You’d think that coming over as talking in your own voice would be the simplest possible thing when you’re writing about your business. Judging from what I read, though, nothing could be further from the truth.
Most people who aren’t used to writing — and many who are, come to that — seem to struggle to write in their own authentic voice. There are various reasons for this, but they really boil down to two things.
Firstly, speaking and writing are very different activities that use different parts of the brain.
And secondly, most of us have been educated into a false idea of what writing should be like.
Why Is It Important to Use Your Own Voice in Marketing?
It’s no less true for being a cliché that people buy people. We like to feel that whoever we’re buying from is a real individual, not just a faceless mega-corporation.
Actual faceless mega-corporations are very well aware of this, and they spend millions on trying to manufacture the impression of being a real person. Whether that’s by manufacturing characters to be the familiar face (Ronald Macdonald, the Meerkats etc.) or by hiring someone well known to be “the face of” whoever, they work very hard to convince us that there’s an individual at the heart of the business.
Well, guess what. As a micro-business owner or a solopreneur, you’ve got it made. Because you and your business really are the same thing. You probably use that to good advantage when you’re talking at networking events or speaking publicly.
Unfortunately, all too often this doesn’t extend to written marketing. And that’s when it really matters — when you’re not actually there in person.
What Is Your Own Voice?
So what’s the voice you should be writing in? It would be easy to assume that you have a voice, and it’s always the same. The reality is that most of us have multiple voices — not because we’re being dishonest or phoney, but because that’s how human interaction works.
Think about it a moment. Imagine yourself talking to your friends at the pub on Friday evening — or whatever your equivalent to that might be. Now imagine yourself going to your bank manager to ask for a loan — assuming anyone actually does that in person any longer. But it’s pretty obvious that you wouldn’t talk in exactly the same way in both situations.
The same is true when you have your business hat on. Of course, you want to be yourself in business meetings and interactions, but that doesn’t necessarily mean speaking in exactly the same way that you would to your friends or family. Even if you keep jargon to the minimum, there are expressions and ways of phrasing things that you probably wouldn’t use in personal communication.
The Writing Voice
And there’s another voice most people have, a voice you may not even have thought about. That’s the voice you use when you’re writing, rather than speaking.
The education system is mainly responsible for this. At school, we’re taught to write in the formal, academic way needed to pass exams. Keep colloquialisms and contractions to a minimum. Lay everything out in an artificially structured way. And on no account should you come over as quirky or individual.
The pressure to use this kind of language continues, with job applications, letters to institutions and the like all expected to be written in this formal, impersonal way. With the result that, whenever people start to write, they tend to slip unconsciously into that style, whether or not it’s appropriate.
How to Find Your Own Voice
The first step for finding your own business voice is to think about how you speak when you meet clients. You probably make the necessary adjustments instinctively, and it’s going to depend not only on who you are, but also on what you are. If you’re a solicitor or a funeral director, for instance, you’re likely to speak more soberly and formally than if you’re a wellness practitioner or an artist.
A useful exercise is to record some of your client meetings — with the client’s consent, of course. If you’re speaking on Zoom or a similar platform, it’s just a matter of clicking a button, but even in person you can simply set your phone to record. It can be useful anyway to have a record of the meeting, but you’ll also be able to use it to study how you naturally speak with clients.
It would be nice to think that all you need is to write exactly like that, but needless to say it’s not quite that easy. What you can do, though, is to write your first draft as you speak and then tweak it. Think about what parts of your speech depend on facial expression, tone of voice and body language to convey the full meaning. Then modify what you’ve written so those aspects come over in the words themselves.
And then read it out loud — or, even better, record it and listen back. Does it still sound like you speaking naturally? If so, great. If not, take out a few of the changes you made and try again.
It All Takes Practice
Nothing worth doing is easy enough that you’re going to get it right first time. The important thing is to keep trying, to keep improving. Sooner or later, you’ll find people are responding more positively to your written marketing material, because they know that a real person is speaking to them.
And that gives you an instant advantage over your competitors who are still presenting themselves as generic and faceless.
If you want to know more about writing in your own voice, book a free consultation with me.