How you communicate your marketing message is referred to as the tone of voice you use.  The words you use on your website, on your products and in your documentation and marketing collateral literally define how people perceive your business.

In other words, writing is branding and your tone of voice guidelines are as important as the logo and typeface you choose.

Finding your tone of voice starts with understanding who your audience is and choosing the right language to reach them. It might be professional, casual, or even funny, but in order to establish an emotional connection that will lead to your audience trusting you and buying from you, you have to communicate in a way that they will believe. This is not to say that you should just go ahead and copy what has been done before in your sector. Not at all. Brands that break the rules are the ones that people remember. It may seem a risky strategy to find your own unique voice, but surely it’s not any riskier than being ignored?

So, how to go about defining the right Tone of Voice for your business?

You should think about a range of words that best suit your brand; assessing the personality of your business, as if it were a person, just as you may define a certain friend as ‘witty’ or a colleague as ‘enthusiastic’. Use as many descriptors as you wish, but three is usually the magic number to help you stay focused. It often helps to combine what a brand is with what it is not. (Professional but not dry and corporate. Casual, but not lazy and messy.)

Vocabulary is simply a choice of words, so you must ascertain what type of words can and can’t be used within your tone of voice so that your content embodies the ‘personality’ of the business. What kinds of words are definitely required and which words are forbidden? Keep it honest, consistent and accurate.

When you feel you have nailed it, read your words out loud:
• Does it feel right for the brand?
• Does it support the brand values?
• Does it fit with the ‘natural’ voice of the business?
• Will it engage and motivate employees and customers alike?
• Will it help build trust?
• Will it differentiate us from the competition?

When you have found the right words you need to define a writing style. Keep in mind who you will be writing for. If it’s for other businesses, you may want to use a professional-yet-approachable tone, whereas if you’re writing directly to a customer you may desire a fun-and-exciting voice. One way to go about it is to emulate an existing publication. What does your audience read? The Financial Times? The Sun? Novels? Use a spectrum to get an idea of where you want to sit. From humorous to serious, formal to casual, or inspirational to straightforward.

While not appropriate in every situation, you’ll be surprised at how frequently a story can replace mundane text. Storytelling allows you to present information to your customers that resonates with them on an emotional level. Read my short blog on storytelling here.

Go through examples of what hits the mark, and be thorough with editing and proof-reading. Ideally get someone else to proof read it too. And, as with everything related to branding, make sure to choose a tone of voice that you can keep consistent across every single marketing channel.

I don’t know about you but I seem to have this constant feeling of eco-guilt. My two teenagers remind me constantly that my generation have a lot to answer for. It’s not a great feeling at all, but they are right. However, instead of panicking, I have committed to new and more eco-friendly habits.

Here’s the most office related ones. I am sure you are doing most of this already, but I reckon we can all do with a little reminder every now and again...

How to make your office more sustainable.

Get on your bike.
A lot of us have been working at home since the pandemic but if you are back to commuting and if at all possible, especially now in the summer with less heavy rain, try cycling. Not only is it good for the environment, it is great exercise as well.

Rethink your printing habits.
Print as little as possible! If printing is unavoidable, set photocopiers and printers to single copies and print double-sided. Use recycled eco-paper and eco-conscious ink cartridges.

Ditch Google.
I have been using a search engine called Ecosia for several years and with each click I make I help them to plant trees. Another one I just heard about is called Panda Search and they are all about protecting the rainforest. Google receives billions of search queries every single day so they can do without your business.

Go for the All-in-one.
Choose multi-functional devices, such as all-in-one printers that can print, copy and scan documents. Such devices use much less energy than individual machines and if it has an energy saving setting, make sure it’s active. Look for energy-saving certifications when purchasing new equipment.

Re-consider how you buy stuff.
Minimise the number of small, inefficient orders you place. This cuts back on excess packaging and transport emissions and it also saves you time. Buy eco-conscious products or even better: Buy second-hand. Most refurbished electronics comes with at least a one-year warranty after purchase. As for furniture, your office would look funky with a pre-loved chair, desk or both.

Drink tap water.
I think we all know at this stage that plastic bottles is a total no-no. But if you are not a fan of water straight from the tap, despite the fact that it is tested for more harmful substances than fancy mineral and spring water, invest in a filter jug or a soda stream.

Switch off.
Try to use natural daylight as much as possible. My computer automatically goes to sleep when I’m away from my desk which helps a bit. However, because computers left on standby still consume more power as when in use, it should ideally be shut down properly when you’re done for the day. And don’t forget to turn off the lights. All of them.

