6 Signs it’s Time to Revisit Your Brand Voice

Representing your brand in writing and in speech, your brand voice reflects your business’s values and identity. When its tone, style, and personality is consistent and accurately representative of your business, you can achieve several things:

First, it helps you foster an emotional connection with audiences. Conveying your outlook and ideals, a brand voice can connect with potential customers and build a deeper resonance. Successful brand voices also set you apart from competitors, be recognisable to audiences if they’re particularly distinctive, and establish that you’re a trustworthy authority.

Expressed through things like website copy, social media, email newsletters, adverts, packaging, press releases, customer service chatbots, automated emails, and even 404-error pages, your brand voice runs through your entire company.

As such, your brand voice is one of the biggest parts of how you appear to potential clients and customers. Unfortunately, when there’s something “off” about it, it can have significant consequences. Though starting from scratch is sometimes necessary, many businesses will be able to rectify their voice by making small adjustments to their tone and content.

This article explores the signs that tell you your brand voice needs tending to, and what it means to revisit it.

Let’s dive in.

6 signs it’s time to revisit your brand voice

1. Your business has undergone a change

A major sign that it’s time to revisit your brand voice is when your business undergoes a significant change. In moments like these, your voice can fall out of alignment with the way your brand has evolved.

Whether that big business change has brought new audiences, reordered your priorities, or placed you in a new market, these adjustments can require new language to capture your new identity and scope. For example, a small local business may start with a casual and conversational tone that suits its intimate community of customers. When it grows more established and begins to serve a more professional audience, that tone may start to feel too informal and mismatched with its position.

While scaling is one example of significant change, other businesses may undergo a rebrand or reposition themselves in their market. They may shift their values from affordability to quality, necessitating a change in both emotional tone and specific words used. Another significant change could be in leadership, in which someone brings new values or priorities. You may also enter a new region and need to adjust things like phrasing, formality, and humour to avoid cultural misinterpretations.

Such transitions should be handled carefully. If they’re not, you risk sounding disjointed. Even if you have a new and clear purpose on the inside of the company, this must be conveyed externally.

2. The stats don’t lie

Another significant sign that you should revisit your brand voice is when your analytics tools indicate your messaging isn’t resonating. This could show up in a few different ways:

• Reduced engagement: Seen in lower click-through rates, open rates, and social media interactions.
• Initial interest being lost: Seen in higher bounce rates, falling conversion rates, shorter time on page, and fewer form completions.

Though metrics can sometimes be difficult to decode precisely, they do reveal the overall health of your business and can be interpreted correctly. If you’re seeing either reduced engagement or that some leads are initially interested but dropping off, it could be that your brand voice isn’t working quite as it should.

It could be that your voice is putting off leads entirely or that they come across something that harms their sense of trust. If your metrics reveal that audiences seem indifferent to content that used to perform well, it could indicate that the tone or language no longer matches their expectations, values, or communication style.

Similarly, if engagement is dropping, it may mean your tone or messaging no longer resonates with your audience. From there, you can investigate what’s happened to cause this change. It could be that the way your brand “speaks” doesn’t persuade or reassure customers effectively.

Analytics may also reveal the next sign in our list: inconsistency across platforms. You may notice that one platform is performing much better than others, signalling a lack of coherence across channels.

3. Inconsistency across platforms

Inconsistency across platforms is one of the clearest indicators that a brand voice needs refining. As mentioned, you may discover this through analytics. If some channels perform noticeably better than others, it could be because the voice feels more authentic or relatable in those spaces.

You may also notice inconsistency across channels when different members of your team (or agencies you’ve worked with) produce totally different sounding content. This is a common issue for businesses that grow with many contributors to communications and marketing materials. When there aren’t clear brand voice guidelines, there can be major inconsistencies across platforms and materials.

And finally, you may simply notice inconsistencies yourself. The tone of a social media post caption may feel different to the tone of your website or email newsletter. However you spot it, this mismatch is crucial to address.

The risks of an inconsistent brand voice are both practical and emotional. Practically, it makes your marketing less efficient because audiences don’t immediately recognise your brand when they encounter it in different contexts. It weakens the likelihood they’ll recall you and can make campaigns feel disjointed.

Emotionally, inconsistency erodes trust. If your tone shifts unpredictably between platforms, audiences may struggle to understand who you are and what you stand for. Over time, that lack of coherence can dilute your brand identity and make it harder for people to form a lasting connection with your business.

