#168 – The Topic I’ve Avoided Since I Launched This Newsletter
How to create your unique voice
This is Adventures in Storytelling your bi-weekly note with resources, insights, and actionable tools for better communication through storytelling. Enjoy.
I hated the feeling. The guilt and bit of shame in the pit of my stomach—an almost sick feeling. I put it off for days hoping something would change. Then there was less than a day left so I either had to accept my failure or push well beyond my capacity and probably still fail. I grudgingly accepted the failure and started to draft the email.
It was a note to one of my clients who I was working with to bring to life their brand story through content and follow-up strategy. It’s actually a really fun project that I was testing out and hope to do more of. But writing this note was not fun. I had to tell him I needed more time to work on the content. I’d spent most of the week I should have been writing stuck. I had all of the strategy and points to make clear. I had the key messages, rtbs (reasons to believes) his point of difference and value proposition all set. I knew what made his offering special and unique to anyone else out there. And it was truly unique which is always a gift. I had it all.
But I couldn’t write it. I had written it down in my voice.
Do you hear this sort of casual, friendly, but also no nonsense tone as you’re reading? One that can be serious but also doesn’t take itself too seriously? That’s me. That’s my voice. After spending most of my life writing and all of my adult life writing professionally my voice is easy to tap into. It’s not something I even really think about. It’s part of me.
Someone else’s voice though? That is a talent, a gift I recognize everyone time I use it. But it isn’t easy to get right. It takes a bit of playing and experimenting with words. It also takes an excellent thesaurus. I actually fucked up (you see how that was jarring? That’s because while I do swear in this newsletter, I don’t drop casual f-bombs unless it’s important. That’s voice. I swear all the time in real life. I am the resident potty mouth in my family, but I am thoughtful in my curse word choice when writing because I know they pack a punch unless brought into the mix in the right way). I effed up because I wrote too much of the copy and content—I’ll explain the difference between those words another day—in my own words. Mainly because I wanted to get it all out and clear. But in the process, it changed a writing exercise into a translation one. I had to get the words out of my voice and into my client’s.
Because voice is about tone and character and who you’re trying to bring to life but also who you’re trying to connect with. All of those things come together to create your voice. And voice is ultimately the person people hear (and maybe even see) when they read your writing. I subscribe the a pop culture newsletter by Hunter Harris primarily because her voice is so loud that it entertains. Voice has power when used well. It also communicates and makes a so so communication more powerful and more relatable to your audience. Compare a Nike ad to a Dove one. Or Patagonia to Skittles. Imagine receiving a letter from Patagonia and one from Dove—a letter telling you the exact same thing. Can you see how they’d probably be different? That’s voice.
Voice matters because it helps bring your story to life. But it is also hard. Think of this as level 5 brand storytelling. I very rarely try to teach voice. In fact I never teach voice. Because voice is something that, if you’re not a writer who does this everyday, comes to life over time as you practice writing. I don’t want to complicate things for you. So what I say to people I’m working with who need help with voice is to start off writing how you speak. Then do an edit that considers who it’s for. That combination of you (or your brand) and what your audience needs/wants is a great place to start when it comes to developing a voice that resonates.
In the end, I wrote my client and told him I was stuck. He sent me a proposal he’d just sent to a client and it unlocked everything for me. Literally I read two lines from it and it all flowed from there. So moral of the story is it’s okay to be human and get stuck even when you’re a so-called expert at something (it’s actually fun as an “expert” to encounter a challenge like this). And maybe always take on clients who are understanding and send you points of inspiration without even meaning to.
Oh and, of course, take time to consider and cultivate your voice as you bring to life your stories and especially your brand stories. Start with writing how you talk, considering your audience and letting it evolve from there.
A Story Well Told - New Visions
Anytime I make something outside of this newsletter and client work, I’m eager to share it with you. And this time I made something special—a workshop experience that I am SO excited about, I want the day to be here now so we can start playing and learning and evolving. It’s called New Visions, it’s the next in-person Re-Work experience and is all about taking the time to actually consider and cultivate a career with meaning. To infuse both wellbeing and meaning into your work life. We’ve done so much research and exploration to get the elements just right. So if you’re in Toronto on June 15th you should join us. This workshop is for people who are creative in their approach to their careers and make an effort to cultivate a meaningful approach to life overall. I feel like as a reader of this newsletter, that’s probably you. I’d love for you to join. If you’re interested I’m going to offer special early bird pricing to any newsletter subscribers until Friday (that’s 25% off). Just reply to this email or send me a note. Hope to see you there.
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