Refill and Recycle.
If you use refills you will dramatically reduce your office’s carbon footprint. Refillable pens, refillable inks, refillable soap.... Rethink what you can reuse. And when you need to dispose of stuff, of course you’ll recycle as much as possible. Whatever we can do to ease the strain on landfills, let’s do it!

What am I saying?
What do you think I am saying?
What do you hear?
What do you think you hear?

What is actually being said?

Most of us spend large parts of our days communicating. And we’ve done so since the day we were born. But no matter how old we get, and no matter how skilful we get at many different things in life, communication is one skill that most of us never seem to master all that well. 

Whether it is communication with your target market, your boss or your friends and family, here’s a few tips to make it easier to communicate in the most effective way possible.

The 10 Cs of communication

1. Clear
When writing or speaking to someone, be clear about what you want to communicate. Make sure that it’s easy for your audience to understand your meaning so they don’t have to make assumptions on their own.

2. Concise
When you’re concise in your communication, you stick to the point and you keep it brief. Your audience doesn’t want to hear or read several sentences when you could communicate your message in one.

3. Complete
In a complete message, the audience has everything they need to be informed. All relevant information, like names, dates, times, locations, etc. need to be included. 

4. Coherent
When your communication is coherent, it’s logical. All points are connected and relevant to the main topic, and the tone and flow of the text is consistent. 

5. Correct
Your communication needs to be tailored to your audience. All technical terms need to fit your audience’s level of education or knowledge. In writing, make sure there’s no grammatical errors and that all names and titles are spelled correctly.

6. Concrete
When your message is concrete, then your audience has a clear picture of what you’re telling them. There are details, but not too many, and there’s a clear focus. 

7. Courteous
You communication needs to be friendly, open, and honest and you should always try to keep your audience’s viewpoint in mind.

8. Credible
Your message should highlight your credibility. This is especially important when communicating with an audience that doesn’t know much about you.

9. Creative 
These tips are not about storytelling but you should still keep your audience engaged by talking or writing in such a way that they want to hear and understand what you want to communicate.

10. Confidence Check
Never take for granted that your audience gets your message. Just because you know what you’re saying doesn’t mean that your audience will understand you....

So.... Did I master number 9? Did you make it 'till the end...? ​

​Times change, consumer interests change, culture changes, businesses change, and your brand will at some stage have to change too. 

If you look closely at logos for the likes of Coke or Google you will see that they keep refreshing their image. It might just be subtle tweaks but it happens surprisingly often. Old Spice didn’t change its logo, it changed the experience. To catch up with the changing market who found them rather stale (they have been around since 1937), they completed a full rebrand with new packaging, clever ads and smart use of social media. In only one short year following the rebrand, their sales increased by more than 100%. 

A successful rebranding involves overhauling a company’s goals, message and culture. Sometimes it involves changing a name. And most often it involves changing a logo. 

What does your brand need?

Your brand identity looks old and outdated.
If you have a well-established brand you need to do a proper audience research first. You might find people love your classic brand and a subtle tweak will do the job.

Your business is looking to attract a new group of people.
Your brand should always speak to the people you are trying to reach, and if your branding is not primed to help you connect with the target audience you are after, then rebranding can be the solution.

Your brand has become too complicated.
As a business grows it usually develops or acquire various products and services. A new business might start off as one thing, but over the course of time it could have transformed into something else. Transform this confused brand clutter into a unified brand.

Your customers have started to look elsewhere.
If your business has lost touch with what is important to your audience, rebranding might be what you need, to make it wanted and understood again. 
Your business is expanding internationally. 
Rebrand to adapt your brand to fit different languages if your brand name is not appealing to cultures worldwide. 

Your brand doesn’t fit the ‘online’ world.
If your brand was developed before the ‘digital’ age you might need to simplify your logo and branding elements to make it work as well on screens as it does on printed materials. 

Your brand identity was done in a rush.
Often newly established companies throw together a logo and some short-sighted branding elements just to get started. Sometimes it works. Most often it doesn’t. 

Your brand identity looks rather similar to your competitors.
Your brand identity must represent your business and be easily identified with your industry but if it has become a “me too” version of your competitor, rebrand to claim your space again. 

Your business has merged or acquired.
The way your business is perceived by those it serves should always align with the way it operates behind the scenes. People want to align themselves with brands whose values they share. When two independent brands come together it might need a rebrand to agree on the values they share.

