Brand voice and berry delicious smoothies

Competition is the #1 thing that kills startups.

Oversaturated markets and a lack of a differentiated value prop lead to…well, downfall.

If you’re starting a business, I’m going to let you in on a secret trick to stand out among your competitors:

✨Brand voice✨

Who you are and the value you provide is one thing. How you communicate that with customers is another. And these days, communication is everything.

Imagine you’re choosing between two dating apps. One responds to your IG comments with cute, inspiring things that make you smile. The other has pretty robotic, standard responses. Both apps offer value, but one makes you feel seen, heard and supported with every interaction.

Which one would you choose?

You might not think those little IG comments, blog subtitles, or DMs on TikTok matter, but they do. Anytime you’re communicating something with your audience, it’s a chance to let your personality shine and connect with them further.

In this newsletter, we’re going to show you how to use brand voice successfully to beat the competition. But first…

Welcome back to Macaroni & Marketing— where you’ll find delish recipes and marketing tips all in one place.

Today we’ll be sharing:

• Marketing tip— brand voice 101

• Recipe— strawberry mango smoothie

Let’s go!

BTW- I work with startups, VCs and entrepreneurs to build their audiences online. Learn more about my work with my portfolio!

What’s brand voice? ✨

Brand voice is your company’s personality. It’s how you communicate with your customers or audience everywhere— in blog posts, emails, captions etc. Brand voice is more important than ever today because people want to connect with companies on a deeper level. They want to feel like they’re talking to another person, not a business. If your business can accomplish this, customers will be way more likely to choose you over competitors.

How to craft your brand voice

So how do you create a brand voice? Here’s a simple exercise you can walk through with your team:

1. Look at your competitors. For each competitor, review their website, blogs and social media. Write down your observations: are they funny? Serious? Supportive? Inspiring? Does their voice differ at all from place to place?

2. Review your mission, vision and values. Refresh your memory on what your team set out to do.

3. Create a buyer persona. Using your target audience, craft a persona for a hypothetical customer. Write down their name, age, where they live, likes/dislikes, interests, pain points or challenges, etc. Here are some helpful tools to get started:

   1. Figma has awesome user persona templates

   2. Hubspot has a free buyer persona generator

   3. Semrush has buyer persona templates & guides

4. Do a quick write. Imagine you’re talking to the buyer persona you just crafted. Write down a few key questions or statements that persona might say to your business. Ex: “Do you sell X?” or “Love your products!”. Then set a timer for 5 minutes and try to respond to each one. Share with your team and discuss.

5. Write down descriptors. Based on the exercise, write down how you want to communicate with your customers, using “we” statements. Ex. “We’re welcoming and supportive. We inspire you to be your best self.” or “We’re funny and silly. We like to have fun and make you smile.”

6. Create a table. Make it easy for your team to implement your brand voice by outlining do’s and don’ts for each descriptor. Ex. For “inspiring”, you might say: “Do encourage people to reach their goals”, “Don’t be cheesy or cliche”.

There you have it! Now let’s look at some examples from companies that nail brand voice.

Want to chat 1:1 about crafting a unique brand voice for your startup or business?

Brand voice examples

Duolingo

Duolingo is simply hilarious. Slightly unhinged, but in the best way. They speak Gen-Z language, and love a good roast. Here are some of their comments on TikTok that capture their brand voice:

Bumble

Bumble is supportive, inspiring & kind. They’re always there to help you out in your dating journey, and it shows. Take a look at some of their copy:

Fursure

Fursure offers affordable pet insurance, and they want to be BFFs with your pets. Their brand voice is empathetic, welcoming and, of course, pet-friendly. Here are some IG comments where their brand voice shines through:

Want ways to use your brand voice on social media? Check out our last post on Trends, Memes and Veggie Nourish Bowls!

Strawberry mango smoothie

In the spirit of differentiation, this smoothie is quite special (and wins out among all its competitors 😜) because it’s high-protein and made with just 5 ingredients.

If you’re on that health kick or gym grind, you’ll be happy to know that it’s packed with about 20g of protein.

I use non-fat, high-protein, plain greek yogurt to get my protein in and thicken up the smoothie. You can use any greek yogurt you like, even vanilla if you want it extra sweet.

Fun fac: the fruit measurements always stay the same, so you can sub in different fruit every time you make it. My favorite is strawberry and mango, but sometimes I do mixed berry or pure strawberry.

Trust me, this is going to be your new breakfast treat!

Ingredients

Makes one large smoothie or two servings. I often make two and refrigerate one for the next day.

• 1 cup frozen strawberries

• ½ cup frozen mango

• 1 banana

• 1 cup oatmilk

• ¾ cups non-fat, plain greek yogurt

Directions

1. Blend all your ingredients together in a blender. I use a Nutribullet because it’s easier cleanup.

2. Once everything is blended smoothly, serve and enjoy!

See u next time for more recipes & marketing tips 👋 ✨ 

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