A Quick Dip into Tone of Voice - with Janine Christie

Sarah: Hi everyone. Welcome to a Quick Dip, a series of short conversations about culture, communications, and change. I'm Sarah Black, founder of Athru Communications. I'm the communication strategist who is passionate about making sure you're not endlessly creating comms content. You're actually starting conversations that matter to your organisation, and that's what this podcast is about.

It's a series of conversations, introducing ideas to help make your communications activity more culturally relevant, more inclusive and more effective.

Hi everybody. Welcome to this week's episode of A Quick Dip Into culture, communications, and change. I'm your host, Sarah Black, and today we're gonna take a quick dip into voice and tone of voice. And I am delighted to be joined by Janine Christie, who knows a little bit about this and is going to talk about it with us today.

Janine, say hello and introduce yourself please.

Janine: Hello everyone. And Sarah, thank you very much for allowing me to be on Quick Dip, by the way. I love the name. Thank you. Uh, my name is Janine Christie. I am a copywriter by trade, but I specialise in helping solo entrepreneurs define their voice and infuse it into their copy so they can basically answer the million dollar question of their ideal clients: why do I wanna work with you. Well, that's basically what I do in a nutshell. Uh, I'm Canadian, but I'm currently living in what I think is probably the most popular city on earth right now. By the amount of tourists that are surrounding my house. Valencia, Spain. I've been here for going on 16 years and no, my Spanish is not that good, still working on it.

Sarah: Thank you, Janine. Um, so today I want to talk a little bit about a term that often comes up in communications conversations or in marketing conversations, which is about an individual's voice, or an organisation or a brand's voice and tone of voice and wanting to just unpack what those terms actually mean and some of the things that perhaps we should be thinking about. So, and to kick it to you. What do you, or how do you think about those two terms?

Janine: Well, it's difficult to describe if there's a, there's a big gray area on it. I, I remember when I asked, what would you like to speak about? And you said to me, tone of voice. And I thought, Ooh, that's a great way to start right there.

Because people in the communications world might call it tone of voice. Other people might disagree and say, there's voice and tone of voice. I am of the camp where there are voice and tone of voice. They are interconnected and they work together, but they are a little bit different. For example, voice and how I see it is basically the personality of the brand, organisation or the individual.

It's what you are like if you were sitting beside someone at a dinner party, and you were a real person. The personality that you have, and this is consistent, it's usually your, you know, your voice is the same, but with tone of voice that changes based on the situation that you're in, uh, the topic that you're talking about, who you're talking to and also you have to take into account the emotion that the reader is having at the moment that they're reading your copy or your content. So that will change the tone of the voice, for example you know, in a certain situation you might be informal and in another situation you might have to be less informal. You could have an enthusiastic tone, respectful tone.

These things change based on the situation, but your personality traits, which is your voice, are consistent and stay the same. So that's how I like to kind of clear up the area. So it's basically what you are like as a person, personality, voice, and how you sound. That’s tone of voice. So I don't know if that makes it a little bit clearer.

Sarah: I think that's really helpful. And I, one of the things that you and I have spoken about in the past is the challenges of finding that voice. And I'd love to hear a little bit about like, why is that so difficult? And obviously you work with people to do it.

But why do we struggle so much with that, do you think? And then can brands and organisations really have a voice.

Janine: Well, first of all, I'd like to preface this with, I worked more with individuals, than organisations. I have worked in corporations, large corporations in the past, but I pivoted my business once I became freelance to work with individuals because I enjoy not king of creating a persona, I like defining, uh, a personality that's already there. So I work with, um, solo entrepreneurs. They're obviously writing their own copy and their own content and we don't create their voice. We dig in into what they're like in real life. And we kind of put that, infuse that into their copy.

So when you talk about finding a voice, I would say maybe for an organisation that's the right way to put it. You have to find it because an organisation is not one person and it's not a real person. So there is a certain level of creation involved. But when you're dealing with an individual, I think if you really wanna connect with your audience and you wanna answer that question of your ideal client, why do I wanna work with you?

