Copywriting – Tone and Voice

Something strange happens to people when they try to communicate through writing. Their normal chatty engaging style goes out the window for something more akin to a literary novel.

Why?

You’re still talking to the same people (your customers), it’s just through the written word rather than voice.

Getting the tone and voice of your copy right can make a huge difference to customer engagement and your conversion rates. Your copywriter will be able to adapt their writing style to any ‘voice’ you want, but you might have to give them a few clues.

What do you really want?

Your copywriter is an expert at what they do, however that doesn’t make them a mind reader.

When you brief them make sure you give them a real taste of what you’re after with regards to the voice and tone you want the copy to convey.

Saying something like – “I want quirky”, or “I want something fresh” doesn’t really help. Granted they realise the type of approach you’re after but quirky and fresh could cover numerous styles.

It is very likely you’ve done your research and come across another website or brochure etc., that uses the style you’re after. If so, cite them as examples to your copywriter so they can read the material and get a real feel for what you are trying to achieve.

The copywriting process is a very collaborative one. You can’t just hand over a brief and expect copy that is spot on first time (OK, that’s not strictly true, that does happen sometimes – and it’s great when it does – but frequently it’s not until you actually see the copy that you begin to work out what it is you really want).

The first draft is the copywriter’s visualisation of what the brief you provided asked them for. Once you see the copy it is then shaped into exactly what you want.

By giving a visual example of the tone/voice you want will help the creation process enormously so please make sure you provide examples wherever possible.