etc. We process these acoustic signals and give meaning to them; it provides us with an understanding of someone’s emotional state and personality.
Recent research, done by Micheal Kraus from Yale University, shows that voice-only communication enhances empathetic accuracy.
This supports the necessity for Brands to create a Brand Voice. And if you think about it, the result of this research is not surprising. Because our brains are wired for speech (a great book btw).
Read more about the study here.
Designing a Brand Voice is essential to win. However, there is no silver bullet. Every Brand has a different relationship with their customers. Brands also have different communication strategies, underlying cultures, and personality characteristics that fuel this. This is a good thing because it creates an opportunity to differentiate.
Please share your comments and insights on this topic. It’s great to have more discussions about this topic and learn from each other’s perspectives.
My next article is ‘’The 3 basic levels of interaction the Brand Voice needs’’. Any subtopics you want me to include? Let me know, email me: phoebe@voicebranding.nl