Most businesses are busy building logos, websites, and campaigns — but they often skip one of the most powerful assets in branding: your voice.
It’s how you make people feel.
It shapes trust, builds credibility, and becomes a bridge between your strategy and your sales. In fact, if your messaging feels inconsistent, your content is hit-or-miss, or your audience just isn’t “getting it” — the missing link might not be your offer... it might be your voice.
Here’s how to define it clearly using content you already have — and how to embed it into tools you already use.
Think of brand voice as the human element behind your business. It includes:
Tone (warm, witty, formal, direct, etc.)
Vocabulary (simple vs. sophisticated, playful vs. professional)
Personality (Are you a sage? A friend? A rebel? A guide?)
When people say, “I feel like I know this brand,” it’s not because of a logo — it’s because of the voice.
If you’re still not sure how to define it, ask yourself:
How do I want people to feel when they interact with my business?
What kind of experience do I want to create?
What’s the reputation I want to be known for?
What is the promise I consistently deliver on?
Your answers to those questions are the foundation of your brand voice — and, by extension, your brand strategy.
In my previous article on brand strategy, I shared that most businesses who struggle with growth don’t have a traffic problem or a product problem — they have a positioning and consistency problem.
Your brand voice is what brings your strategy to life. Without it:
Your messaging feels generic
Your content sounds like everyone else
You’re constantly starting from scratch
But with it:
You build trust and recognition
You create faster, more aligned content
Your audience feels like you’re speaking directly to them — and that’s what drives conversions
Here’s the part most people overlook: you don’t need to start from scratch to define your brand voice.
You’ve already written your way into it — now it’s time to extract it.
Pick 1–3 pieces of content that reflect how you want your brand to sound. These could be:
Your homepage or About page
A favorite blog post or newsletter
A LinkedIn article or social caption you’re proud of
Look for content that feels like you — the pieces you’re proud to share because they just “sound right.”
Paste the following into any AI writing tool that can analyze text (ChatGPT free or paid works great):
"I’m a business owner and I want to identify the brand voice of my business. I’ve pasted below one or more pieces of content that I’ve written and feel strongly represent how I want the business to sound across all touchpoints.
Please analyze the content and give me a short paragraph that describes the brand voice in plain language, written as a professional reference tool. Include tone, personality traits, and the brand comes across to the reader. Avoid jargon. This is intended to be used by anyone writing on behalf of the business. "
[PASTE YOUR CONTENT HERE]
The AI will return a paragraph describing your brand voice in clear terms — something you can refer back to when creating new content.
Once you have the paragraph, ask the AI to condense it for tools like Canva using this follow-up:
"Based on the description you just gave, summarize my brand voice in 500 characters or less. Write it clearly and simply so I can paste it into the “Brand Voice” section of my Canva brand kit."
This gives you a short, repeatable brand voice description that can be used across your creative tools.
If you’re using Canva Pro or above, head into your Brand Kit and paste the summarized voice under “Brand Voice.”
Now when you use Canva’s AI writing tools (like Magic Write), you can select your brand voice and generate content that actually sounds like you.
This is especially powerful if you work with a team, because it helps everyone stay on the same page — without needing to memorize your style.
You don’t need a massive rebrand to show up more consistently.
You just need to pause, extract the brand voice that’s already there, and use it with intention. This one small shift can transform the way your business shows up — from your captions to your client emails.
And the best part? You don’t need to hire an agency or start over.
You’ve already written your way into the answer.
What are 3 words people use to describe your business?
When clients refer you, what do they say about you?
What’s one post or page you’ve written that “feels like you”? Why?
Your voice is already there. You just need to listen for it — and then use it like the strategic asset it truly is.
Enjoy!
Katy Keene
Founder & Principal Consultant
Keene Lane Co