How To Write Content in Your Client’s Voice
You’re a writer and you know you offer a good mix of services for varying clients, audience and goals. But your inbox is loaded with emails from clients who all want different things in terms of content. You know your clients are counting on you to represent each company’s personality properly and most importantly, you want them to feel like you’ve captured their brand’s voice.
By identifying your client’s voice, it can help you communicate your client’s brand mission through the content you create for them. It can also help to develop trust and rapport and then when people read the content; they should be able to tell who it is.
Here are some ideas of how to effectively write content in your client’s voice:
Brand Research
You’ll need to do some digging to get to the core of who your client is; looking at their social media and current web content will give you a good idea of who they are. Maybe send your client a template of what content they’re looking for before meeting with them. In a template or questionnaire, you can ask the client specific questions about their business, include anything that will get them to think outside of the box and more about the company’s personality.
Interview the client
Interviewing the client will add to the content you have from the questionnaire – you will also be able to establish a voice for their content writing needs. Don’t be afraid to ask your client simple questions; they will open up and explain in greater detail. Hearing the information from their own words is invaluable – speaking directly will help you find out more about their personal stories, information surrounding the business, goals and milestones. Also, ask about their style guide for web content, examples of font choices, colour schemes and rules for grammar.
Research their audience
Finding out about the client’s relationship with their audience can also help us to find the best way to write content in the client’s voice. How do they interact or communicate with each other? What kind of rapport do they have?
Social media can take away a lot of the work as people will tell companies how they make them feel.
Read the client’s existing content
This may be something you already do, but it’s worth addressing because it’s exceptionally effective. If your client already has content on their website, blog or social media channels, why not read through their content to pick up the voice in which you should write. Read through until you feel comfortable and confident with the language and pace of their content that you can easily mimic the voice. Tailor your voice to their original content, by comparing the tone and styles of what’s already there you can show your client what works and what needs adjustments.
The content that is posted to your client’s accounts says a lot about their brand and its values; your client’s brand voice directly affects how their business is perceived. Your tone of voice influences what people think, how they feel and what actions they take after reading your content.
At Blue Whale Media, we think more strategically about the tone of voice in our content; it should be a fundamental part of how you write content.
It’s not about what you say; it’s about how you say it.