the importance of being you
DESCRIPTION
My talk on brand personality, voice and tone for RISE Austin 2013. Thanks to @Volusion for sponsoring the talk!TRANSCRIPT
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The Importance of Being You
Creating a meaningful, memorable brand personality
#RISEATX13 @claydelk
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First, a little about me.
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Sr. Content Strategist!
#RISEATX2013 @volusion
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Founder & Organizer Austin Content!
meetup.com/Austin-Content!
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Find me online at:
@claydelk
claydelk.com
slideshare.net/cdelk
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Now, a little about you.
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How do you turn that into a meaningful, memorable
brand personality?
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What do you mean by personality?
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Let’s look at some examples
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vs.
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vs.
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vs.
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It’s all about how you talk about yourself, how you
engage with others, how you communicate.
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Source: http://www.woot.com!
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What is Woot? A discussion of ill-advised efficiencies, failed idealism, and trampled dreams. Woot is a lifestyle. Woot is a vision. Woot is a pungent aroma that never apologizes for what it is. Woot is the hope in the eyes of a child when that child realizes you don't have to pay List Price for cool stuff. Woot is an ever-evolving deal maelstrom churning around a tornado circling a mystery. If you haven't seen Woot since yesterday, you haven't seen Woot. Source: http://www.woot.com/faq
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What is Woot? A discussion of ill-advised efficiencies, failed idealism, and trampled dreams. Woot is a lifestyle. Woot is a vision. Woot is a pungent aroma that never apologizes for what it is. Woot is the hope in the eyes of a child when that child realizes you don't have to pay List Price for cool stuff. Woot is an ever-evolving deal maelstrom churning around a tornado circling a mystery. If you haven't seen Woot since yesterday, you haven't seen Woot. Source: http://www.woot.com/faq
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“MailChimp has added a splash of mischief to a product category not known for… well, much of anything.” Source: http://mailchimp.com/about/
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Source: http:/voiceandtone.com
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Voice & tone
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Your voice doesn’t change. It’s part of who you are.
It may evolve over time, but it
shouldn’t change based on your mood or your environment.
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“The!best!brands!speak!with!one!dis2nc2ve!voice.!On!the!web,!in!a!tweet,!in!conversa2ons!with!a!salesperson,!in!a!speech!given!by!the!president,!the!company!needs!to!project!the!same!unified!message.!It!must!be!memorable,!iden2fiable,!and!centered!on!the!customer.” Alina!Wheeler!Designing'Brand'Iden-ty'
Photo!credit:!www.fourfront.us!
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Your tone can change without changing your voice.
You change your volume and inflection depending on your situation, audience and needs.
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Black'Star'Co6op'Brand'Guide''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''blackstar.coop'
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“We have more than a million users —and millions more potential users—who experience a whole spectrum of emotions when they’re interacting with MailChimp. So we consciously adjust our tone, based on our users’ feelings.”'''Source:'voiceandtone.com/about
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Finding your voice (& tone)
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Pop quiz
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Who are you?
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Who are you not?
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What do you do?
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What don’t you do?
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How do you do it?
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Why do you do it?
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How do you talk about it?
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Who are you talking to?
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Exercise: Defining your voice
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Using your answers to the previous questions:
Group them into 3 or 4 “big
bucket” traits or ideas that can define your brand personality.
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Do they fit your personality?
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Do they stand out in your market? (Should they?)
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Will they resonate with your audience?
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The message architecture
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“A message architecture is an outline or hierarchy of communication goals that reflects a common vocabulary. A message architecture di!ers from brand values, which speak more to the company's credo than to how it should communicate with its target audience."
Margot Bloomstein Content Strategy at Work
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Cardsorting exercise
1. Who we are 2. Who we are not (and don’t
want to be) 3. Who we want to be
Credit:!Margot!Bloomstein!Content'Strategy'at'Work
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UIE – Designing Usable Categories with Card Sorting�http://www.uie.com/events/virtual_seminars/card_sorting/
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1. Empowering – Professional without being stodgy – Inspiring and motivating – Informative
2. Approachable – Friendly and engaging – Empathetic – In the know, but not know-it-all
3. Trusted – Stable, yet flexible – Transparent – Helpful
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Now we can define what these qualities look and sound like for: - Marketing - Sales - Professional services - In-product content - Support - Social media - Etc. etc. etc.
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“This is the di!erence between saying ‘we're serious and mature’ and communicating it by using more formal language, a serif typeface, slightly longer sentences, and images of associates in gray suits with traditional tailoring.”
Margot Bloomstein Content Strategy at Work
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What’s your message architecture?
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Questions, comments,
suggestions?
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Thank you!
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SOURCES'!Content'Strategy'at'Work'Margot!Bloomstein!hIp://appropriateinc.com/book/!!Designing'Brand'Iden-ty'Alina!Wheeler!hIp://alinawheeler.com/! Voice & Tone MailChimp http://voiceandtone.com/ UIE – Designing Usable Categories with Card Sorting�http://www.uie.com/events/virtual_seminars/card_sorting/ Black Star Co-op http://blackstar.coop