What's Your Tone of Voice?
Posted On: 2016-07-01
If you had parents like mine there were plenty of times when one or the other of them would tell me that they didn't like my tone ... or didn't like the way I was speaking to them.
It seems to go with the job of being a parent and being a growing child and teenager because I can remember saying the same thing to my children from time to time. When I was a teenager and getting yelled at for something that I had done my tone of voice was the only way I could retaliate and, being a fairly independent sort of teenager, I tended to use that tone of voice often.
You might think that the tone you use when you're talking to someone isn't all that important ... unless you're a teenager and trying to have some independence when you really have none ... or you're an adult and being hassled by the cops.
But the fact is that, even in marketing, your tone of voice is important. It is so important that it can mean the difference between engaging a potential buyer and encouraging that person to buy or turning that person off totally and send him away with a desire never to return again.
And that doesn't just apply to sales people that you meet face to face ... like car and appliance salespeople. It applies to salespeople that potential customers encounter online. Of course, they don't see those people but they sure do read their words and those words are the "voice" of the person who has written that sales copy.
As an adult webmaster you too must write some sales copy. Your websites aren't totally devoid of words, your gallery descriptions and video descriptions aren't devoid of words, so what is your "voice" like?
Is it something that would generate the same sort of feelings that an insolent teenager would generate in her parents or does your tone of voice encourage people to buy?
Now between those two points there is quite a wide gulf and your tone of voice can still put people of buying even though it might not make them angry so what should your tone of voice sound like if you want to make a sale?
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we narrow it all down to one tone of voice that would suit everyone but, of course, we can't do that? No two people who visit porn sites are alike. Where they come from, what they do, how much disposable income they have, might be similar but everyone responds differently to the words that you include in your sales pitch.
So what sort of sales pitch do you use? Are you the typical salesperson ... the sort that makes me shudder and never want to go near a car sales lot for the rest of my life or do you try to foster some sort of personal connection between you and the people who visit your website?
I have to say that when I was selling porn I didn't even consider any other approach than that of the typical salesperson. Back then my sales figures were fairly good but I wonder who effective that approach would be now.
Our marketplace has matured and people have become accustomed to that sort of sales language so turning a tyre kicker into a sale is getting harder and harder. Perhaps it's time to try a more personal approach. Perhaps it's time to change your tone of voice and engage potential buyers rather than thrusting your sales pitch into their faces.
But how do you do that? How do make your sales pitch sound more personal and engaging?
Darren Rowse ... the king of mainstream bloggers ... put out a podcast this week where he talked about the ways to establish a personal connection with readers. Obviously there is a lot of difference between engaging a blog reader and selling porn but some of his points are definitely worth thinking about.
Some of his suggestions that might work for you include having a mental image of the average visitor to your site and "speaking" to them. Use personal language that speaks to that visitor rather than generic sales gabble.
Talk about their needs and the way your sponsor will meet those needs. Share some of your experiences with them and tell them of how positive your experiences were with the site you are advertising ... just don't make the site sound too good.
Make them realise that you are a real person and not some plastic fantastic copywriter who does not understand them at all. The more you can encourage them to relate to you the more chance you have of making a sale.
Of course all that is much harder to do than just vomiting up the same canned sales pitches they have seen over and over again ... but these days, if you want to make money, you have to work harder at being smarter.