Badassery Magazine Issue 4 September | Page 30

FIND YOUR BRAND’S VOICE by Erica Gerald Mason S o...you’re ready. You have the blog, the Facebook page, your Twitter handle and the Instagram feed. But what do you say on each of them? And how do you say it? Before you begin to write the first draft for your blog, or take your first Instagram picture (with accompanying caption), you’re going to need to take the time to discover your brand’s voice. Voice is not so much about the individual words or phrases you say; it’s more about the overall tone of your connection. You can be the girl next door, or the rebel. You can be the dreamer or the tell-it-like-it-is best friend. 29 You can be anything you want, but you have to be true to yourself and your brand values. Anything else will sound, at best, jarring; at the worst, fake... like using a photo of someone else as your profile picture. Here are four easy exercises to get you closer to finding your voice. 1. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE The first rule is to know exactly who is listening. The way you talk to your grandmother is different from the way you’d talk to your best friend. Imagine a person from your target audience (e.g.,