Your branding doesn’t accurately tell your brand story.
Your branding should allow your customers to easily identify what your business is about. Does it?

There are other reasons why businesses rebrand. New management who wants to make their mark, the need to cover up for bad press, or perhaps you’re simply bored of your own logo because you see it every day? Unless the whole business model is changed, do not consider it. People see through cover ups and nobody will ever see your logo as often as you do, regardless of how much you spend on promoting your business. 

Successful branding takes on average 2 to 3 years to become fully established, so stay true to your brand and give it chance to grow. 

The word brand derives from the Old Norse word brandr and it means “to burn” or “to mark permanently with a hot iron.” Old Norse is an ancient North Germanic language from which my Norwegian language derived as well as the other Scandinavian languages.

Originally, branding was a method to mark ownership of cattle to try and avoid theft. Branding was used to differentiate one person’s cattle from another’s by means of a distinctive symbol burned into the animal’s skin with a hot branding iron.

However, the practice of branding livestock goes back to the Stone Age. If you look at cave paintings from way back then you will see that it looks like they marked cattle with symbols drawn in paint and tar.

About 4,000 years ago livestock owners switched to burning. At around this time brands were also used to identify various goods. Pottery makers from Greece, Rome, Mesopotamia (Iraq), China and India used engravings to identify where the ceramics were produced as well as who made them. And in Egypt, masons engraved symbols on the bricks they produced for the pyramids to distinguish their work from other masons.

Many ancient civilisations, from Greece to China, used branding to sell their goods. As a way of explaining their offerings to people who could not read, the merchants hung up pictorial signs and they also painted their storefronts with symbols explaining their trade.

In the 13th century, when trade was established between the east and west, the merchants made it mandatory to brand goods with proprietary marks in order to control trade. These trademarks also helped to assure the buyer of the quality of the merchandise.

Papyrus was, for over 3000 years, the most important writing material in the ancient world. The Egyptians mixed vegetable gum, soot, ochre and bee wax to make the ink. However, what paved the way for different forms of branding was block-printing and paper, which were both invented in China some time during the Sung Dynasty (960-1279).

This was the start of printed banners and printed advertisements, but it was the German businessman Johannes Gutenberg who invented the printing system that enabled mass production. This happened around 1450 and from then on printed information could be easily distributed and advertising became a popular and effective way to sell goods.

The Industrial Revolution (which began in Great Britain in the mid 1700s and reached North America a few decades after) spurred the growth of branding. Petrol and coal powered energy paved the way for mass production. However,  the selling of these products came off to a slow start as consumers were used to buying local products made in their own towns. There was trust in that, and generic products created ‘en masse’ didn’t have quite the same appeal. The solution for the product manufacturers was to copy what winemakers had been doing for some time already.

They branded logos onto the barrels used to transport their goods.

So the product manufacturers started to put their brand names onto their products and the brand identities they created represented human characteristics. This responded to the concerns of the public in trusting mass-produced products. It worked. More and more people were drawn away from commodities sold out of barrels to attractively packaged goods that promised “sealed freshness” and quality. Soon after, the product manufacturers began to mark individual products as well, as buyers were now able to choose from a wide selection of products for the very first time.

By the late nineteenth century, companies had invested so much in branding that they needed a way to protect those investments from competitors. In 1875, they got it with the passing of the Trade Marks Registration Act. Now branding wasn’t just something companies did, it was something they could own. And that changed everything.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the western world prospered. More people than ever before could afford to spend money on branded goods, services and luxury items.

As a lot of new brands entered the market and competition between brands was becoming more heightened, visual communication played a more and more important role in the success of their business.

Corporations aimed to create professional images to represent their products. There was big business in targeting specific audiences by injecting a certain ‘look’, style and personality into specific products and companies. The Quaker Oats company replaced their trademark with the Quaker Man, and many popular brands like Coca-Cola and Campbell Soup followed.

This began the modern practice of branding as we know it today. Shoppers were now buying the brand of a product. Branding evolved into a mark of quality and not only ownership.

When Apple released the first Macintosh computer in 1984, they introduced it with a TV ad. This was a TV ad like no other. They got Ridley Scott to direct it and they showed it at the American Super Bowl where almost 50% of American households watched it. That was before internet and social media and we all know how the advertsing channels have changed since then.

But their brand strategy is just as relevant today: It was about introducing Apple as a brand, not just a product. And the main focus was to communicate how they wanted their target audience to feel. The product itself, the wonderful Macintoch (that I purchased my first of in 1991) was only shown at the very end of the ad.

