For many copywriters, adopting another individual’s or business’s brand voice can be challenging but it is an essential skill for what we are tasked to do. I have written for other people for nearly two decades now and I have heard various iterations of “You don’t know me/my business/industry; how can you possibly help me strategize and write about it?”. All legitimate Qs.
My answer in a nutshell is something like this: I have spent years playing with words, sweating over syntax, and honing my craft. My process allows me to write effectively about virtually any area of business or industry gleaning from conversations, discovery, research, and strategy while any messaging and storytelling are told uniquely in a brand’s voice.
The How and Why of Adopting a Brand’s Voice
Tapping into and landing squarely using a specific brand’s voice, for me, has become a part of my early research as I embark on any project. I have a thorough intake protocol with all of my clients. I have them fill out a creative brief and provide any positioning, value proposition, or differentiation work that they might have done that offers me insight into how they view their brand.
I would say only 50% of the clients I have worked with, even those more extensive projects where I’m brought in as a freelancer for a larger agency, have a fully vetted messaging bank. Without that nucleus of information, I simply ask a lot more questions. As much upfront intel I can obtain helps to inform everything moving forward as I sit down to craft content, web, or collateral copy.
I’m also a very strong listener. I take copious notes during initial conversations with clients to jot down observations, phrasing, and vernacular that I hear as they speak about whatever it is they sell.
Mimicking A Brand’s Voice as a Copywriter
As a ghostwriter, it is my job to blend how the words come together so that it seamlessly translates into their brand “speak”. That task isn’t always easy but it’s my job to do it and do it well.
Depending on the scope of any content I have been tasked to write, I also always review any existing content (blogs, social media posts, website, landing page copy, brochures, and white papers et al) which helps accelerate my ability to adopt and emulate a brand’s voice.
If a client is launching for the first time and doesn’t have much to reference in the way of marketing materials, then I schedule a longer kickoff meeting and tweak my questionnaire. I will also ask them to provide me with inspiration websites, examples of brands that they find themselves drawn to, or a wish list of sorts of how they want to be perceived.
Capturing the Spirit of a Brand’s Voice
The ability to be “voice-versatile” as a copywriter is a superpower skill set that I finesse each time I have the opportunity to work with a new client or brand. Often I use the mental exercise of putting myself into character as an actor/actress would do for a role they are playing.
It takes a level of due diligence each time I’m hired to write for someone else and I respect my process no matter what since it serves me so well in finding the sweet spot when writing and keeping in mind a required cadence, tone and personality.
Much of my success as a wordsmith hinges on my ability to become a chameleon stepping in to write content with no one the wiser that I’m actually a third-party entity.