4. Neutral or negative online sentiment

Another tell that your audience isn’t resonating with your brand voice is that social media comments become less enthusiastic or slide towards being neutral. You may notice fewer positive interactions like shares, mentions, and likes or see that reviews and feedback from customers express things like misunderstanding or frustration.

These shifts in sentiment from audiences can signal that your messaging is no longer connecting as it used to. You can check online sentiment with social listening tools like Sprout Social or Brandwatch. If your analysis shows words associated with your brand convey indifference or criticism, it’s a clear sign you should reassess your voice.

Online audiences are quick to pick up when brands are tone-deaf or outdated, or if there’s something “off” about their values. Ignoring sentiment trends is risky as the gap between how your brand is perceived and how you intend to sound can spiral out of control if you don’t examine it early.

5. Your copy is outdated

Outdated copy is another reason why your brand voice might need some fresh attention. You may be aware that it’s simply old and no longer reflects your offerings or focus. Or you may notice that your copy feels out of step with current culture, language, or trends. Either way, both of these issues pose risks for how your business is perceived online.

From the point of view of search engines like Google, outdated copy doesn’t demonstrate freshness and relevance. Though there is evergreen content that continues to be relevant for years, many websites will be outranked by competitors posting fresh content that speaks to new trends and customer concerns. Furthermore, older copy is less likely to attract backlinks, which is another signal to search engine algorithms that your brand is not authoritative.

It’s a good idea to take a look at your backlog of copy and give it a refresh for facts, data, and newer trends. But in terms of brand voice, you should also examine whether it still matches your tone, style and personality. If your voice has evolved as your brand has matured, this may be something to adapt when reproducing old content.

If you don’t address outdated copy, you risk coming across as out of touch. Modern readers can tell when language feels outdated, especially with trends and updates emerging so quickly. They may question whether your products or services are as neglected as your blog or whether you still understand them. Plus, old-fashioned language that isn’t politically correct may alienate certain audiences.

6. You notice a mismatch in tone

Another legitimate sign your brand voice needs revisiting is simply that you’ve noticed it yourself. Many business owners will have an intuitive sense of their brand, and if the tone no longer feels like “you,” that’s worth paying attention to.

A mismatch might be when you sound too corporate despite being known for being approachable, or too playful when you’re trying to establish authority. It could also be that your written materials feel “off” compared to how you naturally speak to clients or present your work.

When your brand voice drifts away from your genuine tone, it can create subtle tension between what you say and how people experience your business. This can make your messaging feel forced or insincere, and audiences tend to pick up on that quickly.

How to revisit your brand voice in three steps

So, once you’ve noticed one of the signs above, you’ll be thinking about where to begin refreshing your brand voice. You should know that it doesn’t necessarily mean starting from scratch. Your goal will be to make sure your tone, language, and overall personality still reflect who your business is today.

Here’s how to approach the process thoughtfully:

1. Reconnect with your brand foundations and audience

Your first step is to go back to the basics of your business’s mission, vision, and values. Ask yourself what your business stands for now and whether that’s changed since you began. When you have a clear understanding of your purpose, this will guide how your brand should sound.

Next is to do a similar process with your audience in mind. Have a think about who it is you’re speaking to, what they care about, and how they behave online. To inform this process, you could gather feedback, analyse the tone of competitors, and review customer personas.

In this investigatory stage, some ideas should emerge around how your current voice differs from your ideal voice. E.g., whether you’re too formal or informal for your customer base.

2. Define your updated voice and create some guidelines

Once you’ve rehashed your understanding of your business and your audience, it’s time to document what your refreshed voice should sound like.

This could include examples of tone (e.g., confident but approachable), preferred language, and words or phrases to avoid. If your voice needs to shift, describe that clearly so everyone who writes for your brand can adapt.

Once you’re confident in the new direction, formalise it. A short brand voice guide can outline your intended tone, vocabulary, and writing style. This helps ensure consistency across all channels and team members, especially as your business grows.

3. Be flexible for the future

Remember that brand voices aren’t totally static. As your business and audience evolve, your voice should have room to adapt without losing its core personality. It’s a good idea to expect changes in the future, even if your current changes feel decisive. You can check in periodically, especially after big brand changes, to make sure your tone still feels true to who you are.

Final thoughts

If you’d like some support with refreshing your brand voice or any other branding projects, our team here at purpleplanet is here to help. We’ve been helping businesses meet their digital needs for 20 years, providing customised solutions every time. Check out our specialist branding service, purplebrand, or arrange a no cost call with us today to discuss what’s on your mind.