What is tone of voice?
Tone of voice is the way your company sounds: the words you choose, the flow of your sentences, how you address your reader, and where you draw the line. So, it’s not about what you say, but how it sounds when you say it. Brand identity is the bigger picture; tone of voice is the audible part of it.
There’s a distinction within that that’s often overlooked. Your voice is your personality, and that remains constant. Your tone adapts to the situation. For example, a social media post can be more energetic than a response to a complaint, without suddenly making the company seem like a different one. So “consistent” doesn’t mean identical in every instance.
For a long time, this wasn't really an issue. Your writer was familiar with the company, so things just worked out. That sense of ease disappeared when a model started writing the first draft.
Why does so much content suddenly sound the same?
A lot of content sounds the same because a handful of language models produce the same default voice, and that voice is rarely adjusted. Ask three companies in the same industry to write a blog post about their service, and chances are you’ll get three pieces of text that you could swap out without anyone noticing.
That doesn't happen everywhere. There are even brands that have actually started to sound sharper since they began using AI, and that's exactly the point: homogenization is a choice, not inevitable.
There is a second reason behind this that is mentioned less often. A lot of content already looked alike before AI. Countless “About Us” pages listed the same set of core values. AI didn’t cause this, but it did accelerate it and make it more visible.
The patterns you often see these days:
- Opening with a rhetorical question that no one has asked
- Promises Without Numbers to Back Them Up
- Paragraphs that are all the same length
- A closing sentence that summarizes what you've just read
- Words that don't rule anything out: solutions, possibilities, wishes, and so on
Taken separately, none of these things is wrong. But when combined, they result in meaningless text.
Is it a problem if your content resembles that of your competitor?
That depends on the purpose of the text. In an installation manual, for example, it doesn't really matter how personal the sentences sound, as long as the information is accurate.
It’s a different story with content that’s meant to explain why someone should choose you. If your text is interchangeable, price remains the only difference the reader can see. That’s an expensive way to set yourself apart.
And there’s another factor at play. AI search engines prefer to cite sources that add value to what’s already out there, and generic text, by definition, adds nothing. We’ve previously written about how to create content that AI cites. For Krommenhoek Metals, our GEO approach thus generated nearly 500 additional visitors from AI search engines. Not because the texts were better written, but because they contained knowledge that was missing elsewhere.
How can you determine your tone of voice?
You define your tone of voice by writing it down in guidelines that others can follow. Many documents fall short on this point: they describe a feeling rather than behavior.
Quite a few companies start with the Nielsen Norman Group model and rate themselves along four axes: formal or casual, serious or funny, respectful or bold, factual or enthusiastic. It’s a great starting point. The problem is, no one can write a text based on “casual, 70 out of 100.” That needs to be translated into actual language rules.
Because “professional but approachable” sounds like a vague guideline, while it doesn’t really mean anything to anyone—not a colleague, not a freelancer, and certainly not a language model. The difference lies mainly in specificity.
A brief overview of common misconceptions:
| Component | Common | As someone might follow it |
|---|---|---|
| Form of Address | Personal and Close to Home | Always use "je" and "jouw," never "u," not even in quotes |
| Word Choice | No jargon | Never: solution, process, taking the burden off your shoulders. Always: task, approach, handling it for you |
| Rhythm of the Sentence | Easy to read | Alternate between short and long sentences, with each long sentence no more than 25 words |
| Structure | Clear and well-organized | Answer first, explain later—never start with a question |
| Borders | We're not exaggerating | No superlative without a number after it |
| Examples | Usually missing | Three paragraphs that feel right, two that feel wrong |
Here are a few examples of how it should be done:
1. Identify the words you never use
A “do not use” list works better than a “preferred” list. Preferences are vague; prohibitions are measurable. Compile a list of ten to twenty words that always feel out of place in your own writing.
2. Describe your sentence rhythm, not your character
Rhythm is the first thing a reader notices and the last thing anyone thinks about. Determine how long your sentences are and whether a single four-word sentence can stand on its own.
3. Document what changes for each channel
This is where many documents fall short: they demand the exact same tone everywhere. Instead, note what varies and what remains consistent. A product page can be more persuasive than a knowledge article, and a service disruption notice can be more subdued than a campaign. Your form of address and your list of prohibited words, however, should remain the same across all channels.
4. Collect sample texts, including the bad ones
Two paragraphs that feel just right say more than three pages of explanation. Add a few that feel wrong, along with a brief note explaining why. The contrast really helps clarify the direction.
5. Decide what you’ll never say in your content
Some claims just don’t fit with your business, no matter how well they perform. Do you never promise guaranteed results? Write that down. Also, make it clear where humor ends, because it rarely works when dealing with complaints, technical issues, and payment reminders.
How do you maintain your own voice when writing with AI?
By not letting the model choose the voice. Writing text with AI is faster than typing it yourself, but without instructions, a model will use the average of everything it has ever read. That average is exactly the problem.
What does work: feeding the model with material that comes exclusively from your organization. Think of an interview with your technical specialist, the questions your customer service team receives every day, or metrics from a project that went well. We previously showed you, step by step, how to turn your company’s story into organic content.
Then a human reviews it. A model doesn’t know what was said in a client meeting last week, and it doesn’t know which claims you’re legally prohibited from making. You should also conduct random spot checks to ensure that new text still aligns with your guidelines, because without that check, the quality will gradually slip back to average. AI speeds things up, but quality remains a human endeavor. That’s what we mean by AI and authenticity.
At Reward, every piece of copy starts with a brief intake: what do you want to say, who do you want to reach, and which channel is best suited for that. You can read about how we use AI in that process in our article on writing a blog post with Claude.
Let Reward help you define your tone of voice
The companies that will stand out in the coming years are rarely the ones that oppose AI the most. More often than not, they are the companies that know exactly how they want to sound and have put that into words before a model filled in the blanks for them.
Don’t have a tone of voice document yet? That’s true for most small and medium-sized businesses. Through a brief intake session, we’ll identify how you and your team talk about your work and translate that into guidelines that everyone can use. We’ll use existing texts that feel right as a starting point. By the way, there’s not much else you need to provide when you outsource your content. After that, we’ll write everything in your desired tone of voice—from copywriting to a comprehensive content strategy.
Curious about how your content sounds right now? Then get in touch with us today. We’d be happy to review your current texts and show you how they’ll change once your tone of voice is established.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tone of Voice
What exactly is "tone of voice"?
Tone of voice is the way your brand sounds in writing: word choice, sentence structure, form of address, and the boundaries of what you do and don’t say. Brand identity is the whole; tone of voice is the audible part of it.
Does my brand have to sound exactly the same everywhere?
No. Your personality remains the same; your tone adapts to the situation. A campaign can be more energetic than a service disruption notice, as long as the reader recognizes it as coming from the same company.
How can you determine a tone of voice if you haven't established anything yet?
Start with existing texts that feel right, and figure out what they have in common. Supplement that with a list of words you never use and a few guidelines on sentence length and form of address. That’s enough to get you started.
Can you provide an AI with a tone of voice document?
Yes, as long as the document is specific. For example, a model can’t do anything with “professional but accessible,” but it can work with prohibited words, a maximum sentence length, and three sample paragraphs to follow.
How do you know if your tone of voice is effective?
Look beyond personal taste. Reading time, conversion rates, and the questions your customer service team receives speak louder than an internal debate over word choice. A/B testing a few different phrasings can provide direction within just a few weeks.
