Finding your tone of voice

We’ve helped many of the UK’s best-loved brands, charities and organisations discover their tone of voice.

So what is it and why does it matter?

Over the years, we’ve found the three points below are the most important things you need to know when asking how to find your tone of voice.

What is tone of voice?

Simply put, tone of voice (TOV) is how a brand communicates - it’s not what you say but how you say it. It’s as much a part of who you are as your mission statement and brand values.

TOV is your brand personality on a page and includes the words you use (and would never use), your style of language – are you formal, friendly, warm or clinical? – and should always sound like you.

Why does tone of voice matter?

An authentic TOV builds trust and credibility. It’s how you ‘talk’ to people across all your communications, from donors to team members, on anything from awareness campaigns to annual reports.

Your TOV must be consistent to help create an emotional connection; if something doesn’t sound like you, your audience can switch off. It means they’re less likely to make a donation or sign up to run a marathon for your charity.

Minimalist yellow outline of a megaphone with sound lines on a dark teal background.

Your tone of voice should be flexible

Your TOV should be versatile, giving you the ability to dial certain elements up or down, depending on who you’re talking to. So, you could dial up the energy for fundraising packs, or increase the sense of authority on health information pages.

Your TOV should also be practical and inspiring - if your audience doesn’t understand what you want them to do, or they’re not motivated to do it, you could lose them and valuable support.

Don’t worry if all this sounds overwhelming. We can help you unearth your authentic tone of voice and give your teams what they need to put it into practice.

An illustration of a cartoon light bulb on a yellow background.

Lark tip

In our Discovery workshops, we often ask, ‘If your organisation was a real person, who would they be? How do they talk?’. This helps define your unique style and distinctive TOV.

It’s not an easy question - and we’ve had some amazing answers, from Albert Einstein to Bruce Springsteen - but it can help us find your voice.

Tone in action

From discovery to activation, explore the links below to see how we’ve approached different tone of voice projects, brands and audiences.

Tone of voice examples

Find out how Lark created tone of voice guidelines for
organisations from Macmillan Cancer Support to The Body Shop below.

Discover our charity campaigns, branding and creative content here.

  • Guide Dogs logo

    Guide Dogs

    In-depth stakeholder interviews and workshops guided a new verbal (and visual) identity for Guide Dogs. We then started work immediately on a number of different creative and campaign projects, and continue to work regularly with the charity.

  • Macmillan Cancer Support logo

    Macmillan

    Lark created tone of voice guidelines for Macmillan Cancer Support, specifically around engaging healthcare professionals and HNW donors. We led research, held workshops and wrote a new set of guidelines to help create their new voice.

  • The body shop logo

    The Body Shop

    With more than 2,500 outlets in 80 countries, The Body Shop needed a consistent and unifying global voice. We carried out a content audit and discovery calls to create a new TOV and messaging guidelines that every executive could follow.

  • Thames Reach

    Thames Reach supports people in London facing homelessness, but they were struggling against better-known charities. Following our Discovery, we created new brand messaging and TOV guidelines for them to talk with confidence and authority.

  • Dementia UK logo

    Dementia UK

    We held workshops, spoke to board members and volunteers, and involved beneficiaries to create new positioning, messaging and a compelling tone of voice to help Dementia UK attract more supporters, and reach even more people in need.

  • OnSide

    OnSide

    National youth organisation OnSide came to Lark to help them create a new verbal and visual identity. When it came to tone of voice, we helped them find the principles to bring the energy of their brand to life, for all of their audiences across all channels.

  • Crohn's & Colitis UK

    We created extensive brand messaging and TOV guidelines for Crohn’s & Colitis UK, then produced them as a series of playing cards, featuring key messages and tone principles. These cards enable everyone at the charity to articulate their brand at a glance.

  • Drinkaware logo

    Drinkaware

    Our challenge was to create a clear, powerful and flexible tone of voice, and an internal messaging framework. Following extensive research, Drinkaware’s new guidelines included TOV, a ‘tone spectrum’ and a comprehensive style guide.

  • Into Academic Partnerships

    Into Academic Partnerships

    Staff, students and stakeholders around the world contributed to our Discovery phase. We then created a complete TOV toolkit and global messaging for Into, and led in-depth training with future content creators.