Find Your Voice-The Call: Out Of And Into
What is brand voice
CHANCES ARE YOU’RE A KNOW-IT-ALL IF YOU’RE AN EXPERIENCED SERVICE PROVIDER, WHO’S GOOD AT WHAT YOU DO. THEREFORE, MANY CONCEPTS WILL GO INTO ESTABLISHING THE VOICE OF YOUR 1-3 MAN SHOW.
But if you want to develop a distinguishable voice, tension needs to be at the forefront of that message: what your brand stands for, as well as what it doesn’t stand for. That sound makes the voice recognizable—people know what company is saying this (even without a visual identifier) because of what’s being said, how it’s being delivered and the feeling it’s evoking.
When the concepts that comprise the voice guide those it’s targeting out of a specific situation and into a different one, I call this movement The Call™.
To recap, not everyone has an ear to hear this message. For example, a lot is distilled into Sandy Hook’s 2025 back-to-school AD. Including where the organization stands on gun safety legislation. People who don’t share their views would consider their voice a bunch of rattling noise.
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On the other hand “The Stand Your Ground” law was passed to much debate in Trinidad and Tobago because of how unfamiliar suddenly standing for “the right to bear arms” is.
Both are messages. Only one has tension; the other causes friction. One is part of a larger conversation that’s anchored in identity; the other is sacrificing identity for spectacle and popularity.
When voice is properly set up for a business to produce sound, you don’t need to perform; people filter themselves as clients before your first conversation with them, and you build authority without piggybacking.
This is where corner-cutters, sell-outs, and flip-floppers get it wrong.
Voice should be goal-oriented, but when there is no structural reason behind what you’re saying, it becomes the gun you shoot your “brand” in the mouth with—reduced to tactics that destabilize and weaken the emotional connection initially created. In other words the result is a sound that feels uncertain to those it meant to attract.
WHAT “THE CALL” IS NOT
A critical thing to accomplish when branding your services isn’t acquiring a flashy phrase, but first isolating your thoughts and ideas, getting clarity on why they matter, and then being comfortable owning them.
Superficial slogans are not voice.
Sound without support is noise; the voice is always accompanied by the solutions provided and the process supporting it.
Throwing words is not voice. You waste a lot of time, and no one learns anything that way.
Confidence of articulation is not voice.
You can become familiar with something well enough to speak it and run when it’s time to live it because you connected with the delivery, not the substance, the message is rooted in.
We have a lot of that in Trinidad and Tobago.
Which brings me to…
VOCAL RESTRAINT, IT MATTERS!
You’re juggling many balls at once, putting your voice into the world.
You might be inclined to explain a lot, especially if you’re using ChatGPT. But here’s why you shouldn’t care about how dense something feels. Great voices are disciplined. They practice restraint; they leave the listener with a bit of mystery.
Don’t underestimate the value in sealing the mystery of a concept in a word, phrase, or even in a story. It’s a major turn-on to clients—the ones willing to pay what you’re worth who are bored out of their minds with the typical run-of-the-mill way of brand expression.
I can’t create the excitement in the voices of my readers who tell me now they finally understand what “Let Your Freak Flag Fly” means.
When you’re able to present something very complex in an entertaining way, people don’t just tune in to what you have to say; they start imagining what it would be like to work with you. That’s the thrill of voice, watching someone in full command of their instrument use it to move you.
So, the question begs…What’s the single most important thing you need to communicate about the service you provide?
This article is dedicated to anyone stuck “helping X do Y with Z!” 🙃
Ciji Shippley is a no hassle, no worries, no cock n bull stories visual designer. She helps 1-3 man shows unmask key vocal issues holding their voice back from standing out, before fixing the wrapping to throw off those who suck the joy out of their work.
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