What is a brand voice for solopreneurs — and why should you care? We're going to answer that question in this article!
Consider this your "Brand Voice 101" to get the basics of what you need to know...
Topics we address in this article:
- What is a brand voice for solopreneurs?
- Plus a video overview!
- Why does your brand voice MATTER?
- An example of this to better understand it 🙂
- Overwhelmed with the idea of creating a brand voice? Here's another way to think about it!
- The ESSENTIAL pre-work you need to do when you're figuring out your brand voice.
- How to get help with this important step of the process.
- Differences between a REGULAR brand voice and a STANDOUT brand voice.
- The importance of SELF-TRUST in all of this.
- Your next steps:
- Learn how to create a STANDOUT brand voice!
Who am I to speak on this topic?
Hi, I’m Sagan — a life coach for solopreneurs!
I specialize in helping you with personal fulfillment (improving your relationship with yourself, elevating your personal development and self improvement experience, and living life in a way that fills your cup) and anti-hustle productivity (increasing your work/life balance, freeing up your time and energy as you grow your successful solopreneur business, and improving your time management and efficiency as a business owner).
Learn more about how to become a cozy business owner (using a lifestyle business model) — which will help you considerably as you upgrade your solopreneur brand voice! — when you book your Solopreneur Productivity Coaching sessions.
What is a brand voice?
Did you like this video? It’s a clip from the Standout Brand Voice masterclass!
Learn more and watch the ENTIRE replay of that solopreneur class:
Brand Voice 101: What is a brand voice for solopreneurs?
As a solopreneur, your brand voice is the public or front-facing expression of your business's identity.
It should reflect your business values, mission statement, vision, etc.
Your business brand voice is WHAT you communicate to the world, as well as HOW you communicate.
...It's the words that you say, along with the tone, the format, the expression, the style, and the energy that you say those words in.
What you say matters — and so does how you say it.
Why does your brand voice matter?
You need to have that clear brand voice in order for potential clients and customers, your community, and your peers, to even know who you are — which then helps them determine whether you're actually the right fit for them.
That's important!
You also need a clear brand voice to help people differentiate you from others in your industry: What sets you apart and why should they work with you instead of someone else?
Example of connecting with others, thanks to your brand voice:
Your brand voice works very similarly to a scenario where you might be at a party, you meet someone new, and now you are gauging whether you might be friends with that person.
You want to be able to know pretty quickly, "This is my kind of person and I want to keep chatting with them," OR: "You know what, we're actually not on the same page here. I'm going to head over there and go find someone else to talk to because this isn't, this isn't a good fit."
You want to be able to know that fairly quickly, rather than spending a bunch of time and energy trying to figure out if you actually have anything in common or if you're going to have a good conversation — it's really about identifying:
Are both of you going to appreciate and get something out of that conversation?
Will this interaction enrich both of your lives?
Is this someone you might want to hang out with in the future or not?
Your brand voice works really similarly: It helps people to easily identify whether they should pause and stay a while and hang out and get to know you better… or if they should maybe carry on with their day.
Both things are fine! We just want to make sure that the right people are finding us.
Are you over-thinking this?
If you are the type of person to overthink a lot of this, that's okay!
I want to give you some reassurance that personal brand is just personality.
As such: The more that you know yourself, the easier it is for your brand voice to really shine through.
This is true for your business as well: As a solopreneur, your business starts with YOU.
Your business brand comes from your personal brand, and your personal brand is essentially your personality.
Your business brand is the personality of your business.
The ESSENTIAL pre-work to creating your brand voice…
When you're looking at what your brand voice is, the very early stages of this is about making sure that you know who you are, what your voice is, what your values are, etc.
You can think of getting to know yourself as the PRE-WORK to figuring out your brand voice.
That can be easier said than done — which is exactly why I do the work that I do and help clients to improve their relationships with themselves!
We do that in our personal fulfillment coaching sessions.
You might be thinking to yourself, “Who even am I?” or “I don't like who I am… so, what does that mean for my brand voice?”
→ If that sounds like you, then I would strongly encourage you to book your coaching sessions so we can work on all of this together:
What separates a regular brand voice from a STANDOUT brand voice?
How do we then turn your brand voice into a STANDOUT brand voice?
Being STANDOUT is about *standing out* to YOUR people.
You might be niche; you might not appeal to the masses. You don’t need to have a big following to have a standout brand voice — because it’s much more about attracting your kind of people to you.
You are standing out from the crowd to that person.
A really good brand voice also allows people outside of the brand to make inferences ABOUT that brand: We are saying something about ourselves, even when we’re not saying it in so many words.
Marshall McLuhan had an entire communication theory about how “the medium is the message,” which is essentially the idea that *the way in which* content is conveyed, or how it’s packaged, is more influential than WHAT is said.
That’s a useful concept to keep in mind when you are fine-tuning your brand voice.
Your brand voice comes back to TRUSTING yourself!
The more that you trust yourself and what feels right for you, the more that you tap into your intuitive guidance, the more that you lean into your unique strengths, the more that you are honest with yourself and give yourself permission to fully express yourself, the more effective and magnetic your brand voice will become.
If you’re having stumbling blocks with any of this, I’d strongly recommend that you develop more self trust (and probably develop other aspects, such as self honesty and self leadership, that are wrapped up in it)...
...That’s also what I’m here for: I do this work with coaching clients all the time!
You can book your coaching sessions and I can guide you through the process of learning how to trust yourself, be more honest with yourself, deepen your self leadership skills, and all sorts of other really cool and super valuable intrapersonal skills development:
Want to learn more about creating a STANDOUT brand voice?
Now that you know the answer to the question, "What is a brand voice for solopreneurs?" and you understand the basics of having a business brand voice, it's time to ELEVATE your brand voice!
Your solopreneur brand voice is the front-facing PERSONALITY of your business:
It’s what helps potential clients identify whether you’re the right fit for them.
It’s what attracts the BEST people to you.
It’s how you clearly articulate who you are and what you do.
It’s how you express your values — and how you set expectations for what people will get from your business.
Your brand voice isn’t just a nice-to-have… It’s a NEED-to-have.
That’s why I created the Standout Brand Voice masterclass!
You know you’re “supposed to” STAND OUT online… but there’s a whole lotta noise out there. It’s hard to hear yourself think!
- How do you know what your own voice even sounds like, when you’re following so many other people online?
- What can you even DO to set yourself apart from other people in your industry?
- Why does it feel so HARD to say what you want to say?
That’s where your Standout Brand Voice comes in!
You’ll get practical steps you can take to figure out your brand voice — so you can be visible and vocal online with CONFIDENCE.
This blog post gives you a “taste” of what you’ll get in that class!
Here’s what you get in this class…
⭐️ Step-by-step guide for how to figure out your brand voice (a framework featuring 7 practical actions you can take TODAY)
⭐️ The 3 elements for how to turn your “good enough” brand voice into a STANDOUT brand voice — and why that “third dimension” of it is essential.
⭐️ Powerful questions to ask yourself when doing an assessment of your own brand voice — so that you STAND OUT from the crowd.
⭐️ FAQs about brand voice, including:
- “What if it feels like other people have a similar brand voice to me?”
- “What if my brand voice doesn’t fit into what other people in my industry sound like?”
- “How do you KNOW you’re doing a good job with your brand voice?”
- “I’ve been told that I need to ‘be polarizing’ in order to stand out online… Is that true?”
- “Do I NEED to talk about my values and beliefs as a core part of the messaging for my brand voice?”
Grab a notepad (you'll want to take notes!) and watch the replay HERE:
