Has "Clever" Gone Out of Style?

Brand voice is simply the way a company communicates consistently enough that people recognize the personality behind the words. In the past, that has required a lot of taglines, puns, and double entendres. It used to be cool to be clever.

But now we have AI, and AI loves a good pun. It can alliterate all day long. The punchier and snappier the text, the more it starts to sound like AI gone amok. And consequently, marketers are stuck in a pretty uncomfortable place. Sounding too clever or slick can now make a brand less believable.

Consistency Still Matters

A consistent voice or message still helps build familiarity and trust. The company’s voice should make sense wherever the customer encounters it. The website, emails, social posts, proposals, advertising, and customer communications do not need to sound identical, but they should feel as though they clearly come from the same organization.

For example, a brand that sounds warm and straightforward on social media but stiff and impersonal on its website creates unnecessary friction in your customer's mind. A highly technical company that suddenly uses trendy slang in an email can sound forced or awkward.

Whether it's intentionally nerdy or carelessly casual, fun or somber, optimistic or dead-serious, brand voice works best when it fits the company and is communicated consistently across every platform and in every communication. People want to know who you are, and mixed messages will only cause confusion or, worse, mistrust.

Audience Shapes Your Voice

Brand voice does not exist in isolation. It needs to fit the people you are trying to reach. A manufacturer speaking to engineers may need precision and technical clarity. A senior living community communicating with families may need more warmth and reassurance. A consumer coffee brand has room for humor and personality. A financial firm may need a measured, confident tone that makes complex information easier to understand.

None of those approaches is inherently better than another. The right voice depends on the audience and the situation. That's why companies should be cautious about copying brands they admire. A voice that works beautifully for one business may feel completely wrong for another. In other words, you be you.

Clear Beats Clever

One of the easiest mistakes in branding is prioritizing originality over clarity. A clever headline can be memorable, but not if the is left wondering what you meant. Wordplay can be fun, but not when it gets in the way of the message. Personality is valuable, but it should support communication rather than compete with it.

Most customers are looking for a good time. They are trying to understand something. That's why the strongest copy often sounds simple. It's straightforward and easy to understand. And believe us, that's harder than it looks.

Real Voices and Real People

One of the best ways to develop a brand voice is to listen to the people inside the company. How does the founder explain the business when talking to a customer? What words do salespeople naturally use? How does the team describe the company when they are not reading from a brochure? What phrases appear repeatedly in customer conversations?

Those patterns are useful because they already belong to the organization. Brand voice becomes much easier to maintain when it grows from the way people genuinely communicate rather than being imposed entirely from the outside.

Guidelines Help Keep It Consistent

Don't leave your marketing voice to chance. A simple set of guidelines can make a significant difference, especially when multiple people or outside partners are creating content.

Those guidelines might describe the level of formality, the use of humor, preferred terminology, sentence length, point of view, punctuation style, and words or phrases the brand avoids.

Examples are especially helpful. Showing what the brand sounds like is often more useful than describing it with broad adjectives such as “friendly,” “professional,” or “authentic.” Samples help.

The Goal Is Recognition

A good brand voice should not draw attention to itself every time someone reads a sentence. It should make the company feel recognizable, consistent, and easy to understand.

But it's not only about recognition of the company. More importantly, it's about recognition of fit. "This is for me." Make sure the people reading your content know who is speaking, understand what you mean, and feel that the voice fits the business behind it.

And if you want help making that happen, shoot us an email. We're here to help.