Finding Your Brand Voice: Action and Adventure Sports

“Brand is the holistic sum of customers’ experiences, composed of visual, tonal and behavioral brand components, many of which are shaped by interaction design”
Kate Kaplan

When developing your brand’s marketing and advertising footprint, it is absolutely necessary that you nail down your brand’s voice early on. And, as Kate Kaplan said,“Brand is the holistic sum of customers’ experiences, composed of visual, tonal and behavioral brand components, many of which are shaped by interaction design”

So, in a competitive marketplace, how do you create a brand voice that stands out? Much like creating a branding strategy, creating a voice that represents your brand takes time, effort, and consistency.

Brand guidelines for creating a voice:

To start, ask yourself what your brand would look, sound, and present themselves as if they were personified. When crafting this voice for your action/adventure sports brand, think about what customers want. According to Sprout Social, the most sought-after behavior by customers when it comes to brands is honesty. Before moving on with crafting a brand’s voice, answer these questions:

What is the tone of my brand?
What are the qualities of my brand’s voice? (Comedic, Formal, Young, etc.)
What is my voice NOT?
If my brand were a living, breathing human being what would they be like?

After answering these questions, you’ll have a better idea of what is means to craft a unique voice in the action and adventure sports industries. And, once you can answer these questions put your answers together into a living branding document. This branding document should serve as your fundamental backbone when creating content or any customer-facing marketing material. Because the majority of content that you create will be customer-facing, it is important to be consistent once you create a branding document for yourself. Once you know what your brand’s voice sounds like, stick to it. Your branding outline should be non-negotiable. At Wildly Creative, we can help you get there. Whether you’re at square one or square 10, we will help you develop your brand strategy and take it to market. We’re a branding agency who specialize in the action and adventure sports verticals. So, not only do we know how to effectively brand a product, but we know who you customer is, too.

Why is consistency key?

When speaking directly to your customer in any B2C marketing strategy (paid digital advertising, traditional advertising, billboards, etc.) it is important to stay true to your brand. Not only is this important for your brand’s marketing strategy, but it is critical to not confuse the consumer. Your brand’s voice needs to be clear and reflect the strength of your product or service. In fact,

“75 percent of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that recognizes them by name, recommends options based on past purchases or knows their purchase history.”

The more consistent you are, the more your customer will recognize your brand in future advertising touchpoints. And, it takes multiple effective touchpoints to lead a customer down the path to purchase. In fact,

Branding research shows that it takes 6 to 8 touchpoints before a purchase is made.

So, imagine if your brand’s voice is out of touch or not consistent for half of those touchpoints. That would increase the number of times a customer needs to be marketed to (and how much you would need to spend on advertising). With the help of a branding agency like Wildly Creative, you can create effective marketing materials that will guide your customer to purchase and drive sales. By creating a brand voice and sticking to it, you’ll be able to let your product shine and attract customers.