Crafting a Unique Brand Voice for Global Success

Introduction: why does a cohesive brand voice matter for Amazon sellers?

Your brand voice speaks louder than any logo – especially when entering new markets. It communicates your brand’s distinct personality cohesively across all new markets, and fosters incredible recall and trustworthiness with target customers. However, pursuing a strong brand voice when localizing content can be challenging; you’ll want your brand voice and tone to be consistent across borders, but with content that appeals to cultural sensitivities, ways of communicating, and preferences.

Before we get ahead of ourselves – what exactly is brand voice? It’s the unique personality and style that defines how a brand communicates with its audience. It’s particularly necessary when expanding globally, because it’ll help you build trust and recognition across diverse markets. Amazon sellers that are expanding to new regions will find a brand voice will help to create a memorable presence, fostering familiarity and loyalty with new audiences. By implementing a compelling brand voice, you can reach your audience all over the world, in an effective and authentic way, regardless of location, cultural nuances, and so forth.

This guide will give you tips and tactics on how to develop a brand voice that’s consistent and works well across cultures, while still adapting to market needs.

Interested in learning more about e-Commerce branding? Understand all about e-Commerce localization and brand trust.

Understanding the Core Components of a Strong Brand Voice

A survey conducted by Hubspot shows that brand language is important to business success, while brand language is a crucial part of brand strategy.

American entrepreneur Lisa Gansky puts brand voice into stark perspective. Your company’s brand voice embodies your brand’s identity, values, and how you connect with your target market on an emotional level. It’s the way you communicate, not just in words but in actions, values, and overall experience you create for customers. Products are tangible, but they only hold meaning because of the brand behind them. They’re keepsakes of the brand experience – a reminder of what your brand represents and the emotional connection it creates. So, in other words, products can be memorable, but the real loyalty comes from your brand’s voice and character, and the experience you offer.

What does this mean for you? It’s crucial to craft a consistent brand voice that resonates with customers. The voice is the essence of your brand, while your product serves as a symbol of that relationship. It’s a reminder that strong branding goes beyond the product itself. A good brand relies on creating a memorable, valuable connection with customers.

So, what are the core components of a strong brand voice?

Let’s keep it quick and simple. Here are the important elements that you can use to define your brand voice:

• Personality: The distinctive traits and style that shape your brand’s ‘character’ (e.g., playful, empowering, authoritative).
• Values: The core principles or beliefs your brand upholds, which should resonate through all messaging.
• Tone: The emotional expression of your brand’s personality, flexible enough to adapt to different contexts while maintaining consistency.
• Vocabulary: Specific language and phrases that reinforce your brand’s identity.

Now that you understand why a brand voice is important, let’s get into how to develop one.

Steps on Developing Your Brand Voice

Here’s how you can build your brand voice:

• Step 1: Define Your Brand’s Core Identity
  • Review your brand’s mission, values, and target audience.
  • These core elements are crucial, so you develop a distinct brand voice that stays sound even when you expand. When your brand voice is clear, localization efforts won’t dilute the message.
• Step 2: Identify Target Audiences and Create Global Personas
  • Create personas for each target market you expand to. Understand and respect local cultural nuances, while maintaining brand consistency.
  • Your brand voice is the personality that comes across in all content, regardless of the region. For example, you can adapt a friendly personality and tone, but adapt vocabulary and references for US and Japanese markets. That’s how to create a brand voice tailored for different audiences – with a localized approach.
• Step 3: Establish Brand Voice Guidelines
  • Develop a brand guide or style guide. Document voice characteristics, preferred vocabulary (for example, will you be formal or casual when addressing your audience? This will come in helpful in languages like German, where there are different pronouns depending on who you’re speaking to – more about this in Tone of Voice for German Listings)
  • Include Do’s and Don’ts in your style guide. This way, you’ll ensure uniformity when collaborating with translators, local marketers, and influencers, helping them stay true to your brand guidelines.
• Step 4: Adapt Tone for Localized Content Without Compromising Core Voice
  • Adapt a flexible tone. A defined voice isn’t set in stone; you can adjust the tone for specific audiences or contexts while preserving the brand personality.
  • For example, an eco-friendly brand can keep its voice consistent by discussing sustainability globally, but tailor messaging to address region-specific environmental issues. Put it this way – Germany is the world’s biggest recycler, recycling an incredible 60%+ of its waste! So, definitely mention recycling in your content. But you might want to reword this content for Mexico, which only has a 5% recycling rate (although to be fair, waste collection is high – disposal just needs improvement). So, you’re sticking to the same brand voice across all regions, just tailoring the content for a localized approach.
• Step 5: Use a “Sounds Like / Doesn’t Sound Like” Chart
  • You’ll clarify your brand personality this way. A “sounds like/doesn’t sound like” chart will help global teams and stakeholders understand what the brand voice should and shouldn’t sound like, ensuring that core voice consistency is maintained across markets.
  • For example, your “do” can be to stay casual, fun, and playful, and your “don’t” can be never to use “yeet,” “gyatt,” “fanum tax,” or “skibidi!” (We’re only bringing these words up because we don’t understand them, but if your customers do, then by all means, use them in your content. Your brand voice should align with how your customers communicate; that’s the best way to develop a relationship with them!)

