Please don't speak to me like that!

I would like to start this week with two apologies.

I think I have over-estimated Cicero’s power to move mountains. Yes, the lift in my State Bunker is out of order again. I will keep you posted. I was a tad premature with my celebrations.
And I would also like to apologise to those of you who tuned in last week for my wit and wisdom. I was away refreshing my batteries. It’s a tough life working ceaselessly and selflessly to protect and maintain State security. Thanks to the many of you who wrote in checking I was alright. It’s nice to be missed. And many thanks to the person who sent me an electronic Get Well Card, obviously fearing the worst. You will all be pleased to know that it was pleasure and not swine flu that had torn me away from my duties to you and to the State.

The last time I was here I spoke about cows and the need for businesses to be like farmers who named their cows, sheep and pigs and to get personal with their customers to optimise yield. Again a few of you were kind enough to show interest in this topic and wanted to learn more. And so today Cicero, as always happy to oblige, is going to expand and say more on what I call a brand’s tone of voice.

So what do I mean by tone of voice?

Your customer’s opinions of your business will be formed through your communications. According to psychologists, who are very clever people, 70% of the messages we receive are through are eyes so the messages we take in through our eyes are of paramount importance. It’s therefore essential that the personality and values of your business come through in the words it uses and the way it writes to its customers through letters, brochures and the like. If your messages don’t do this or if your tone is inconsistent then you will not be delivering the personal and customer focused touch that I am guessing your business wants to communicate consistently and across all written touch points. Having a set of tone of voice guidelines to help all who write for and in your business is not an option but a necessity.

And to have a great tone of voice in your business, here are my top ten tips. But please remember that no two businesses, no two brands, are the same and it will be up to you take Cicero’s principles and apply them to help you find your own distinctive voice.

#1 Always use the customer’s title and name in any correspondence, not his account number or reference number or any other sort of number. Do you really want your customer to be thought of as a number? A name is the most personal thing we as customers have, so use it.

#2 Sign your letters. It always amazes and saddens me how many organisations end their letter with a corporate squiggle, no name or anything. I am sure that you do not want to be seen as a faceless soulless organisation so do as much as you can to make your communications as personal as possible.

#3 Avoid jargon, acronyms and technical terms. You might know what it means but will your customer? You want your business to be seen as accessible and easy to do business with but using a different language to the one your customer uses does not convey these thoughts.

#4 Try to be as conversational as possible. Look to use personal pronouns and contractions as much as feels natural. We say ‘you’re’, ‘I’ll’ and ‘it’s’ when we speak so why not when we write for our business. But please make sure you know where to put the apostrophe if you want to avoid a deluge of correspondence from the grammar purists and pedants.

#5 Only be colloquial and use slang if your brand can support this. Most brands want to be seen as authoritative and expert but friendly and accessible and lapsing into colloquialisms means your brand might be closer to the customer than the customer wants you to be. Authentic youth brands might get away with it but it would be difficult for banks and other brands that depend on a degree of stature and distance to go there.

#6 Use active and not passive verbs to heighten that personal feeling. Better to say ‘I’ve read your letter and considered the points you have raised’ rather than ‘Your letter has been read and its contents noted’. Which business would you like to receive a letter from?

#7 Even if drafting a standard letter template or mass market brochure for your business, remember who you are writing for and visualise it being read. Always write for an audience of one. It all helps to make it feel more personal. Cicero always tries to write for an audience of one even though I know there are three of you.

#8 Avoid footnotes, asterisks and caveats. These can if excessively used cause mistrust and will look like you are trying to hide something.

#9 Be clear about what you write to make it easy for your customers to follow what you are trying to say. Write in short sentences and paragraphs, no more than say 15 words per sentence, with everyday words and phrases to help make it sound authentic and genuine.

#10 And finally read your words out loud in your natural voice. If it flows well and sounds like what you would say without cringing, congratulations, you now have an effective personal tone of voice for your business. If it sounds stiff, formal, bureaucratic, clichéd and unauthentic, re-read 1-9 above.

I hope that helped.

Is it only me?

Am I the only one out there who devotes brain cells to pondering the strange things we say? I was having a conversation last week with someone who mentioned that something they had bought was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Does anyone know and can anyone tell me what was the best thing before sliced bread was invented? I am also left scratching my head when people say we need to get our ducks in a row. Why ducks? And are ducks the only fowl we need to get in a row? And does anyone know if a duck has ever been asked if it wants to get in a row? Has some duckologist ever been given a research grant to find out if a duck in a row is a happy duck? I think I need to get out more.

Have a great week.

Sit felix. Et sit fortunatus.