Tone of voice
Tone of voice is how a brand sounds in writing and speech: its vocabulary, rhythm, level of formality and attitude. A defined voice makes a brand recognisable even without its logo, and keeps different writers sounding like one company.
In practice
What it means when you are the one making the decision.
A voice guide is more useful with examples than adjectives. Saying a brand is friendly and professional helps little; showing a before-and-after of a real sentence helps a lot. It should also list words the brand uses and words it avoids.
Voice has to hold across channels with different moods: a website headline, a customer-support reply, an apology email and a social post. The core stays steady while the intensity changes, and the guide should show how.
Example
A fintech brand decides it writes in short, plain sentences, never uses jargon without explaining it, and does not make promises about returns.
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