How Tone Can Make (or Break) Your Business

Tips & Tricks

Dec 5

What comes to mind when you think of the word tone?

Is it simply colour that has been dialled down? Or the rattling timbre of your singing voice? Maybe it’s something that feels a little “off” with a person you’re in conversation with.

Sure, it can be defined in such ways, but tone can be a difficult concept to describe, as it often takes on different meanings depending on the medium in which you’re working.

One thing we can say is that however you define it, tone can take a word… a colour…or even a conversation and set it alive.

It can also suck every ounce of life out of whatever you’re working on.

As a copywriter, I like to think of tone as the way the customer feels after your brand has taken them on a journey. Do they want to feel a sense of excitement? Calm? Courage? Joy? Or, most importantly, what is the emotional hook that will keep them coming back?
One of our favourite examples of tone in action came about while working with a Rapid Ascent Brewery. When asked how they wanted their customers to feel after drinking their products, their response was a vivid collection of sensory details, images, sounds, textures and emotions. Together, we were able to weave these into the following narrative to capture the essence of their brand.

You switch on your headlamp and unzip the thin fabric door that stands between you and the biting cold outside. Your mind flashes for an instant to the rumpled sleeping bag behind you, lying open as if calling you back to the warmth and safety of the nest. You push those thoughts to the back of your mind. You’ve come too far to retreat now.

The alpine winds cut at your cheeks and nose, the only skin you dare expose to the elements. As you push through the night, feeling the comforting, yet somehow alien, crunching of the hard packed snow beneath your crampons, your gaze falls upon a nearby gathering of twinkling lights. Although it’s impossible to see the expressions beyond the hoods and goggles of your fellow climbers, you sense that each of them shares your conflicting emotions; that indescribable mix of fear and excitement and a conviction forged by destiny. You are part of a storied community with a rich tradition, but every step that has led you to this point has been taken by you and you alone. You are meant to be here.

Somewhere beyond those feeble cones of light stands The Mountain. It’s the perfect metaphor for your journey: years of planning and preparation, weeks of acclimatization, days of hiking, and a lifetime of dreaming now merge to form the solitary peak that is your goal. At this altitude the very air you breathe is a precious gift, and only the briefest of words are exchanged before you take your place in the narrow column of Gortex and steaming breath and begin your climb. The guide knows the best route to the top, the ropes are set and waiting. It’s time to begin your ascent.

As you’ve no doubt guessed, mountaineering and outdoor adventure had been a strong part of this brand’s identity from the very beginning.

The Marketing Manager’s primary concern, and ours, was ensuring that these values were being properly communicated with their target audience.

They wanted each sip to be like an escape to the mountains, and they wanted the tone of the copy to match this.

Few people may have climbed an ice-covered peak, but millions upon millions have dreamt of it.

The only way to tap that dream on the shoulder is to weave an enticing tone for those customers who are craving the climb the most.