Brand building in the crypto space is not just about what you communicate with your audience but also how you communicate it. A written tone of voice is created by the words you choose and how you structure your sentences to hit the right chord. It’s an expression of the community behind the brand, which makes it unique and distinctive.
Blockfolio is one example of a blockchain brand that cleverly uses an approachable and humorous tone to interact with its followers on platforms like Twitter.
On the other hand, companies like Coinbase take a more formal approach by only making announcements and sharing crypto-related news on Twitter.
Every successful company has a unique tone of voice that works for them. It’s all about knowing your audience!
Why is tone of voice important in brand marketing?
In 1967, Albert Mehrabian came up with a model that says only 7% of the communication relies on the words you use, while 38% is about the tone of voice, and the remaining 55% is your body language.
When it comes to written content, the tone of voice plays a pivotal role in expressing a company’s way of thinking. In this competitive space, you can’t expect to impose a brand’s personality and get higher engagement without having a recognizable tone of voice. Below are some key reasons for developing a consistent tone for your crypto project.
· It makes you stand out. Blockchain may be a groundbreaking technology, but that’s not enough to convince the world why they should consider it. No matter how innovative your project is, you can’t expect people to love it unless you explain the problem and the solution through a consistent story. If you want to be recognizable, your tone of voice needs to be appropriate and reliable.
· It helps in building trust. From pitch-deck to technical papers and micro-copy to social media posts, every communication about your project helps to build community with trust. People start identifying you not as a company but as a personality. They get to know the mission and vision of your project and develop a sense of familiarity over time.
· It increases conversions. In a space where words like disruption and innovation are often overused, a unique brand voice can make people talk about you. Once you gain the trust and confidence of your target audience, conversion becomes easier. In fact, they will do the marketing on your behalf. It’s a win-win situation!
How to choose a proper tone of voice for your Crypto project?
With the rise of social media and content marketing, there has been a growing awareness among crypto projects to make themselves heard above the din. That’s where the human touch comes into play with different types of tones of voice. Some of them include.
· Conversational
· Formal
· Informal
· Humorous
· Assertive
· Optimistic
· Serious
· Educational
Based on the level of formality and the subject matter, you can use a combination of these tones to create a unique voice. Here’s how to do it.
1) Discover your unique selling proposition
Most blockchain companies don’t make it past a press release because they fail to build a community. The best way to differentiate yourself among competitors is to define and harness the power of USP. At first, you need to understand who you are and who your audience is. Is there any story behind your project? What makes you different, and what problem are you solving?
Take the example of Cardano, which is widely regarded as one of the most hyped Ethereum killers. The USP of this project was to mitigate the scalability issues of Ethereum and replace the dated PoW (Proof-of-work) mechanism with PoS (Proof-of-Stake). The moment anyone says “Ethereum killer”, Cardano is probably the first name that will come to your mind. That’s the power of being consistent with a tone without forcing it!
Ripple is another great project backed by a huge community built on the trust that it facilitates instant cross-border payments. Their social media content and video ads perfectly capture the exact problem they are solving.
2) Define your project in simple words
Once you have a clear understanding of your project and the target audience, you need to come up with some keywords around which your content should revolve. Your project needs to be approachable, even for those who are new to the world of cryptocurrencies. Hence, it is imperative to be clear and concise with your copy and use the same tone repeatedly to build a credible brand voice.
Take the example of Safemoon, which skyrocketed to a $5bn market cap within 2 months of its launch. They were pretty clear on a mission to make everyone rich quickly. Words like “To the Moon” and “Safemoon Army” surfaced all across social media channels to create the hype.
The above is just a demonstration of what persuades people to take action. Your tone will depend on who you are targeting. For someone building a meme project, using a humorous tone makes sense. However, you need to be more formal when targeting retail investors looking for an alternative to banking solutions.
3) Develop guidelines with examples
Consistency is best achieved when you have a set of guidelines to follow. Choosing the right tone of voice for your crypto project may require you to run an audit on your existing content. You need to analyze what works for you and what needs to be discarded. Include some good examples in your style guide wherever possible. Be crystal clear with what you expect from your copywriters. Don’t try to be too selling or overly technical with your content.
Online credibility is often built by using the same types of words and phrases repeatedly. Make sure to create a dictionary of words that can be used across the organization in both formal and conversational tones. See what your competitors are doing and how you can fit that into your strategy without plagiarism. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel!
Choosing the right communication channel is the key
As the crypto market becomes more competitive, promoting your project using the right communication channels is of utmost importance. Some of the most popular ones include:
· Crypto Twitter: When it comes to growing a community, Twitter is often the first choice for crypto projects. Creating a positive sentiment on Twitter goes a long way in skyrocketing the prices, while also establishing credibility and social proof.
· Medium. It’s a great tool to give a detailed explanation of what you are trying to achieve with your project, along with some important updates. You can easily tweet the link of your medium article with a short copy. The combination of Medium and Twitter works really well for most companies.
· Telegram. Community engagement is important to foster a good relationship. The easiest way to do this is to create an official telegram channel where you can make announcements and respond to queries.
· Display campaigns. Many new projects are effectively using display advertising to attract potential investors. With the help of ad networks like Cointraffic, you can advertise your projects on popular crypto-related websites with massive traffic.
The tone of voice is likely to change across these channels, so you might want to consider creating separate guidelines. Social media is more open to a friendly and conversational tone, while blog posts are meant to be educational or informative.
Actively engaging with your target audience is a sure-shot way to boost the credibility of your project. Don’t be afraid to take feedback and learn from it. Your tone of voice is not a “create it and forget it” task. You have to keep updating the document regularly to stay up to date.