Before you make changes to how you express your brand verbally, it’s important to understand how you talk now, how others speak and how customers think about what you offer. A brand language audit will help you accomplish all that. It’s the first step to understanding why – or even if – your language should change.
Chances are that the language of your brand is one of those expanding universes. It quietly grows a life of its own through the everyday interactions and writings of your people. It expresses itself in everything from the informal banter between colleagues through to your most formal and heavily-reviewed press release. And, as it does so, it builds in attitudes and contradictions that become business-as-usual.
Whether you’re looking to rebrand your organisation or you are making changes within your culture to embed new ways of working, knowing and understanding your language is critical to revealing how people work and what others think of your brand.
So, what is a brand language audit?
A brand language audit is a detailed analysis of how you present yourselves through language as a brand.
It’s tempting to focus on the language that is used in external communications only – but a careful study of all your verbal touchpoints, from how people communicate internally via email through to how policy is framed will reveal a lot about internal dynamics as well.
Why undertake such an audit?
The purpose of this audit is to understand how you speak right now and to compare that with how you would like to speak. For example, you may think you have a friendly and open culture, but your internal communications reveal strong control characteristics.
Analysing how your competitors speak will also reveal the tone they are using and the terms that are becoming generic and therefore unownable in the industry. We did some work with a healthcare company who were confident they owned a number of ideas. A brand language audit quickly revealed that all of *their* terms were used throughout the industry.
A third area to examine is how customers think of you and talk about your industry and your brand vs how you think about and express what you do. They can be quite different. A simple way to test this is to look at the terms people use to search for your brand. These matter because they reveal how people frame your sector and your brand in their own minds – and the bridge you may need to build in order to avoid speaking past them.
What should a brand language audit deliver?
- An understanding of how you use language across the business and with your stakeholders. You can focus on one group only, or one at a time – but looking at both will help identify the range of language you use.
- You’ll be able to see where language is used consistently and where there are differences and variations. Some of these alternatives may be necessary, but others may be confusing. It can be difficult for customers, for example, if you refer to one thing in different terms across different channels.
- As alluded to above, you can assess the “common language” of the industry. Depending on the sector, this can be highly dynamic – with new ideas and terms flowing into – and out of – mainstream use.
- You can examine how approachable your language is for customers, and whether you have a way of writing that has your signature on it. If you sound like everyone else, that can affect how you are perceived.
- You can see whether your messages are clear – and if the way you write works to enhance clarity and distinctiveness.
- A brand language audit is a great opportunity to see how well your visual and verbal elements are working together.
- Most importantly, a brand language audit will tell you if you are truly capturing the personality of your brand.
When should you do a brand language audit?
A brand language audit can be a very good way of checking the clarity of how you communicate. But you may also choose to undertake such an audit as part of a brand refresh or a rebrand to establish a new language going forward.
Here are nine situations when it makes sense to include an audit of your language:
- Include an audit of the current language as part of your discovery process if you are considering a rebrand.
- If customers are telling you that they find your messages confusing, examine where and why this is occurring by studying what you’re intending vs what they are perceiving.
- If you sound like everyone else, use a brand language audit to identify when you most seem like everyone else.
- If you have a lot of people writing for the brand, an audit lets you see how they are representing you – and where there are differences of opinion and expression.
- If you are looking to refresh your brand visually, look at whether your language has kept pace with cultural and social trends, and whether you need to rethink your verbal brand as well.
- If your language doesn’t feel consistent, or the rules seem arbitrary, a brand language audit will show you the lie of the land.
- If you are expanding into a new sector or a new region, check that your current language will translate well.
- If you are looking to attract a different demographic, check whether your language resonates with them or not. Language gives powerful inclusion signals when used well.
- If you are looking to change emotions in your culture, look at what your current language use *tells* people.
9 brand language principles
It’s important to have a clear understanding of what a strong brand language looks like. These are our goals for a brand language system.
Language is one of the most important definers of any brand.
The language you choose, the language you don’t choose and the language you choose to replace are a reflection, and in some senses a definition, of your priorities.
Language underpins perspective
It not only reveals how an organisation feels about a matter, it also signals how that organisation might be expected to approach and resolve that matter in the future.
Language defines relationships.
Your tone reflects how at ease you feel in your own brand skin. Formal brands use formal language, and that formality rubs off into their dealings. Relaxed brands use more informal, chatty language and help their customers feel at ease. If your tone and manner don’t reflect your values and your personality, your communications will always feel awkward.
Language is instinctual.