Branding is still about taking ownership, and not just for property and products. It’s about owning what your company values and represents, owning up to your shortcomings, and earning customer trust and loyalty through your words, actions and stories.

​Today, the internet is involved in all aspects of advertising and marketing. Search engine optimisation has taken centre stage with the biggest advertising agency now being Google. Pessimists will say that the internet age has created a culture of instant gratification, leading to a generation of more and more demanding consumers. Sure, consumers have more information and more choices than ever now. But success is no longer determined by who has the biggest advertising budget or the most recognizable logo. It is determined by who makes the greatest emotional connections.
                                                                  
And we can all do that. So go on. Tell your story.

​Consumers will most often decide if they like or dislike a brand based on the brand’s personality characteristics and the way the brand communicates. They are more likely to like and engage with a brand if they feel it is relatable to them in some way or another. 

Assess the personality of your business as if it were a person. Just as you may define a certain friend as ‘witty’ or a colleague as ‘enthusiastic’. 

​What words would you use to describe your brand’s image? 

​What attributes and/or emotions do you want associated with your brand and what do you not want associated with your brand?

It often helps to combine what a brand is with what it is not. (Professional but not dry and corporate. Casual, but not lazy and messy.) 

One way of assessing this is by asking these questions: If the brand were to come alive as a person:

• What would it be like?    
• What would it do?    
• Where would it live?    
• What would it wear?  

If you need some help to get going you might find Aaker’s “Big Five” personality traits useful. It’s a combination of varying traits that makes your brand unique.

The words you use define how people perceive your business. Communicating with a consistent tone of voice builds trust, authority and likability. It adds an extra dimension of personality to your communications and helps to embody your brand’s values.

Finding your tone of voice starts with choosing the right language to reach your audience.

It might be professional, casual, or even funny, but in order to establish an emotional connection that will lead to your audience trusting you and buying from you, you have to communicate in a way that they will believe. This is not to say that you should just go ahead and copy what has been done before in your sector. Not at all. Brands that break the rules are the ones that people remember. It may seem a risky strategy to find your own unique voice, but surely it’s not any riskier than being ignored?

Vocabulary is simply a choice of words, so you must ascertain what type of words can and can not be used within your tone of voice so that your content embodies the ‘personality’ of the business. What kinds of words are definitely required and which words are forbidden? Keep it honest, consistent and accurate.

When you feel you have nailed it, read your words out loud:

• Does it feel right for the brand?
• Does it support the brand values?
• Does it fit with the ‘natural’ voice of the business?
• Will it engage and motivate employees and customers alike?
• Will it help build trust?
• Will it differentiate us from the competition?

When you have found the right words you need to define a writing style. Keep in mind who you will be writing for. If it’s for other businesses, you may want to use a professional-yet-approachable tone, whereas if you’re writing directly to a customer you may desire a fun-and-exciting voice.

​One way to go about it is to emulate an existing publication. What does your audience read? The Financial Times? The Sun? Novels? Use a spectrum to get an idea of where you want to sit. From humorous to serious, formal to casual, or inspirational to straightforward.

Customers look for ways to find what is relevant to them and ignore the rest. To be one of the brands that capture their attention, you need to make your company easily recognisable. Visuals speak louder than words, more so than ever before.

Most brands are complex and it is my job to strip away the unnecessary and to draw out the essential. By doing this the result should be a meaningful brand identity design that will help grow your business. Focus on one powerful idea, well told and beautifully designed. Here’s my design principles.

Unique 
Your logo must have the ability to stand out against the crowd and it should be easily recalled after just a glance. Keep it simple for easy recognition. Less is more.

Memorable 
A few seconds is all it takes to make a first impression, but you need to make sure your logo makes a lasting impression as well.

Relevant 
Your logo must represent you. It must be appropriate, tailored to your audience and easily identified with your industry. However, it must not become a “me too” version of any other similar business to yours.

Versatile 
Your logo will be used in a number of ways and in multiple contexts and it has to be clear and effective at any size.

Timeless 
Focus on your brand rather than what the latest trends are. You want your logo to be able to stand the test of time.

Keep your branding human. People want to know that they are not buying from a faceless corporate entity. Google changes its masthead regularly to reflect anniversaries and world events. Some digital brands rely more on their uniquely designed typeface instead of their actual logo or branding icons. And Netflix changes their graphics depending on what user is watching.

