Definition

The distinctive personality and emotional tone a brand uses in all communications, from tweets to customer service emails. It's what makes Wendy's roast people on Twitter while your bank sounds like a lawyer wrote everything—which they probably did.

Example Usage

Our brand voice guidelines specify we're 'professional but approachable,' which really just means we use exclamation points sparingly.

Origin

Corporate communications and branding theory from the 1990s

Fun Fact

Some companies employ 'brand voice consultants' who earn six figures to determine whether the brand should use 'hey' or 'hello'—and they're dead serious about it.

Source: Brand strategy and content marketing literature

Related Terms

Advanced

Dark Social

Traffic that comes from private channels like texts and DMs where marketers can't track it, making it the speakeasy of social sharing. It sounds sinister, but it's really just your aunt forwarding articles in the family group chat.

📣 Marketing / Advertising
Beginner

opt-in

When someone explicitly gives permission to receive marketing communications, theoretically because they actually want them. A legal requirement dressed up as customer courtesy.

📣 Marketing / Advertising
Intermediate

voice of customer

Customer feedback and insights captured through surveys, reviews, support tickets, and other channels that reveal their needs and preferences. Abbreviated VOC, it's all the complaints and suggestions companies collect and then ignore.

📣 Marketing / Advertising
Intermediate

below the line

Direct, targeted promotional activities like direct mail, point-of-sale, sponsorships, and digital marketing that engage specific audiences rather than mass markets. It's precision marketing as opposed to shouting into the void.

📣 Marketing / Advertising
Advanced

lookalike expansion

The process of finding new prospects who resemble your existing customers, using algorithms to clone your best audience at scale. It's digital matchmaking based on the assumption that people similar to your customers will also tolerate your product.

📣 Marketing / Advertising
Intermediate

inorganic

In marketing speak, growth or reach that you actually paid for rather than earned through genuine audience love—the difference between making friends and buying them. Unlike 'organic' content that spreads naturally, inorganic means you opened your wallet to boost that post, sponsor that influencer, or plaster ads across the internet. It's not fake growth, it's just growth with a credit card attached.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

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gyaitmfhrn

get your ass in the mother f**king house right now...