You may need rules to start with – but in time you should know whether a communication is “on brand” or not from how it feels. The best brands have language that goes without saying. It is embedded in who they are, and therefore how they express themselves.
Language must communicate.
Truism, yes – until you look at all the gunk that pours out of brands and realise that too many of them have too little to say of any significance or interest. If you’re not adding to the meaning, say nothing. It means more.
Language should be jagged.
It should have sharp edges that cut across the normal patter. If you spy nothing but the same, safe, predictable language as everyone else, you need to make some changes. Try finding new and exciting ways of talking about what you do. Take your language cues from your values, your worldview, your personality (naturally) and most importantly of all the personas of your customers. Talk with them, not at them about the things they want to hear about. Take your cues for this from your social media results – most searched words, hashtags that people are interested in, most popular categories for you etc.
Language is keywords.
In addition to re-expressing your brand, look to own a small collection of words in the minds of your customers and your staff. Martin Lindstrom found 74 percent of consumers associate the word “crunch” with Kellogg’s. Another 59 percent consider the word “masculine” and Gillette as one and the same.
Language changes perceptions.
As Frank Luntz says it so perfectly, “It’s not what you say that matters, it’s what people hear”. When NGOs talk about what’s wrong in the world, customers hear a brand that is negative. However, if they talk about what could happen and what they’re aiming to improve, people “hear” a brand that is uplifting.
When Oxfam found that their “against poverty” message wasn’t working, they very successfully shifted to a way of talking that was “pro-humanity”. Receptivity surged. That’s because changing the language changes the premise. It redefines/ refreshes/challenges meanings that people feel they know. It requires people not just to rearticulate what they believe but to express that belief in a way that they may well never have thought of before.
Language should shift.
Or at least it should as you become more familiar with people and they become more familiar with you. The way you talk to a prospect should be noticeably different than the dialogue you have with a loyal buyer. Plotting those transitions is critical.
Style vs language
Brand language and style are complementary but different. Brand language is about how you consciously choose to use language to capture and communicate your brand. The focus is on expression and the impressions your language makes.
Style is all the consistency issues that come with written language – what things get called, when they are capitalised, which spelling conventions you use and a myriad of other decisions. It’s detailed and nuanced work best suited to someone with an editorial or proof-reading background.
Just to be clear, style is also a brand issue. An informal lifestyle brand may well style how it writes in different ways to a professional services firm. In fact, it should.
A robust brand language audit should pick up any issues with both at a high level. Style issues are best resolved in writing through the development of a style guide. Our prediction is that, in time, AI will pick up a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of identifying and rectifying inconsistencies – but there still need to be clear rules that act as the style reference set.
Who should be included in the audit?
It’s possible to do a brand language audit quickly and lightly. In terms of commissioning an external assessment, an experienced writer or creative director will be able to provide a clear appraisal of the state of your brand language. For brands that are looking for a once-over, this may well be enough to establish the scope for what will need to be addressed. We do this a lot for smaller companies, and it has proven highly effective in terms of identifying actual and potential issues.
In larger organisations, where decision-making is more involved and there are multiple parties, it can be useful to break down who should be included into four groups.
Customers
First and foremost, you need to get a representative view from those who are being communicated with. Depending on the organisation, this may be a diverse group. You will want to know things like:
- What communications do you see and/or receive – and do you look forward to receiving them?
- How often do you see/receive them?
- Do they make sense? Are they enjoyable? Are they clear?
- What do you do with them?
- Do they meet your needs?
- Do they feel like the brand – or could they be from anyone?
With this group, you’re particularly checking the experience they have with the communications they receive and how they respond.
Initiators
These are the people within the organisation responsible for making communications happen, either externally or internally. This too is a diverse group – it can take in everyone from senior leaders through to project managers, marketing teams and People & Culture. Check:
- Do you think we use the right language in our communications?
- What are the hardest things to state clearly?
- Who responds most favourably to our communications, and why?
- Where are the opportunities for improvement?
The goal here is to understand what sponsors are looking to communicate and when they believe the brand language is most effective.
Authors
This is potentially everyone who writes to someone else inside and outside the brand culture. This is usually the broadest group, because it can encompass those from the media team to in-house creatives, the investment team, sales and external communications and marketing agencies. The conversations here can be equally broad – taking in everything from formal announcements to crisis response to search and digital strategy. There’s a lot you could ask, including:
- Is there a clear brief for every communication?
- Do you have access to the resources you need to write what’s required?
- How do you factor the brand into what you write?