Your brand identity should communicate the things you do in an instance by conveying your brand’s message confidently and positively - and it should be simple in structure. The easier something is to understand, the more likely people will become engaged with what you are trying to communicate.

Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Salvador Dali were all great believers in the power nap. And so am I;-)

A mid-afternoon nap of just 10 to 20 minutes will improve your alertness, creativity and performance. Anything longer, might “enslave” you with laziness for the rest of the afternoon. (Salvador Dali’s words, not mine.)

Because of the natural cycles of our circadian rhythms, we are at our most tired twice during a 24-hour period. For most of us the peak of sleepiness is in the middle of the night and in the middle of the afternoon. In other words, the dreaded mid-afternoon slump is part of human nature!

So rather than fighting it off with tea, coke or coffee, try a short nap to refresh your brain before taking on the afternoon.

How to Nap? Things you can do to relax:

Turn off your phone.

Set an alarm for half an hour so that that you know you won’t fall asleep for hours.

Set your napping space up with as little light as possible and use ear plugs to help tune out disruptions.

Keep warm with a blanket.

If you have the time you can try to read something relaxing (or boring!) for 10 minutes first.

I am still new at this and I do not manage to nod off as often as I’d like, depsite following the above tricks. It doesn’t really matter too much though, as the short break gives me energy regardless. Practise is key. Figuring out what works for you can take a while. Try to experiment with different times of the day and different nap lengths.

Napping at Work

Winston Churchill would take a two-hour nap every day at 5 p.m. He said this allowed him to get 1 1/2 days’ worth of work done every 24 hours. Google, Mercedes-Benz and NASA are all companies that believe in the power of napping. As the Vice President of Google, David Radcliffe says: No workplace is complete without a nap pod.

That nap pod can be any space, really. If you’re self-employed you can use your sofa, as I do. A parked car or the office loo are both nap pods that friends of mine swear by.

And if your boss is not too happy about it? Well, if he or she needs to know you can always show this blog with my convincing argument that you work more efficiently afterwards!

Good luck and thanks for reading.

Brand identity are communication components related to your business, product or service. Every brand, from the smallest startup to a corporate giant, need a set of branding guidelines to maintain their identity. This is a toolkit containing specifications on everything that plays a role in the look and feel of your brand. Everything from variations of the logo and how it can be used, to what typefaces, colours, images and tone of voice to use.

It lets everyone know exactly how to present your brand to the world.

There are some brand style guides that are over 100 pages, and some that are as short as one single sheet. Here’s a list of what I think a substantial Brand Identity Guideline document should include:

• Main logo and secondary logos (and what not to do with the logo)
• Brand marks
• Tagline (if you have one)
• Color palette
• Typography and font styling
• Brand patterns / Icons / Illustrations
• Photography direction
• Tone of voice (how your brand ‘speaks’)
• Stationery design
• Social media key visuals
• Templates (for key touchpoints)

Use brand guidelines to ensure that all your brand assets always provide a consistent message that is true to your values.
​
The biggest enemy of branding is often when the internal team starts to meddle with the logo. Hence the importantance of including what not to do with your branding elements in your branding guidelines, as well as what to do.

Developing all the necessary brand assets your business needs happens over time. Approved templates ensure that nobody needs to reinvent the wheel every time they create content.

Consistent branding leads to recognition and credibility. Consistency also signals predictability. Customers believe that when they buy a certain brand, it will perform as they expect it to.

Pay careful attention to brand consistency, and you will be rewarded.

People’s attention spans are short. If your brand doesn’t grab your target’s attention in a split second, they’ll move on. Visuals speak louder than words, more so than ever before.

Simplicity is a key design principle and the number one rule I have lived by since I heard it for the first time, while studying Visual Communication in Norway: KISS. Keep it simple. Stupid.

It still makes as much sense to me know, if not even more so; the easier something is to understand, the more likely people will become engaged with what you are trying to communicate.

Most brands are complex and it is my job as a graphic designer to strip away the unnecessary and to draw out the essential. By doing this the result should be a clear, focused and memorable logo design.

I believe that your brand identity should be a visual summary of your business and your logo should communicate the things you do in an instance.

An excellent logo is unique, memorable, appropriate, versatile and timeless, but most important of all is that it is simple in structure and that it conveys your brand’s message.

KISS applies to all things design. In fact, the phrase (“keep it simple stupid”) is thought to have been coined by the late Kelly Johnson, who was the lead engineer at the Lockheed Skunk Works. They designed the S-71 Blackbird spy plane amongst other things...