SMS - Text With Your Brand Voice

Use Your Brand Voice to Stand Out

SMS marketing, campaign strategy, conversational commerce, and all of the other techniques we write about center around one thing: cutting through the noise. It’s an overcrowded marketplace filled with competition and your goal is to stand out. Customers have to identify with your brand and trust your brand. To do this you need a brand identity. Within your brand identity lies its most key component – the way you express that identity, which is your brand voice.

What is a Brand Voice?

Simply put, your brand voice is your brand’s unique personality. It’s how your brand stands out. It’s how your brand is perceived in the eyes of the consumer. And it is critical to your success. Your brand voice should delight your target audience and speak to their wants and needs, both known and unknown. Your brand voice must also be consistent and authentic across all channels. As your customers progress through their customer journey, you must ensure your brand voice meets them at every touchpoint.

According to surveyed consumers on the Sprout Social Index, 40% said memorable content, 33% said distinct personality, and 32% said compelling storytelling was why brands stood out amongst their peers. Further, 45% said that irrelevant content caused them to unfollow that brand. To boil that down, you need great content with a distinct brand voice and you need the right amount of it on the right channels. It’s a balancing act and the stakes are high.

What is the Best Way to Vocalize Brand Voice?

If you’re using SMS to communicate with your customers and prospects then you’re off to a good start. SMS is often the most preferred channel by consumers. Mobile phones are checked roughly 100 times a day, so your content will land while it’s still fresh. SMS also allows immediate interaction, which means anyone manning your SMS channel should be thoroughly educated on your brand voice. Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves though. Do you have a solid brand voice? Are you getting unsubscribes and you can’t figure out why? You may need to develop one or audit your existing one.

How Brand Voice is Built

Brand voice is an olive branch or extension of your branding. Branding may involve marketing collateral like content such as graphics, logos, blogs, and messages but those are all static. The key thing to remember is that branding provides an experience. Businesses often talk about user experience and customer experience, but many fail to identify that branding is what defines that experience. Brand voice is so much more about how you’re received by the customer. What you output is just how you set the stage.

So far we’ve uncovered that brand voice needs to be a unique, authentic, and consistent experience. To ensure this is achieved your company should have internal documentation surrounding the branding and brand voice. When you start to create or audit that voice it should be from the perspective of your target customer. Your goal is to take the core values of your brand and communicate them so that they are well received.

Utilizing SMS and Conversational Commerce to Promote Your Brand Voice

As discussed, SMS is a phenomenal way to communicate your brand voice. The first step to expressing your brand voice via SMS is to make sure that it does not differ from the brand voice experienced with your site, app, customer service, sales team, etc. Always use your core values and strategic branding documentation when templating an SMS blast or engaging in a 1:1 conversation.

It’s a great idea to utilize emojis and common SMS acronyms if your company is fun and playful or if the target audience is on the younger side. You’ll also want to avoid salesman speak, being pushy, or straying from your brand values. Conversational commerce entails two way communication. You need to get as much information about the customer as possible so that you can tailor your response to their expectations.

Which Tools Help Bring Brand Voice to Life?

Using our dynamic segmentation tool and automated messaging flows you can set messaging that speaks to each cohort in your audience. Once you pair the right trigger words to your flows with our keyword automation, you’ll be able to get the conversation going. Even if you’re sending a coupon, don’t assume that one message will do it. Be prepared for follow up questions. As stated, you want to get as much information on the buyer's frame of mind before engaging with them 1:1.

Mistakes to Avoid When Bringing Your Brand Voice to Life

A common mistake in SMS marketing campaign planning is overstating your intention. In other words, your message is too long. Remember to stay personal, keep your messaging concise, and always communicate authentically. Oftentimes when a message is too long it leads to inconsistencies and lack of engagement. Also, you are charged per 160 characters (known as a segment), so these long messages may also erode your ROI. Longer messages also feel less personal.

This leads to another common mistake. During your SMS campaign it’s important to keep connection and engagement atop your priority list. Whether you’re looking to drive awareness, sales, or enhanced customer experience with your SMS campaign, your messaging should be engaging. Encourage replies and questions. It’s okay to ask questions too. Asking, “did you enjoy your shopping experience” is a great place to start. Also consider probing questions like “did you find everything you were looking for?” If your text message is transactional, like a receipt or shipping confirmation, sprinkle in some personality. These little bits of effort go a long way.

The Benefits of Merging SMS With Your Brand Initiatives

This should double as a review. SMS means meeting your target audience where they already are, making conversing and transacting with your company effortless and enjoyable. SMS is also much cheaper than paid marketing, therefore using SMS to articulate your brand is a cost effective way to spread brand awareness. SMS will help build loyalty with your customers and drive engagement. Helios is the perfect tool for spreading your brand voice. We have all the features necessary to power your campaigns and communications.