They need to see you in what they're reading and there lies the problem. People are afraid of showing up as their, as themselves in their business. So that's problem number one. I'm afraid to show who I am and what I'm like because what if people don't like it? So that's a hurdle that I have to help my clients get past before, you know, they can start figuring out how they want to sound in their business.

Sarah: I think my experience of working with brands and organisations is actually, there's a parallel there as well because I think a lot of figuring out the voice is around authenticity. So if you know your philosophy as an organisation, the way in which you work, your culture, culture, all of those things need to intersect. Because if you are very driven as an organisational culture and very task oriented, you can't have a like auth, you're not gonna have authenticity if your voice is like warm and fuzzy and funny. If that's not how you show up with clients.

Janine: Exactly. And that's what it's all about. Is how you are when you're dealing with a client. That's your voice. That's who you are. So your copy or content should be the same.

Sarah: And I think your insights and your outsides matching is super important.

Janine: Yes. Super important. I mean, and I think we can see lots of, um, stories today where the insides don't match the outside.

Sarah: Yes. And then that's where, yeah, it goes horribly wrong for everybody.

Janine: Uh, there's one, uh, thing I wanted to just say the, the word I, authentic, this is a word I never use. This, when I talk about voice, I talk about true voice because you're talking about the insides matching the outsides. It's truly who you are. Authentic, this word has been twisted a lot, so I steer clear of it. I just think it brings on other connotations that I, I don't like the word often.

Sarah: I'm really glad you brought that up. Cause it's a word I'm trying to use less. And, um, partly because of conversations you and I have had about it, and also because I've learned that it doesn't always translate well across into other languages and across other cultures.

Sarah: So it's just worth with bringing that up. One of the things I love about the conversations you and I have had about this is the focus on listening to and understanding what your client is about. Um, and how that impacts, and I'd love you to talk a little bit more about why it's so important to listen to the client when you're thinking. Maybe not so much about voice, but tone of voice.

Janine: Yeah, this is a very interesting, but especially with tone of voice, you have to know, you have to get, basically be in their shoes. It's it's basics of copywriting. Be in their shoes and know what they want and how they're feeling in the moment that they're reading a particular piece of copy, because everyone always comes with certain emotions.

And you also have to think about the emotions you want them to have at the end of reading copy, so you stick in their brain. It's all about being memorable. When you are writing copy or content, you need to get those words deep in their hippocampus where they love it or they hate it, cuz then the, the memory stays longer and stronger. So you have to be really careful about the tone. What tone do you need to hit with your client in that particular moment, and what tone do you want to hit so the memories go deeper.

Sarah: And one of the things that I think you've said in the past as well is that if you haven't found that true voice and you haven't thought about that, there's a danger in trying to please everybody and then ending up being unmemorable.

Janine: Yeah. I'm no middle of the road gal. I'm very much, I have my opinions I use them in most everything I write because I can, because I am a sole entrepreneur, so I, I have the luxury of being able to do that because I want to draw in the ideal client. That I want, that. I know that when we're going to work together, that it's going to just be a great experience for both of us.

So you have to have a point of view, an opinion. You have to show personality in your writing so the person can go, okay. I had a client the other day, we were in a discovery call. This was our first call together. And she said, Janina, I was deciding on between you and someone else. And of course, you're both offering the same thing because people that think that they're offering the only unique thing, there's tons of people offering the same thing, is how you offer it and how you are as a person.

When they work with you that they're going to get, there's a certain amount of I'm able to solve your problems, and the other side of, Ooh, I like that person. I wanna work with them. For that, you have to show personality. You have to have a point of view. That's what people will cling onto when they, when they read your copy and your content. You just, you have to big up your voice a bit.

Sarah: And I do think, I know you work with solo entrepreneurs, I tend to work with organisations and brands. And I do think there are parallels in that sometimes organisations are scared to have a point of view or to really have a kind of definitive way of presenting themselves the market. But actually it just means I, it just becomes wallpaper if they don't, and if they don't have a way of talking about things.

But I think the difference between voice and tone of voice is really important. There are times my inner sister, Michael, from girls, should not come out in conversation. Those of you who know me well and that sometimes she does, there's time and place.