- What do we say out of habit that may be we should rethink?
- Do you know our tone and manner – and is it practical for you to apply?
- What are some examples of our brand language at its best?
- When do you think our brand language is most likely to be wrong?
- How does our brand language compare with other brands?
Signatories
These are the people who sign off communications, so their interest and approach to brand language is more likely to be focused on process, accuracy and compliance. They want to make sure that the brand language sits within the rules. This too can be a diverse group, including brand managers, the legal team, operations, risk, executives and more. Key questions for these groups include:
- Do you have any specific concerns around our language generally?
- What do you find is the biggest problem you encounter?
- Where do we need to be most cautious in our use of language, and where can we be most adventurous?
- What are the things you look for when you are signing off a piece of communication?
- Do you make that decision alone, or do you consult with others? (If so, who?)
- Are there any changes or developments ahead that could change how we use language?
As you can see, the key things to be checking for here are points of resistance and concern. The goal is to enable everyone to understand what is permitted, what is questioned and what is not allowed.
The six steps of a brand language audit
Interviews and workshops
If we’re running a brand language audit, we look to interview and workshop with representatives from the four groups above to get a sense of the current state of your brand language. Our sessions tend to be about 40 minutes with 8 – 10 people, which gives everyone a good chance to be heard. Ideally, we focus on each stakeholder group one at a time rather than mixing them up. For broad impressions, we use workshops. If we want in-depth answers, we tend to opt for one-on-ones.
Gather current examples
It’s important to gather a wide range of written materials to get a sense of what is currently circulating. It’s important to balance the sample set so that you have external and internally facing communications, timely and planned, physical and digital, short and long copy.
Review current voice
In reviewing your sample set, we look for what feels on-brand and what doesn’t. Also, we look for places where messages don’t align or where the communication is confusing. We generally arrange the samples from those that most feel like the brand through to those that don’t seem to align with the brand at all. Brief explanations for why help other stakeholders understand what is working and what is not.
Compare with competitors
You need to see what you are doing with language in context. We examine what your competitors are doing, and the tone of voice they are using. Is it similar to yours – or not? Is it better than yours in terms of how customers will relate to them? There’s no need for a lot of samples, but you need enough to be able to assess where others are positioning themselves tonally, and where that puts your brand. At this point, we want to select the competitor that is doing the best job as a rival to your brand, and benchmark your brand against theirs.
Analyse for opportunities
By now, we can usually spot the gaps in terms of how well your brand is using language. This is an opportunity to set out options for how you can leverage your language advantages and counter the tone or approach that others are taking.
Feedback and presentation
Our brand language audit process usually concludes with a presentation to senior decision makers on the state of your brand language. But before we do that, it’s good to check findings back with representatives from the four groups of stakeholders to ensure we haven’t missed anything.
The presentation itself sets out what we have found, what that means, the opportunities we believe it generates for your brand to forge a distinctive language and how any why such an approach will appeal to customers and stand out from the language of competitors.
The goal of the audit report is to set out whether your current brand language is working hard enough in the current competitive landscape or whether you need to lift your language to improve how customers relate to you.
What you get
Done well, a brand language audit will start conversations about something that too many brands don’t focus enough on. You’ll be able to identify where you have language that truly own and where your language is less effective. And you’ll have the basis for consensus on how language should be assessed within the organisation and how decisions around language should be made.
Once your brand language audit is complete, we can develop a brand language strategy to address what’s been identified and brand language guidelines and style guidelines to put your new brand language in writing. We also offer writing workshops that set out, in detail, how to bring the new language to life.
Is a brand language audit a stand-alone exercise?
Not necessarily. As we alluded to earlier, you can combine a brand language audit with a visual brand audit – and in fact there are efficiencies and synergies in doing this that are worth discussing.
Are there other options?
You may not want or need to audit all your language. For example, you may only wish to check the language you are using with investors. In that case, you can follow a similar, but streamlined, process to check your brand language alignment. We did this for a major publicly listed company who were concerned that their presentations to fund managers didn’t align in terms of their structure and language. We changed their storytelling and, at the same time, reviewed their language to understand where the differences were.
If you already know what you want to change, you can engage us to make those specific changes on a consulting basis.
Next steps
A distinctive brand language is a key asset for every Articulate Company. If you’re interested in seeing how your brand language holds up now and where it could take you, let’s talk about how our brand language audit could work for you. Please contact us to make a time to chat. From there, we’ll draft a proposal setting out an approach.
Acknowledgements
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash