Let AI Help You Find Your Voice: Part 1 of 2

bydeelilah

1.4K followers

10 months ago

Subtle Differences Between Brand and Voice

Recently, I enabled a feature in an AI program I use, which analyzed my voice-- as in style of writing. The menu included an entry called "Brand-Voice".

Later, in this post I will show you how AI helped me to discover and define my writing voice. But first, let's take a deeper dive into what voice means to an affiliate marketer and how, in today's world, voice and tone have become part of a larger theme termed brand.

Marketing Confusion Refined

Brand, Voice, and Tone: This is a triad of words used in marketing interdependently. At the same time, these are individual words, or ideas are so closely related as to have become entwined.

It took me an hour to make that sentence up. You think I'm kidding. I'm not. But that little exercise helped me to further unravel the (my) terms mystery; and it reenforced what I already knew about myself and my style.

I overthink everything and I take way to long to write, bad traits I am working on. But there is no way I won't be re-writing AI 's content.

"I walk slowly, but I never walk backward."

Abraham Lincoln

Can you relate? This subject is somewhat confusing. But when we decide our own business plan, we really must consider our brand and all its nuances.

To clarify, when I speak about voice or brand or tone, you can totally use these elements across different platforms. Think: written words, spoken words, or visual content-- but using your unique voice.

Several posts ago, I lamented over not knowing what I want to do when I grow up, which is oxymoronic, considering how many times I've made myself over. Though I do know my brand, it's not described on paper, or digital paper. Words are jotted here and there, but with out a proper outline and map, I lose track and fall down rabbit holes.

Patting myself on the back, I do have a proper mission statement-- and have had one throughout several careers. (A subject for another day.)

Before this exercise, I knew my voice, in a nebulous sort of way, but now I can describe it in real words. It was AI who/that helped me to want to concretely understand more about why I speak or write as I do.

And you can too. Do You want to? Read on.

I even know more about relationships, now or past, that did or didn't work out-- and why. Now we're out in the wild blue yonder weeds. Pull it in!

If we wanted to, we could make judgements about relationships based on this analysis. Maybe another day. However, the idea makes a neat segue into the next topic, which is a short exploration of childhood and how our experiences from birth form our brand and our voice.

If you are fortunate enough to have lived enough years, adventures, vocations, etc., etc., you cannot help but have developed a brand and a voice. But do you know what those are? This is kind of like asking: Who are you?

You Were Born with a Brand

You Develop A Voice

You are born with a brand and you develop a voice? What do I mean by this?

Back to business-- nowadays, in internet marketing we see new terms pop-up everyday. It's a step up from acronyms. So, recently I read an article describing our brand as our marketing DNA, or maybe it said as marketers, we possess brand DNA. You get the idea.

It's in our blood, people!

When we met our genetic precursors, our parents, for the first time, we were already us. Each cell could tell a story about us, our parents, our grandparents-- and back into times past we go.

Our uninformed personality/brand began to exhibit itself within hours.

A) As an infant, did you sleep calmly, wake up on schedule for your 2 AM feeding, and pass back out with a smile on your face?

B) Or did you thrash about until you passed out from exhaustion, throw up your 2 AM feeding, and require a lullaby before going back to sleep (I get you may not remember).

Zoom in on present.

if we were to meet the two babies I just described as grown-up marketers, I am willing to bet the way in which their Brand- DNA expresses itself will be wildly different from one another. They most likely will not share the same interests, which means they probably won't choose the same niche. They may, or may not, be friends.

Be careful who you marry. Pheromones may not be enough.

What Are Your Adjectives?

What adjectives would you use to describe yourself as a child? Scrappy, mild-mannered, unafraid, timid, risk-taker, judicious or prudent? Jealous, melancholy, or curious? And thousands more. Do you still exhibit these traits. Bet so.

Tell me. I would love to know.

Are you an accountant? Or are you a fighter pilot? A journalist? Actress?

Maybe you embrace your seed characteristics. At this point in life I embrace them. None have really changed.

Do you embrace, deny, or change your seed characteristics?

Aside: I think I just made up a new phrase: seed characteristics. Out of curiosity, a great, fun, time waster, I googled it and found it relating to botany (seed) and to crypto wallets (seed phrase). Hence, new phrase.

Future Affiliate Marketer

What About Our Voice?

This discussion presupposes a perfect world. Forget all the messy details living a real life may entail. However, our environment will have a great deal to say on the subject of shaping our personality or brand-voice.

Going with messy details, I am having trouble painting the picture I have in my head in this post. To me it is sounding a bit esoteric, some philosophy, some psychology, and some marketing. But If you can bear with me a little while longer, I think I can pull us out of the weeds.

Voice may be alluring, convincing and convicting, and trustworthy. The subjects we pick, the sentences and words we use, and the way we string them all together are expressions of our voice.

Simply put, voice is the way we communicate our brand-- and personality. Voice may SHOUT who we are. Shouting can work in small doses. So can shouting!!!!!!! Can you hear my voice?

Wake up! Ha, ha.

This seems like a fitting place to mention tone, the third piece of our brand-triad. (Cool, another new phrase)

Tone

Voice and tone commence with our first whimper or howl. It's how we express ourselves.

"Brand is the delivery of our business. Voice is the delivery of our brand. Tone is the delivery of our voice." Me

Tone will depend greatly on your niche and/or your audience. It could depend on your personal views or how you feel on any given day, but it better not if you are speaking from your business persona.

It is how our readers/listeners receive our message-- our boss, our friends and relatives too.

And if we speak in sign-language, all this would remain true. So, it is up to us to make sure people hear us correctly.

This post got too long. I promise to explore tone more in Part II of this article. 

So, What About AI's Voice Analysis? Coming Right Up!

The following is the voice analysis AI did for me

Informal, conversational, curious, and educational: this brand's voice is all about engaging readers with a friendly and relatable tone while exploring complex topics. To write in this style, imagine you're having a casual conversation with a friend who's interested in learning about the subject matter. Use personal anecdotes, rhetorical questions, and humor to keep the content light and engaging. Don't shy away from expressing opinions or admitting when you don't know something – this adds authenticity and encourages readers to join you on the journey of discovery. Break down complex concepts into digestible pieces, but also encourage readers to do their own research and form their own opinions. Remember, the goal is to spark curiosity and foster a sense of camaraderie with your audience as you navigate the world of technology and innovation together.

Wrapping It Up

That ends AI's analysis on the character of my voice and advice about what to do with it. I learned things about myself in this exercise, which I would have thought hard to do. Really, as I said earlier, it put things into a written form. It turned brand into voice, if you will.

As we continue to discover ourselves, writing out one's voice in real words can help us understand why we want to do things this way, and that way, and the other way. Carry this thought into the larger picture of writing a mission statement and business plan.

And I gathered enough information to write a two-part article on the subject of branding, a favorite subject of mine. The next one will be more about application of branding principles to affiliate marketing and online business. In the next article, I will offer a few links too.

Thank you for reading.

Yours, Donna (aka Deelilah)

Remember, it's OK to walk slowly. But never walk backwards.