My talk on brand personality, voice and tone for RISE Austin 2013. Thanks to @Volusion for sponsoring the talk!

1. The Importance of
Being You
Creating a meaningful,
memorable brand personality
#RISEATX13 @claydelk

2. First, a little about me.

3. Sr. Content Strategist!
#RISEATX2013 @volusion

4. Founder & Organizer
Austin Content!
meetup.com/Austin-Content!

5. Find me online at:
@claydelk
claydelk.com
slideshare.net/cdelk

6. Now, a little about you.

7. How do you turn that into a
meaningful, memorable
brand personality?

8. What do you mean by
personality?

9. Let’s look at some examples

10. vs.

11. vs.

12. vs.

13. It’s all about how you talk
about yourself, how you
engage with others, how you
communicate.

15. Source: http://www.woot.com!

16. What is Woot?
A discussion of ill-advised efficiencies,
failed idealism, and trampled dreams.
Woot is a lifestyle. Woot is a vision. Woot is a
pungent aroma that never apologizes for what it is.
Woot is the hope in the eyes of a child when that
child realizes you don't have to pay List Price for
cool stuff. Woot is an ever-evolving deal maelstrom
churning around a tornado circling a mystery. If you
haven't seen Woot since yesterday, you haven't
seen Woot.
Source: http://www.woot.com/faq

17. What is Woot?
A discussion of ill-advised efficiencies,
failed idealism, and trampled dreams.
Woot is a lifestyle. Woot is a vision. Woot is a
pungent aroma that never apologizes for what it is.
Woot is the hope in the eyes of a child when that
child realizes you don't have to pay List Price for
cool stuff. Woot is an ever-evolving deal maelstrom
churning around a tornado circling a mystery. If you
haven't seen Woot since yesterday, you haven't
seen Woot.
Source: http://www.woot.com/faq

20. “MailChimp has added a splash of
mischief to a product category not
known for… well, much of anything.”
Source: http://mailchimp.com/about/

21. Source: http:/voiceandtone.com

22. Voice & tone

23. Your voice doesn’t change. It’s
part of who you are.
It may evolve over time, but it
shouldn’t change based on your
mood or your environment.

24. “The!best!brands!speak!with!one!
dis2nc2ve!voice.!On!the!web,!in!
a!tweet,!in!conversa2ons!with!a!
salesperson,!in!a!speech!given!by!
the!president,!the!company!
needs!to!project!the!same!
unified!message.!It!must!be!
memorable,!iden2fiable,!and!
centered!on!the!customer.”
Alina!Wheeler!
Designing'Brand'Iden-ty'
Photo!credit:!www.fourfront.us!

25. Your tone can change without
changing your voice.
You change your volume and
inflection depending on your
situation, audience and needs.

26. Black'Star'Co6op'Brand'Guide''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''blackstar.coop'

27. “We have more than a million users
—and millions more potential users—
who experience a whole spectrum of
emotions when they’re interacting with
MailChimp. So we consciously adjust
our tone, based on our users’ feelings.”'
'
'
Source:'voiceandtone.com/about

28. Finding your voice
(& tone)

29. Pop quiz

30. Who are you?

31. Who are you not?

32. What do you do?

33. What don’t you do?

34. How do you do it?

35. Why do you do it?

36. How do you talk about it?

37. Who are you talking to?

38. Exercise:
Defining your voice

39. Using your answers to the
previous questions:
Group them into 3 or 4 “big
bucket” traits or ideas that can
define your brand personality.

40. Do they fit your personality?

41. Do they stand out in your
market? (Should they?)

42. Will they resonate with your
audience?

43. The message
architecture

44. “A message architecture
is an outline or hierarchy
of communication goals
that reflects a common
vocabulary.
A message architecture
differs from brand
values, which speak
more to the company's
credo than to how it
should communicate
with its target audience."
Margot Bloomstein
Content Strategy at Work

45. Cardsorting exercise
1. Who we are
2. Who we are not (and don’t
want to be)
3. Who we want to be
Credit:!Margot!Bloomstein!
Content'Strategy'at'Work

46. UIE – Designing Usable Categories with Card Sorting
http://www.uie.com/events/virtual_seminars/card_sorting/

47. 1. Empowering
– Professional without being stodgy
– Inspiring and motivating
– Informative
2. Approachable
– Friendly and engaging
– Empathetic
– In the know, but not know-it-all
3. Trusted
– Stable, yet flexible
– Transparent
– Helpful

48. Now we can define what these qualities look
and sound like for:
- Marketing
- Sales
- Professional services
- In-product content
- Support
- Social media
- Etc. etc. etc.

49. “This is the difference
between saying ‘we're
serious and mature’
and communicating it
by using more formal
language, a serif
typeface, slightly
longer sentences, and
images of associates
in gray suits with
traditional tailoring.”
Margot Bloomstein
Content Strategy at Work

50. What’s your message
architecture?

51. Questions,
comments,
suggestions?

52. Thank you!

53. SOURCES'
!
Content'Strategy'at'Work'
Margot!Bloomstein!
hIp://appropriateinc.com/book/!
!
Designing'Brand'Iden-ty'
Alina!Wheeler!
hIp://alinawheeler.com/!
Voice & Tone
MailChimp
http://voiceandtone.com/
UIE – Designing Usable Categories with Card Sorting
http://www.uie.com/events/virtual_seminars/card_sorting/
Black Star Co-op
http://blackstar.coop