What is Verbal Identity?
Vital to your branding strategy, your verbal identity decides how your brand personality shows up in the written and spoken word. And how much it is liked and embraced by customers, employees and others.
How does verbal identity add value?
Your verbal ID just keeps on giving
It ensures your brand sounds the same across all channels – and consistency builds trust
It connects with audiences in an authentic, relatable manner – which builds more trust
It communicates in a clear, easily understandable way – because confused customers don’t buy
It differentiates – so that your brand stands well apart from competitors
It gets all your brand custodians on the same page - so you sound the same across all channels
Let’s start with the basics
Keep it oh so simple
Your verbal identity plays a key role in how your customers, employees, and others feel about your brand.
And the extent to which they interact with it.
The list of verbal identity building blocks below could also include your mission statement (similar to purpose), vision statement, internal positioning, brand values, brand narrative, brand value proposition, and more.
However, as in manufacturing, we believe the best part is no part. Because every additional part increases the potential for inefficiency.
Keeping your verbal identity as simple as possible increases the chances of it being easily understood, adopted and successfully implemented by all your brand custodians.
The elements of a sticky verbal identity
It all flows from your brand
The elements below contribute to creating a distinctive, consistent, and compelling identity.
Purpose Statement – defines the motivating reason 'why' your brand exists – and its role in the lives of your key audiences (e.g. Nike: We believe if you have a body, you’re an athlete).
Brand & customer story – reveals how your brand changes your customers’ lives for the better by addressing pain points and challenges that matter to them.
Brand personality – describes the way people encounter your brand in the world on a rational and an emotional level - with core personality traits derived from the brand archetype model.
From the above, we derive your verbal identity elements:
Brand Tone of Voice – reflects your brand personality in words, e.g., professional or friendly, humorous or serious, bold or careful, etc. And the style in which it communicates.
Brand Vocabulary – includes distinctive words and phrases your brand uses consistently across all channels.
Brand Name – reflects the the role your brand plays in improving its audience’s lives .
Brand Claim – extends the power of your name by bringing your purpose to life for your brand audiences.
Key Brand Messaging – structures key value propositions for maximum impact.
Verbal Identity Guidelines – ensure consistent application across all channels.
Where to from here?
How we work with you
We can assist you in putting together all or any of the elements listed above, whether you simply want advice on structure and wording, or for us to take full responsibly for delivery.
Once we understand your requirements, we will supply a detailed outline of our approach to creating all requested elements - and then work with you to complete them.
The final result can be delivered as a beautifully designed PDF for easy circulation, or as a text document for incorporation into your brand guidelines by your own designers.
Ready to get sticky?
