We spoke to Kate for the Courier Workshop podcast. Listen to a clip above or read the story below.
Q.
How can a scrappy startup that's trying to do it in-house get started?
'I think brands can start with a bit of a brainstorm: get the nuts and bolts of your brand down in words, almost not worrying about the creative part yet. So if you start with thinking about your target audience – who they are, what kind of demographic you're trying to capture, how they might be talking, what language they're used to engaging with. Also look at your competitors and the kind of language that they're using. Are they occupying the space? Are they trying to be funny and witty? Is there then room for you to take a slightly different tone to them? Try and get some of these points down. Also, look at things like your product truth – what actually is the role your product is playing for your customer and as a brand, what are you offering them? What kind of world are you inviting people to play a part of? So begin by really looking outside of yourself and then look inward: start with your target audience and look outside to your competitors and then start looking inside and get down sort of the nuts and bolts of your brand and what's actually true about your product and your brand service.
So that's almost meeting number one. And then after that, you can look at getting a bit more creative. We often like to bring bits of stimulation into workshops as it’s easier for people to respond to something that's live in front of them. So bring a piece of copy from one of your competitors or a piece of writing that someone really likes and ask them to explain why they like it and what spoke to them, even if that’s just an Instagram caption or a long read that they've liked. Get people thinking about language and how it affects their perceptions of what they're reading.'
Read more about how you can develop your business’s tone of voice.
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