What is verbal branding?

There are two aspects to any branding system:

1. The visual: logo, colours, typefaces, imagery, uniforms, etc

2. The verbal: from the name and tagline to web and app copy, campaign headlines, and how customer service teams speak

Both are equally important. And they should be as tightly integrated as possible, so that one reinforces the other.

At Reed Words, we specialise in the verbal side. It gets called many things – “brand voice”, “brand language”, “tone of voice”, or just “voice”. But we think “verbal branding” is clearest, so we usually stick to that.

You see an ad for a hotel: the copy is sophisticated and poetic. You go to the website, which is so packed with information it’s hard to find what you need. The confirmation email opens with a joke, before turning robotic and complicated. When you arrive, the doorman is terse, while the receptionist is gushing and excitable. In the room, there’s a brochure that reads like an academic essay. The toiletries all feature puns on the labels.

Who is this brand? Do they understand what you need? What exactly are they offering? Do they know what they’re doing? When a verbal brand goes wrong, it can quickly undermine your confidence in the brand as a whole.

Your verbal brand is every word you use, and the impression those words create. It’s the combination of what you say, and how you say it: content, and character.

It needs to be true to who you are – and consistent everywhere. For the same reasons your logo and colours are consistent: it helps you connect with, and persuade, your target audiences. It makes sure they recognise, understand, remember and trust you.

Take an instantly recognisable line like Nike’s Just Do It. It’s iconic, but it’s just the start. Nike needs to say a lot more than that, in many different places.

Its verbal brand covers every double-page ad or product description. CSR web pages, and investor updates. The welcome customers get in the store.

Of course, the nuances of the language change in each context. But they should all feel like they come from the same Nike that says Just do it. This is all verbal branding.

Here’s how we break it down:

Brand strategy
The framework that defines what your brand’s about, what it does, and how it shows up in the world. The foundational ideas of your brand, captured in precise, actionable words.

Naming
What your brand, products and services are called. Think of names as the first words in a brand’s story. We also help complex organisations work out how their various names work together to create a coherent whole.

Messaging
What you say. We don’t just craft the words, we also help clients build a messaging strategy, defining key points for various audiences, channels, and moments. From the tagline to a targeted blog post, it should all hang together.

Tone of voice
How you say it. Is your voice informal and chatty? Crisp and minimal? Opinionated and challenging? Poetic and emotive? And critically: why? We help clients both define and express the characters of their brands, based on their brand strategy.

Copywriting
Delivering on all the above in every word you use. From campaigns, packaging, apps and websites to internal comms, investor relations and customer service. Your verbal brand runs through everything you do. So the stronger it is, the stronger everything is.

Today there are more brand touchpoints than ever before. Ads, packaging, websites, social posts, chatbots, emails, notifications, UX, error messages… and the range is only growing. With so many opportunities to say the right or wrong thing, brands have to work harder than ever.

Consistency’s not easy when everyone in an organisation writes. And when different parts of the business have different priorities. A verbal brand is hard to build and maintain.

But it’s also an invaluable asset for brands who do it well. A strong verbal brand unites internally, and persuades externally. It tells the world who you are, and why they should care. It builds trust in the promise of your brand. And that makes a real difference to your bottom line.