Finding your brand voice

Brand voice is the unique personality and communication style of your product or company. Finding brand voice differs dramatically between existing and new products. Existing products can mine real interactions: analyze support conversations, user reviews, and social media mentions to identify language that already resonates. Look for phrases customers use repeatedly and moments where communication particularly succeeded or failed.

New products lack this historical data but have unique advantages. Start with foundational research: your mission, target audience personas, and competitor benchmarking.

Conduct interviews asking potential users: "How would you want this product to speak to you?" Test voice concepts through prototypes and early user testing before launch.

Validation is where both approaches meet. For existing products, audit whether your intended voice matches reality. For new products, test voice concepts with target users using sample content. Create voice variations of the same message and gather feedback. The goal isn't perfection; it's finding an authentic starting point you can refine through real usage.