Your Brand Personality and Tone-of-Voice shape how people feel when they interact with your company and/or brand. When clearly defined, they ensure your brand sounds and feels like you, everywhere you show up.
This 3-step approach guides you through the process of defining a consistent, compelling, and usable Brand Personality and Tone-of-Voice using an AI GPT.
NOTE: As with all AI-generated content, review and refine to ensure it accurately reflects your brand.
Step 1: Collect Inputs
Gather the following foundational inputs or as many as you have available:
Why/Purpose, Vision/Mission Statements
Ideal Target or Ideal Client Profile (ICP) (If you need help, follow our 3 steps to draft your Ideal Target with AI)
Stakeholder interviews (transcripts or summaries)*
Customer interviews (transcripts or summaries)*
Website and marketing copy (choose assets that “sound how you think the brand should sound”)
If you have any inspiration benchmarks, you can provide them (e.g., “like Southwest Airlines, warm, direct, and human”)
What you don’t want (e.g., “no jargon,” “not too salesy”)
*Available to CMO-OnLoan clients through the Discovery process.
Step 2: Organize and Prompt (Using a GPT)
Confirm that all files are correctly named and organized for easy reference (we like to put them all in one folder).
Upload your files into your GPT (like ChatGPT) and use the prompts below to generate working drafts of your Brand Personality and Tone-of-Voice.
Note any special instructions such as tone preferences or founder personality traits.
AI Prompts to Use
Prompt for Brand Personality Traits:
“You are an expert in marketing, specifically in developing a Personality and Tone-of-Voice for a brand. Review the uploaded Ideal Target/Ideal Client Profile (ICP), interviews, and messaging examples. Based on the inputs, create 3-5 core personality traits for the brand that reflect how it thinks, communicates, and acts. Include short explanations for each. Ask questions for clarification.”
Prompt for Tone-of-Voice Guidelines:
“Based on the same inputs, create a Tone-of-Voice guide using 4 dimensions (Source: Nielsen Norman Group):
- Funny or Serious
- Casual or Formal
- Irreverent or Respectful
- Enthusiastic or Matter-of-Fact
For each, identify where the brand falls and describe what that sounds like. Include a ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ chart and sample copy that reflects the brand voice. Ask questions for clarification.”
Step 3: Review and Finalize
To make sure the personality and voice truly reflect your brand, follow these steps:
Review with internal stakeholders (e.g., founder, leadership, marketing) to ensure alignment and accuracy before finalizing.
Share the draft voice guide with internal stakeholders.
Adjust tone dimensions and trait language as needed to reflect the brand’s real voice.
Make sure the final voice guide is actionable, meaning usable for writing social, web, email, and more.
Compile the final Brand Personality and Tone-of-Voice into one document for easy reference and future use.
To learn more about personality and voice, check out our articles, Define Your Brand’s Personality and Tone of-Voice-Guide.