Forgetting that and, and when organisations get things wrong, it's really important that they balance that voice and then having the right tone and having those things aligned is harder than it thinks. For anybody who's listening to this and has seen voice or tone of voice in a communications deck floating across their desk, or whether they're or been at some kind of entrepreneurial coaching program where people talk about marketing and has seen these things, any kind of like practical tips on the questions to ask yourself and the things to think about if you're wrestling with those terms in your business.

Janine: Well, I mean, one of the first things that, especially I, I mean this is for organisations and individuals, is if you're going to have guidelines, have voice and style guidelines or tone of voice guidelines, however you, you know, fall in that camp. I like to call them voice and style guidelines because tone of voice is more a style, like you have an informal tone of writing. Have guidelines because for an organisation this is extremely important because you're going to have many different people writing content and copy for you, and you always want to be consistent across everything that you do.

So the only way you can do that is to have very clear guidelines. And please, please, these guidelines cannot just be three adjectives: I'm funny, bold, and warm. No, it's not enough. That is like the basics. In order for you as a sole entrepreneur to be able to write consistently, or an organisation who has many people writing for you, you have to have guidelines that explain what your voice is, for example, three different adjectives, but you have to give examples of how you are using that, how it shapes the copy, the language that you use, the punctuation that you use.

One thing that's really important. For example, if you said, oh, we wanna be funny. You have to define what your brand of funny is with an example so people can use that as a guideline, but also volume. You have funny, but. not sarcastic in certain situations maybe you could turn up the funny, but you always have the level where you're not going to do what your voice is.

And what your voice isn't is very important when you're writing guidelines. And everyone should have guidelines.

Another thing is, To make it as simple as possible, using simple language so people can, so you can understand it yourself and and the person that's writing for you. Use, use simple terminology, simple language when you're explaining what your guidelines are, but flesh it out. Flesh out what you are, what you aren't, why you want to use that particular adjective for your organisation and for your audience, why it's important to you and why it's important to them, for example, to be funny in your communications. A fully fleshed out guidelines.

Sarah: Brilliant. And I think that's the part that it's really easy to write those well, not really easy, but it's relatively easy sometimes to write those three adjectives but it's the work underneath it of the application and the working it through where I think certainly I have seen both individuals, organisations, and brands all trip themselves up because they haven't necessarily worked it all through into the practicalities of how that shows up, which is a problem.

Janine, brilliant conversation. Thank you so much. Any other bits of wisdom or advice or things that you would particularly like to share before we wrap up?

Janine: Just one thing: When you’re thinking about your voice and thinking about your tone of voice, please, please make it simple language. Get rid of the jargon.

Think of yourself. If you're an organisation, think of your, your ideal client. You're at a dinner party, your ideal client is sitting beside you, and you’re the person that's gonna solve their problems, and they turn to you and they start telling you their problems. You already have the solution, obviously, that's your product or service, but how would you like to show up as a person? To solve their problems. And that will inform, inform your voice and your tone of voice when they read your copy or your content. And that usually does not involve using jargon when you're speaking to someone in real life. You use simple, simple language that people just get immediately. But I think that's a, a tip. Yeah. I have,

Sarah: I believe that one of my mantras is, if you wouldn't say it out loud in a conversation with your best mate, you shouldn't write it down.

Janine: I think so too. You told me a very funny thing about, um, if your grandma doesn't understand it go back and write it again.

Sarah: Yeah, that's um, a great piece of advice from one of my first bosses. Um, yeah, the late great Harry Castle said, if your family doesn't understand it, you didn't write it properly Sarah.

Janine: Hold onto that.

Sarah: No disrespect to the intellect of your grandmother.

Janine: Exactly. It's not about that, it's about making language simple so everyone understands.

Sarah: Yeah. Janine, thank you so much. We will drop contact details for you in the show notes so anybody can get in touch with you if they want to continue to talk to you about what you can do to help them with discovering or refining their voice and doing more work in this area. Thank you so much.

Janine: Thank you for having me.

Sarah: Thanks. Bye.

Janine: Bye.

Sarah: If you've enjoyed today's conversation and maybe wanted to join it, then please do get in touch so that we can talk more. I'd love to hear from you. You can sign up from my newsletter by finding me on LinkedIn, and let's connect and continue the conversation.

Thank you.