What's in a Brand? - Lexical Creations

When you write for a variety of clients (and their clients), it can be tricky to navigate the different brand voices.

Switching quickly between various voices (because one client needs social media copy and another needs a whitepaper and both need it now) is one challenge. Writing for two different brands in the same industry, or two subsidiaries of the same company, is another.

Whether the ask is authenticity or differentiation (and it’s usually a little of both), my approach remains the same. As always, I begin from a place of curiosity.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash.

Before I begin any piece, my first question is always “Who am I speaking to?” but, from the brand perspective, it’s preceded by “Who is speaking?”

Together, the answers to these two questions guide everything that follows.

For example, perhaps I’m writing for a multinational telecom company. Generally, they want to be seen as knowledgeable, professional, and effective. Naturally, they’ll have their own USPs and key messages. But how I approach those details depends on who I’m addressing.

If it’s the general public, I may lean more into approachable (but still professional) language. If there are appropriate regional references that can help the message hit home, I’ll include those too.

On the other hand, if they’re communicating with the C-suite, we’re looking at more technical (but not too technical) language, aimed at conveying that they’re hearing from a subject-matter expert who knows how to serve their needs.

Sometimes, I get to write for less formal brands, which creates so many fun opportunities to get creative with language in ways that wouldn’t fly with executives. Or, I get to write for organisations doing interesting things in the regional development space, and then I have to figure out how to translate their work into language the general public would understand and engage with.

Whatever the circumstance, every deliverable is a new opportunity to understand a brand and help them shape a message in a way that creates connection with their audience.

At its core, that’s just plain old storytelling. (AKA my favourite thing to do.)