A Great Brand Voice is Consistent Even with Localized Marketing

The best way to build brand recognition across many different markets is a consistent brand voice. A solid brand voice can help you connect with your audience – and when you add localization to your content, you’ll resonate with audiences in each country as well, while keeping your brand messaging intact across all markets.

A unified brand voice ensures that customers recognize and connect with your brand, no matter where in the world they may encounter it.

Perhaps this analogy is best – your favorite brand is the same whether you’re in Asia, Europe, or the USA. Perhaps there are nuances to the content that differ per country, because of adept localization, but essentially you’ll recognize a consistent voice no matter where in the world you may be.

The best way we can illustrate this is by bringing up YLT Translations’ own fearless leader, Jana. A polyglot, mother, and business owner, Jana travels all over the world to speak about localization for eCommerce. We assure you, whether you meet her at a conference in Hong Kong, or at Prosper Show in Vegas, or in London for a meet-and-greet, you’ll encounter the exact same wonderful, passionate, and knowledgeable person – whether she speaks to you in English, Serbian, German, or any of the other languages she’s proficient in! If anyone’s a good example of a brand voice, it’s our dear Jana, with her consistent, approachable, professional, and knowledgeable “brand presence!”

Case in point – read all about her impressions of the Land of the Rising Sun, a country she’d never been to before, on Jana Meets Japan!

Now, you’ll need to balance your global brand voice with localized content. Take Nike for instance – it has an inspirational and motivational tone worldwide, but it might address runners in the US and soccer fans in Brazil. Fenty Beauty’s voice is bold and inclusive, and celebrates self-expression and diversity, but adapts its messaging to local cultures while staying true to its core values.

A defined brand voice makes a huge difference in connecting you with your customers. The right brand voice remains consistent no matter where in the world you may be – but it will adapt language, infographics, color scheme, and more to suit each region.

Maintaining and Evolving a Defined Brand Voice Over Time

Although your company’s voice should remain consistent, solid, and dependable no matter where you are, it’s not set in stone. Refine your brand voice as often as you need to, while sticking to your core values.

Conduct regular audits across different markets and channels to ensure brand voice consistency. This exercise will see if any market adapts a different tone that doesn’t concur with the overall brand voice. Every brand needs to do this regularly to maintain consistency, and achieve the final benefit of a good brand voice, meaning customer trust and the establishment of a recognizable brand identity. So, let’s say you’re dealing with influencers in a new country – make sure you furnish them with a brand voice template that delineates your current voice, and Do’s and Don’ts they can follow.

Next, it’s crucial to adapt and refine the voice of your brand often. The voice might change to suit evolving needs, new regions, and so forth. But it’s important that you change into a brand voice that aligns with your core brand values. So, be flexible, but don’t lose your brand identity.

For example, let’s say you’re selling toys and games, and you want to come across as trustworthy, approachable, and fun. You might adapt your brand voice to meet consumer expectations in Germany to suit the fact-driven stoic German customer, and more emotive in the USA, but still maintain that friendly, approachable vibe. Now that’s a powerful brand voice – one that’s respectful of local customs, but still consistent with core brand values.

At the end of the day, you want your brand voice to connect you with your customer, and establish the unique voice that spells out a fun customer experience. So, stay consistent, but localize to suit different market nuances.

Conclusion: A Distinct Brand Voice Should Have a Local Flavor

So, now you understand that a brand voice is the experience a brand uses to communicate its core values to its target market. Now, you understand not just how to create one, but how to create a consistent brand voice across all the markets you sell in. The right voice will communicate trustworthiness, and encourage customers to keep coming back, and will eventually (hopefully!) make the brand a household name.

When you create your brand voice right, you’ll sell not just products – you’ll sell an experience. A lifestyle. A journey. That way, no matter where in the world they may find your brand, your brand evokes the same feeling and experience to customers new and old.

Remember to aim for brand consistency. The brand voice is the personality your brand takes on; this should be the same across all touch points, whether on an Amazon listing, a website, or a social media post. Those personality traits can really help your brand stand out, especially in the jungle that’s Amazon selling, where every other person is selling a product similar to yours.

Yet, as with all exercises in global expansion, localize your content to suit your target market. We can’t underscore how important it is to take that brand voice, and customize it to suit the different psychologies of every region you sell in.

Don’t forget – YLT Translations is here to help you localize your Amazon product listings – and we can follow a brand voice chart so the output is aligned with your brand’s values, too! Reach out for a free listing audit, and let’s see where we can hasten your international expansion through a well-crafted and beautifully-localized listing.

While we’re on the topic of marketing, did you know that country-neutral and culturally sensitive external marketing can help you win over your customers all over the world?